Clinical Characteristics and Outcome of SARS-CoV-2 Patients. An Experience from Anbar province - West of Iraq.

Abstract

The SARS-CoV2 infection emerged in Iraq in February 2020. In this study, we describe the clinical characteristics and outcomes of the initial SARS-CoV2 patients. A total of 529 patients were included in this study from April to August 2020 in Anbar province. Patients were confirmed to be infected in nasal swabs by real-time RT-PCR or chest CT scan findings. The gathered data included the demographic variables (age, sex, residency), presence of comorbidity (hypertension, diabetes mellitus, respiratory illness, coronary heart disease, chronic kidney disease, obesity), and history of contact with a known case of SARS-CoV2. The results showed that 64% of the patients were males and 36% were female, 48% of the patients lied in the age category 40-59 years, 74% had exposure history, 95% did not have a history of smoking, 46% were overweight, 60% had no comorbidity, 78% presented with mild/moderate disease, 70% had typical chest CT scan finding (CO-RAD 5), and 76% of patients showed positive PCR. The fatality rate is 16%. Most of the patients had a history of exposure to a confirmed case of SARS-CoV2 before the illness. The severity and outcome were correlated with risk factors and comorbidity. Combining chest computed tomography images with the qPCR analysis of nasal swab samples can improve the accuracy of SARS-CoV2 diagnosis.