Clinical and epidemiological characteristics and outcomes of patients hospitalized for COVID-19 in Douala, Cameroon

the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) is a disease that originated from Wuhan in December 2019. It rapidly spread across the globe causing high mortality especially among the elderly. Africa though not spared has limited studies regarding its effects on its population. We therefore sought to describe t...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:	The Pan African medical journal Vol. 38; no. 246; p. 246
Main Authors:	Mekolo, David, Bokalli, Francois Adrien, Chi, Fru McWright, Fonkou, Steve Beukou, Takere, Mbachan Maseoli, Ekukole, Conrald Metuge, Balomoth, Jean Moise Bikoy, Nsagha, Dickson Shey, Essomba, Noel Emmanuel, Njock, Louis Richard, Ngowe, Marcellin Ngowe
Format:	Journal Article
Language:	English
Published:	Uganda African Field Epidemiology Network 2021 The African Field Epidemiology Network The Pan African Medical Journal
Subjects:	Adult Aged Asymptomatic cameroon Cameroon - epidemiology clinical characteristics Confidence intervals Coronaviruses COVID-19 COVID-19 - drug therapy COVID-19 - epidemiology COVID-19 - mortality COVID-19 - therapy Dyspnea Epidemiology Family physicians Female Hospitalization - statistics & numerical data Hospitals Humans Illnesses Infections Intensive care Intensive Care Units - statistics & numerical data Laboratories Length of Stay - statistics & numerical data Male Medical imaging Middle Aged Middle East respiratory syndrome Mortality outcomes Pandemics Patients Pneumonia Population Real-Time Polymerase Chain Reaction Respiratory diseases Respiratory distress syndrome Retrospective Studies Reverse Transcriptase Polymerase Chain Reaction Sepsis Severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 Young Adult Cameroon Douala Cameroon COVID-19 epidemiology Cameroon outcomes clinical characteristics
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Summary:	the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) is a disease that originated from Wuhan in December 2019. It rapidly spread across the globe causing high mortality especially among the elderly. Africa though not spared has limited studies regarding its effects on its population. We therefore sought to describe the epidemiological and clinical characteristics of COVID-19 in Douala, Cameroon. we conducted a single-centre, retrospective, and observational study by reviewing records of patients managed for COVID-19 between the 8 March 2020 and 31 , May 2020. Cases were confirmed by real-time reverse transcriptase - polymerase chain reaction and were analysed for epidemiological, demographic, clinical, and radiological features. Outcomes were either clinical improvement by Day-28 or in-hospital mortality. we analyzed 282 case files, 192 were males (M: F=2: 1). The mean age was 52 (+/- 15) years. Hypertension and diabetes accounted for 75% of the chronic medical conditions identified. Main presenting complaints were dyspnea, cough, asthenia, and fever (55-60%). Radiographic analysis showed a ground-glass appearance in 85% of cases. Chloroquine/Hydroxychloroquine was the most (91.8%) frequently used drug in management protocols, 35% needed oxygen supplementation while 6 patients were intubated. Severe pneumonia (11.3%) was the commonest complication. They were 91 admissions in the intensive care unit. The average length of hospital stay was 10 (+/- 5) days. The mortality rate was 32%. our findings are concordant with universally reported data of COVID-19 hospitalised patients. These parameters are essential in designing effective prevention and control programs aimed at reducing the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic particularly in countries with limited resources.
Bibliography:	ObjectType-Article-1 SourceType-Scholarly Journals-1 ObjectType-Feature-2 content type line 23 ObjectType-Undefined-3
ISSN:	1937-8688 1937-8688
DOI:	10.11604/pamj.2021.38.246.28169