Open AccessRisk Factors of Severity and Health Outcomes in COVID-19 in Ajman
Author(s) -
Shatha Al Sharbatti
Publication year - 2022
Publication title -
journal of communicable diseases/journal of communicable diseases
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.151
H-Index - 26
eISSN - 2581-351X
pISSN - 0019-5138
DOI - 10.24321/0019.5138.202225
Subject(s) - medicine , diabetes mellitus , disease , marital status , cross sectional study , covid-19 , observational study , pandemic , severity of illness , environmental health , infectious disease (medical specialty) , population , pathology , endocrinology
Background: Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) is an ongoing pandemic that has affected people from all over the world within the span of a few months. Objective: To assess the association between sociodemographic factors and risk factors with disease severity and health outcomes of patients with COVID-19. Design: This was an observational, cross-sectional and record-based study that involved 148 patients admitted to Thumbay Hospital Ajman during May-July 2020. Results: Of the 148 participants, 39.9% were above 40 years old and 81.1% were males. 25% of the participants had diabetes mellitus and 14.2% had hypertension. Older patients (39%, n = 23) as well as those with diabetes mellitus (40.5%, n = 15) or hypertension (57.2%, n = 12) experienced significantly more severe disease courses. The same groups also experienced worse health outcomes (12.5%; n = 7, 16.7%; n = 6 and 20%; n = 4 respectively). However, there was no significant association between other sociodemographic variables such as gender, marital status and alcohol intake or smoking with disease severity or health outcomes. Similarly, the disease severity was not found to be higher among patients with dyslipidaemia or pre-existing lung conditions and they had similar health outcomes to those without these comorbidities.Conclusion: Old age, diabetes mellitus, and hypertension are associated with significantly higher disease severity and worse health outcomes following COVID-19. Further studies are suggested to provide a clearer picture regarding the factors that predict COVID-19 outcome.