Clinical features related to severity and mortality among COVID-19 patients in a pre-vaccine period in Luanda, Angola

• Autor(a) principal: Sebastião, Cruz S.
• Data de Publicação: 2022
• Outros Autores: Cogle, Adis, Teixeira, Alice D’Alva, Cândido, Ana Micolo, Tchoni, Chissengo, Amorim, Maria João, Loureiro, N’gueza, Parimbelli, Paolo, Penha-Gonçalves, Carlos, Demengeot, Jocelyne, Sacomboio, Euclides, Mendes, Manuela, Arrais, Margarete, Morais, Joana, Vasconcelos, Jocelyne Neto de, Brito, Miguel
• Tipo de documento: Artigo
• Idioma: eng
• Título da fonte: Repositório Científico de Acesso Aberto de Portugal (Repositórios Cientìficos)
• Texto Completo: http://hdl.handle.net/10400.21/15132
• topic: COVID-19; SARS-CoV-2; Clinical features; Mortality; Angola; Luanda

Background: Infection due to severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) is associated with clinical features of diverse severity. Few studies investigated the severity and mortality predictors of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) in Africa. Herein, we investigated the clinical features of severity and mortality among COVID-19 patients in Luanda, Angola. Methods: This multicenter cohort study involved 101 COVID-19 patients, between December 2020 and April 2021, with clinical and laboratory data collected. Analysis was done using independent-sample t-tests and Chi-square tests. The results were deemed significant when p < 0.05. Results: The mean age of patients was 51 years (ranging from 18 to 80 years) and 60.4% were male. Fever (46%), cough (47%), gastrointestinal symptoms (26.7%), and asthenia (26.7%), were the most common symptoms. About 64.4% of the patients presented coexistent disorders, including hypertension (42%), diabetes (17%), and chronic renal diseases (6%). About 23% were non-severe, 77% were severe, and 10% died during hospitalization. Variations in the concentration of neutrophil, urea, creatinine, c-reactive protein, sodium, creatine kinase, and chloride were independently associated with severity and/or mortality (p < 0.05). Conclusion: Several factors contributed to the severity and mortality among COVID-19 patients in Angola. Further studies related to clinical features should be carried out to help clinical decision-making and follow-up of COVID-19 patients in Angola.