COVID 19 Presentation and Effect of Associated Co-morbidities on Severity of Illness at a Dedicated COVID Hospital in North India

Background: Corona virus (SARS-Cov-2) belongs to coronaviridiae family, first identified in December 2019 in Wuhan, China, thus named as corona virus disease-19 (COVID-19). Later on the World Health Organization declared the outbreak as Public Health Emergency of International Concern on 30 January 2020 and the pandemic on 11 March. Material and methods: A total of 332 patients, diagnosed with COVID-19 by Reverse transcription polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR), admitted in level iii, dedicated COVID hospital were evaluated for presenting symptoms and various comorbidities by detail history, body mass index, random blood sugar, x-ray chest, electrocardiography and kidney function test. Severity of disease was stratified as mild, severe, critical and mortality. Results: Of 332 patients, 205 (61%) were males and 127(38.3%) were females with average age 40.21 +/- 16.15.298 (89.8%) from urban area and 34 (10.2%) from rural area. Most common symptom was fever, in 192 (578%) patients, followed by cough, 136 (41.0%), sore throat, 95 (28.6%). The least common symptoms were rhinorrhoea (11%) and vomiting (11%). As per severity of disease, 251 (75.6%) were mild, 45 (13.6%) severe, 11 (3.3%) critical, and 12 (3.6%) expired. Conclusion: Older cases were at a risk of developing severe and critical illness. Males were found to have a more severe illness. Smokers have severe illness, compared to non-smokers, and the association between severity and smoking was significant. There was a fair and significant correlation between number of comorbidities and severity of illness. Among the comorbidities, chronic kidney disease has strongest association with mortality.