Clinical characteristics and predictors of COVID-19 in a community sample from urban areas of Chennai, Southern India.

Abstract

In early 2020, with the arrival of the first case of COVID-19 in India, the laboratory at The Tamil Nadu Dr. MGR Medical University was recognized as a national testing site and received samples from two zones of Greater Chennai Corporation. This descriptive study analyzed the testing outcomes, along with demographics, self-reported symptoms, potential exposure to COVID-19 that were recorded in Sample Report Forms between June and September 2020. Nasopharygeal/oropharyngeal swabs were tested for SARS CoV-2 by RT-PCR Test. Of the 18,082 samples that were tested, 18% (3267) received a COVID-19 positive RT-PCR result for COVID-19. Among the COVID-19 positives, 40.9% (1336) were females (p < 0.000). Individuals in the age groups 21-30 and 31-40years included the largest number (767, 23.48% each) of COVID-19 positive cases. The largest number of cases were from those who were classified as Severe Acute Respiratory Illness (SARI) or Influenza Like Illness (ILI) (1657, 50.7%) followed by those who reported direct contact with a COVID-19 lab confirmed case (1163, 35.6%). Among those with symptoms, 1791 (28.9%) tested COVID-19 positive compared to 1476 who were COVID-19 positive and asymptomatic (p < 0.001). Main symptoms were cough (32.1%), fever (48.3%), body ache (21.04%) and sore throat (30.60%). In multivariable analysis, history of SARI/ILI, contact with a confirmed case and having fever, cough and sore throat were the main predictors of being COVID-19 positive. Therefore, clinical and demographic characteristics correlated with COVID-19 positivity. And classification of patients based on self-reported symptoms and risk categories offers a model to prioritize testing and vaccination efforts.