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Salud Pública de México

Print version ISSN 0036-3634

Salud pública Méx vol.63 n.4 Cuernavaca Jul./Aug. 2021  Epub Feb 27, 2023

https://doi.org/10.21149/12562 

Cartas al editor

Demographic and clinical characteristics of patients with Covid-19 in Chihuahua, Mexico

Carácterísticas demográficas y clínicas de pacientes con Covid-19 en Chihuahua, México

Arely Estefania Contreras-Pacheco, GP1 

María Isabel Saad-Manzanera, MI2 

Juan Manuel Chavira-Ruiz, IMR3 

María Fernanda Guerrero-Lara, MI2 

Ana Irene Pérez-Echavarría, GP1 

Jesús Solís-Valdez, MI2 

Manuel David Pérez-Ruiz, MD4 

María Guadalupe Torres-Álvarez, GSR4 

Luis Bernardo Enríquez-Sánchez, MD4  5  investigacionhcu@gmail.com

(1)Departamento de Investigación, Facultad de Medicina y Ciencias Biomédicas, Universidad Autónoma de Chihuahua. Chihuahua, Mexico.

(2) Servicio Social, Departamento de Investigación, Facultad de Medicina y Ciencias Biomédicas. Universidad Autónoma de Chihuahua. Chihuahua, Mexico.

(3) Departamento de Medicina Interna, Hospital General Regional No. 66, Instituto Mexicano del Seguro Social. Chihuahua, Mexico.

(4) Departamento de Cirugía General, Hospital Central del Estado de Chihuahua. Chihuahua, Mexico.

(5) Subdirección, Hospital Central Universitario de Chihuahua. Chihuahua, Mexico.


Dear editor: Rapid identification of Covid-19 cases it is crucial to achieve outbreak control. This is a challenge due to a wide range of clinical presentations.1 SARS-CoV-2 manifests like infections of the upper respiratory tract of varying severity and can cause multi-organ disease.2 The knowledge of all presentations is vital to prevent sustained transmission, to provide early and accurate diagnosis and treatment, and improve the prognosis.

We conducted a prospective cohort study at the Hospital Central Universitario de Chihuahua, Mexico, for suspected Covid-19 patients, to identify demographic characteristics and the clinical pictures manifested by Chihuahua state population.

In the cohorts we identified risk factors for hospitalization: ≥55 years (OR=15.35; 95%IC 3.53-66.78; p=0.002), male sex (OR=3.02 95%IC 1.27-7.19; p=0.009), comorbidities like a history of systemic arterial hypertension (SAH) (OR=7.11; 95%IC 2.06-24; p=0.000), and diabetes mellitus (DM) (OR=16.47; 95%IC 2.18-123.99; p=0.000); among the signs and symptoms studied, fever (OR=4.72; 95%IC 1.93-11.52; p=0.000) and dyspnea (OR=5.91; 95%IC 2.46-14.21; p=0.000).

The risk factors for mortality were: ≥65 years (OR=8.667; 95%IC 4.72-15.89; p=0.000), male sex (OR=1.522; 95%IC 0.87-2.63; p=0.013); comorbidities like SAH (OR=2.528, 95%IC 1.48-4.31; p=0.001) and chronic kidney disease (CKD) (OR=3.59, 95%IC 1.46-8.77; p=0.003). No signs and symptoms were identified as risk factors.

An attempt was made to find relationships between pathological history and clinical manifestations: CKD increases the probability of fever (OR=1.350, 95%IC 0.50-3.57); cancer increases the risk of myalgias and arthralgias (OR=3.146; 95%IC 0.38-25.99). Overweight or obesity (OR=1.70; 95%IC 0.77-3.73), CKD (OR=2.26; 95%IC 0.50-10.02) and cancer (OR=1.51; 95%IC 0.18-12.64) increase the possibility of headache.

Chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) increases the probability of chest pain (OR=1.327; 95%IC 0.251-7.013); cancer (OR=1.387; 95%IC 0.272-7.076) or CKD (OR=2.064; 95%IC 0.795-5.356) increases risk of diarrhea, although overweight or obesity is significantly related to this manifestation (p=0.035). SAH (p=0.000), overweight or obesity (p=0.002) and DM (p=0.000) are associated with headache.

In conclusion, clinical characteristics of our state population were identified, it was determined that an age ≥55 and/or male sex, comorbidities, SAH and DM; and symptoms of fever and headache are risk factors for hospitalization. It should be remembered that none of the signs and symptoms are characteristic for the diagnosis of Covid-19, however, due to the current situation, it is important to recognize them to isolate patients appropriately and avoid spread among the population. On the other hand, age of ≥65 years, male sex, and comorbidities are related to mortality, but none of the symptoms are related to it. It is important to keep comorbidities identified and under control to provide good management of these patients and their symptomatology.

References

Sun Y, Koh V, Marimuthu K, Ng OT, Young B, Vasoo S, et al. Epidemiological and clinical predictors of Covid-19. Clin Infect Dis. 2020;71(15):786-92. https://doi.org/10.1093/cid/ciaa322 [ Links ]

Liotta EM, Batra A, Clark JR, Shlobin NA, Hoffman SC, Orban ZS, Koralnik IJ. Frequent neurologic manifestations and encephalopathy-associated morbidity in Covid-19 patients. Ann Clin Transl Neurol. 2020;7(11):2221-30. https://doi.org/10.1002/acn3.51210 [ Links ]

Declaration of conflict of interests. The authors declare that they have no conflict of interests.

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