Clinical and sociodemographic factors associated with COVID-19 in non-hospitalized patients in southwest Goiás, Brazil, 2020 to 2022

Abstract

Considering that COVID-19 has had a major impact on public health around the world, we aimed to elucidate the clinical and sociodemographic characteristics of non-hospitalized patients in Quirinópolis, southwest Goiás, from 2020 to 2022. We performed a cross-sectional study, using secondary data on all suspected COVID-19 visits in Basic Health Units, bivariate data analysis and logistic regression. 18,036 suspected cases were registered with 56.1% laboratory confirmed. COVID-19 was concentrated in the central regions of the city and was more associated with the vaccinated group, which may be a reflection of the vaccine's protective effect on the worsening of symptoms. The final logistic regression model showed a higher risk of COVID-19 among mixed race (1.30; CI1:20-1.42) and young people as a protective factor (0.88; CI:0.78-0.98). Gustatory (2.78; IC:2.19-3.53) and olfactory (2.83; IC: 2.18-3.66) disorders, headache (1.11; IC: 1.02-1.11), fever (1.77; CI: 1.62-1.92) and cough (1.48; CI: 1.36-1.61) were also associated with a positive diagnosis of COVID-19. Only respiratory disease was found to be a risk factor, probably due to underreporting of other factors. COVID-19 is ubiquitous among non-hospitalized patients, with easy transmission in clusters and with striking demographic and clinical characteristics: Brown population, taste and olfactory disorders, headache, fever, cough and respiratory disease as risk factors; young people apparently as a protective factor and vaccinated more related to COVID-19 may be a reflection of the profile of the sampled group (outpatients). The ubiquity of SARS-CoV-2 in the municipality may be related to public policies promoting ineffective medicines and population behavior that contribute to the spread of the virus. In contrast, vaccines have proven effective in containing the severe disease. In the future, approaches to hospitalized patients are necessary to better understand the impacts of COVID-19.