Clinical Characteristics of Patients with COVID-19 in Saudi Arabia - A Single Center Experience

What is it about?

Abstract Background Saudi Arabia announced its first case of novel coronavirus (COVID-19) on March 2, 2020. We report relevant clinical features and outcome of 51 patients admitted with laboratory confirmed COVID-19 infection. Methods This is a retrospective review of consecutive patients admitted with diagnosis of COVID-19 confirmed by Real Time Reverse Transcription Polymerase Chain Reaction (RT-PCR). Clinical, laboratory, radiology and treatment outcome data were obtained by reviewing electronic medical record. Results Median (Q1, Q3) age was 49 (30, 66) years and twenty-eight (55%) patients were female. The most common symptoms were cough (69%), fatigue (67%), fever (63%), Anorexia (37%), headache (29%) and dyspnea (27%). Thirty (59%) patients had mild disease while 21 (41%) were categorized as severe. The most notable laboratory findings were lymphopenia, high neutrophil to lymphocyte ratio and elevated levels of C-reactive protein, ferritin and D-dimer. Twenty-three (45%) patients had normal chest imaging, 6 (12%) had focal and 22 (43%) bilateral opacities. Forty-four (86%) patients received combination of azithromycin and hydroxychloroquine, 14 (27%) antiviral Lopinavir/Ritonavir (Kaletra) and Ribavirin, either alone or in combination and 24 (47%) broad spectrum antibiotics. Seven (14%) patients were transferred to the intensive care unit. Three patients required invasive mechanical ventilation of which two had successful extubation. Two patients died of which one had "do not resuscitate order" and was not intubated. Thirty-five (69%) patients recovered. Mean (± SD) duration of time to negative COVID-19 RT-PCR from symptom onset was 21 (± 7.3) days. Conclusion This is the first study of COVID-19 cohort in Saudi Arabia. Cough, fatigue, fever, anorexia, headache and dyspnea were the most common symptoms. Twenty-one (41%) patients had severe disease. Thirty-five (69%) patient recovered and there were 2 (4%) deaths.

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Photo by CDC on Unsplash

Photo by CDC on Unsplash

Why is it important?

An insight into clinical characteristics and risk factors of COVID-19 patients in Saudi Arabia

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