Introduction:

Primary care is the gateway to health systems. During the COVID-19 pandemic, their work is transcendental since the timely identification and proper assessment of cases impacts their prognosis and outcome. We analyze care prior to hospitalization, as part of primary care. We identified a gap in characterizing public and private care, as well as the pharmacological treatments used.

Objective:

Examine public and private medical care, the type of pharmacological treatment, prior to hospital admission and its association with mortality from COVID-19 in the State of Hidalgo, Mexico.

Material and methods:

A multicenter, descriptive and retrospective study was carried out in hospitalized patients in six public hospitals in the State of Hidalgo, Mexico. 596 cases were analyzed, positive for SARS-CoV-2. Binary logistic regression was performed to examine the relationship between medical care prior to hospitalization and mortality, as well as the relationship between the type of care (public and private) and drug treatment.

Results:

58% of the patients referred care prior to their hospital admission (86% private, 14% public). Mortality was related to age, sex, obesity, CKD chronic renal failure, previous care and the days between onset of symptoms and hospitalization. Private medical care was related to the use of antibiotics (p < 0.05).

Conclusions:

Private medical care prior to hospitalization for COVID-19 plays an important role in the health emergency. It is necessary to train medical personnel, in these sectors, to promote adequate pharmacological prescription, and implement epidemiological surveillance mechanisms for suspected or prematurely discarded cases, as critical points to improve timely hospital care and reduce mortality.