Characteristics and severity of COVID-19 among Sudanese patients during the waves of the pandemic

Abstract

COVID-19 is associated with marked morbidity and mortality. COVID-19 symptoms ranged from mild symptoms to severe pneumonia requiring admission to intensive care unit. Imperial College reported that, this second wave in Khartoum is expected to be similar to the first wave. The aim of our study was to study the characteristics and severity of COVID-19 among Sudanese patients during the waves of the pandemic.A hospital-based analytical Cross-Sectional study assessed the characteristics of COVID-19 patients who attended Imperial Hospital since November 2020, Khartoum, Sudan. Data were collected, retrospectively, from the medical records of COVID-19 patients. The characteristics of the patients were recorded. The statistical package for social sciences (SPSS-23) was used to describe and analyze the data. Descriptive statistics and chi-square test were used; tests were considered statistically significant when p < 0.05.Of the 138 participants, 75.4% were aged above 60 years. Males were 61.6%. Severe cases were 37.7%, with higher rate in the third wave (p = 0.000). Duration of hospitalization was ≤ 5 days in 60.9% of the cases, majority were from the 2nd wave (p = 0.001). Comorbidities of COVID-19 patients were more among non-severe cases (p = 0.001). COVID-19 symptoms were more prevalent in non-severe cases. Complications were more in severe cases (p = 0.000). Odds ratio of having ischemic stroke was 6.833 [95%CI: 2.092–22.321] based on COVID-19 severity.The elderly population were the majority. More males were getting admitted. Atypical symptoms were reported beside the common symptoms. Wider multi-center studies are recommended in order to complete the big picture of COVID-19 in Sudan.