Risk factors of COVID-19 severity among Tunisian patients in the Emergency Department of Sousse, Tunisia

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Published Sep 27, 2023
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Vol. 101 No. 4 (2023): Tunis Med apr 2023

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Mohamed Mahjoub
Care Quality and Safety Department- Farhat Hached Hospital- Sousse- Tunisia/ University of Sousse- Tunisia
Meriem Gallas
School of Health Sciences and Technology,Department of Master of Research in Health Sciences, Sousse, Tunisia/ University of Sousse- Tunisia
Souhir Chelly
Care Quality and Safety Department- Farhat Hached Hospital- Sousse- Tunisia/ University of Sousse- Tunisia
Zied Mezgar
Emergency and Intensive Care Department-Farhat Hached Hospital Sousse, Tunisia/ University of Sousse- Tunisia
Meriem Khrouf
Emergency and Intensive Care Department-Farhat Hached Hospital Sousse, Tunisia/ University of Sousse- Tunisia

Abstract

Introduction: Despite the spread of COVID-19 in Tunisia and its impact on people, health and economy, few studies have investigated the profile of COVID-19 Tunisian patients.


Aim: Determine the epidemiological, clinical, para-clinical and therapeutic characteristics patients and identify the associated factors of severity.


Methods: This is a retrospective study, conducted among confirmed COVID-19 patients consulting the hospital emergency department. We collected Data using from the patients’ computerized files. We performed Data entry and analysis using SPSS 22.


Results: We included 375 patients. The average age was 66.7±11.43 years with a sex ratio of 1.6. The most frequent comorbidities were diabetes (100%), hypertension (64.5%), and chronic heart disease (25.9%). The most frequent clinical signs were dyspnea (75.2%), asthenia (66.9%), cough (66.7%) and fever (60.3%). The most frequent biological abnormalities were biological inflammatory syndrome (96%) and elevation of troponin (69.3%). CT scans revealed lung damage in 34.1% of patients. As for treatments, 91.7% received antibiotics, 89% received corticosteroids, 89.3% received anticoagulants, and 85.1% received ventilation (42.6% non-invasive ventilation and 1.9% were intubated). Risk factors of severity were age, chronic heart disease and hypertension.


Conclusion: Knowing the particularities of Tunisian patients will help to install recommendations to improve the process of care and prevention.

Keywords:

COVID-19, Epidemiology, Risk Factors, Tunisia, North Africa

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