Vol. 7, Issue 5, Part D (2021)

Aim: The main aim of this study was to assess the clinical presentation of COVID-19 along with the risk of other systemic co-morbidities in the severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) positive patients.

Methods: A total of 100 patients met the inclusion criteria and gave their signed informed consent. A questionnaire of 20 questions regarding the general and systemic health condition was given to these patients during the convalescence. A descriptive statistic was performed. Data were analyzed to assess the statistical significance.

Results: The results showed the most prevalent clinical symptom was fatigue 74% (male=45%, female=29%) followed by fever 71% (male=48%, female=23%), cough 63% (male=37%, female=26%), dyspnea 45% (male=22%, female=23%) and diarrhea 41% (male=24%, female=17%). The most prevalent comorbidities were hypertension 49% (male=36%, female=13%) followed by diabetes 34% (male=26%, female=8%), respiratory diseases 28% (male=24%, female=4%) and cardiovascular disease 16% (male=11%, male=5%). Further correlation was analyzed between each sign & symptom & systemic co-morbidities with respect to gender. No statistical significance was observed between fever, cough, fatigue, diarrhea with respect to gender. However, statistical significant value was observed in dyspnea with respect to gender. (p value = (0.012). Among co-morbidities, statistical significant value was observed in hypertension (p value=0.03), diabetes (p value=0.045) and respiratory diseases (p value=0.003) with respect to gender. No correlation was seen between cardiovascular disease and gender.

Conclusion: This study depicts the effects of COVID-19 on systemic health of patients thus emphasizing that the disease can be present in various forms and the healthcare workers need to be extra vigilant, approaching all patients with a high index of suspicion. Further studies are necessary to better understand the symptoms of this new virus in order to faster detect its presence in humans.