Clinical and epidemiological characteristics of the new coronavirus infection COVID-19: data from a Federal hospital in Samara region

Objective: to analyze clinical and epidemiological characteristics of patients with COVID-19 treated in a federal hospital of Samara region and their association with disease severity. Materials and methods. We analyzed the results of clinical and epidemiological examination of 361 patients with COVID-19 divided into two groups: patients with moderate disease (n = 285) and patients with severe disease (n = 76). All study participants received inpatient treatment in the federal hospital of Samara State Medical University in 2020. The diagnosis was verified using enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA) and/or polymerase chain reaction (PCR). Results. There were no significant differences in the gender and age of COVID-19 patients in the two groups compared. Patients in Group 2 were slightly older than those in Group 1 (62.5 years (range: 53.0-68.8) vs 57.0 years (47.0-65.0) (trend; р = 0.008). The disease severity correlated with the time to hospitalization: the longer patients stayed at home, the more likely they developed severe disease. Such symptoms as sore throat and rhinorrhea were associated with a less severe disease, whereas shortness of breath, any changes in consciousness, nausea, and stool disorders on weeks 2-3 of the disease correlated with a more severe course. The proportion of patients with concomitant diseases (especially, more than one) was significantly higher in patients with severe COVID-19 than in patients with moderate COVID-19 (74% vs 63%).