Open AccessCharacteristics and clinical outcomes of patients hospitalized with laboratory-confirmed COVID-19—Puerto Rico, March–August 2020
Author(s) -
Hannah R. Volkman,
Janice Pérez-Padilla,
Joshua M. Wong,
Liliana Sánchez-González,
Lauren Acevedo-Molina,
Martin Lugo-Menéndez,
Corine Garcia,
Laura Adams,
Verónica M. Frasqueri-Quintana,
Robert Rodríguez-González,
Javier A González-Cosme,
Andrés Diaz,
Luisa I. Alvarado,
Vanessa RiveraAmill,
Jessica Brown,
Karen K. Wong,
Jorge Bertrán-Pasarell,
Gabriela Paz–Bailey
Publication year - 2021
Publication title -
plos one
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.99
H-Index - 332
ISSN - 1932-6203
DOI - 10.1371/journal.pone.0260599
Subject(s) - medicine , intensive care unit , medical record , psychological intervention , population , covid-19 , obesity , ethnic group , diabetes mellitus , emergency medicine , pediatrics , intensive care medicine , disease , infectious disease (medical specialty) , environmental health , psychiatry , sociology , anthropology , endocrinology
Hispanics are the majority ethnic population in Puerto Rico where we reviewed charts of 109 hospitalized COVID-19 patients to better understand demographic and clinical characteristics of COVID-19 and determine risk factors for poor outcomes. Eligible medical records of hospitalized patients with confirmed COVID-19 illnesses were reviewed at four participating hospitals in population centers across Puerto Rico and data were abstracted that described the clinical course, interventions, and outcomes. We found hospitalized patients had a median of 3 underlying conditions with obesity and diabetes as the most frequently reported conditions. Intensive care unit (ICU) admission occurred among 28% of patients and 18% of patients died during the hospitalization. Patients 65 or older or with immune deficiencies had a higher risk for death. Common symptoms included cough, dyspnea, and fatigue; less than half of patients in the study reported fever which was less frequent than reported elsewhere in the literature. It is important for interventions within Hispanic communities to protect high-risk groups.