Epidemiological Analysis of the Second Wave of COVID-19 in a Moroccan Hospital

Abstract

The 2019 coronavirus pandemic (COVID-19), due to the novel severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2), has caused a sudden and substantial worldwide increase in hospitalizations for pneumonia with multi- organ disease. The aim of this work was to study the demographic, clinical, diagnostic, therapeutic and evolutionary aspects, as well as the study of risk factors associated with an unfavorable evolution of SARS-CoV-2 infection. Our work consisted of a retrospective descriptive and analytical study of 192 cases of COVID-19, collected at the Avicenna Hospital of Marrakech, during a 3-month period from July 26 to October 31, 2021. Our patients were predominantly (65%) male, with a median age of 65 years. Diabetes was the most frequent comorbidity (37.5%) followed by hypertension (28.1%). 62% were vaccinated. Fever was the most frequent symptom in 74% of cases followed by dyspnea which was present in 65.5% of patients. 76.6% of patients had an SpO2%<95%. The biological profile of our study series was diverse, RT-PCR was positive in 68.2%, CRP was increased in 97.9%, LDH was increased in 96.1% of cases, Ferritinemia was increased in 59.4%, extension of lesions on chest CT of 50-70% was predominant in 25.5% of cases. In our study, the parameters of evolution, whose statistical variation was significantly associated with an unfavorable evolution (p<0.05) were age>60 years [p: 0.036], diabetes [p: 0.029], vaccination status [p: 0.004], CRP>100mg/l [p: 0.013]. Treatment in our series was mostly corticosteroid therapy in 94.3%, anticoagulants in 90.1% with a favorable evolution in 83.9% of patients. The second wave of COVID-19 with a rapid recrudescence of cases overwhelmed the health system with a higher proportion of severe COVID-19 cases and higher mortality, thus underlining the need for advance planning, preparation and strengthening of health systems at all levels.