Authors: Shazia Zeb , Rizwana Shahid , Muhammad Umar , Qaiser Aziz , Muhammad Omar Akram , Muhammad Khurram , Muhammad Mujeeb Khan

Abstract

Background and Objective: COVID-19 has emerged as a serious threat to the public health. It has been declared as Public Health Emergency of International Concern (PHEIC) because of morbidity and mortality associated with it all over the world. The objective of the present study was to analyze COVID-19 related fatalities in terms of comorbidity, length of hospital stays and critical illness in Allied hospitals of Rawalpindi Medical University. Methods: A retrospective hospital data-based research was carried out on n = 25 fatalities registered in three Allied hospitals (Rawalpindi Institute of Urology & Transplantation, Benazir Bhutto Hospital and Holy Family Hospital) of Rawalpindi Medical University. The data included age, gender, date of admission and death, severity of illness, comorbidity, oxygen administration or ventilator support and was gathered through consecutive sampling. The data was analyzed by using SPSS version 25.0. Fisher’s Exact test was applied to determine statistical significance of association between comorbidity and need for ventilation. Statistical significance of association between length of hospital stay and comorbidity was verified by independent sample t-test. Results: Of the total n = 25 COVID-19 related fatalities in Allied hospitals, 76% were males. The mean age of study subjects was 55.9 ± 15.28 years. The greatest number of overall deaths was among 51 – 70 years old patients. About 44% fatalities had comorbid states with hypertension and diabetes constituting the highest (45.4%) proportion. Comorbidity had statistically significant association (P < 0.02) with need of ventilators in critically ill patients while length of hospital stays depicted insignificant association with comorbidity (P > 0.80). Conclusion: People above the age of 50 years are more likely to die due to COVID-19. Comorbid states of hypertension and diabetes should be carefully managed to avoid grave consequences.

Keywords: COVID-19, Comorbidity, Critical illness, Ventilator, Hospital stay, Hypertension, Diabetes.