Clinical characteristics of hospitalized patients with COVID-19: Results from multiple-center experience in Ardabil, Northwest of Iran

Abstract

Introduction: Since December 2019, coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) has rapidly expanded to cause a worldwide pandemic. Objectives: We aimed to report the clinical characteristics of infected patients at the first wave in northwest of Iran. Patients and Methods: In this study, the epidemiological, demographic, clinical, and laboratory data of 1152 confirmed patients with COVID-19 who were admitted to two main hospitals at the first outbreak in northwest of Iran were collected and analyzed. Results: The most common clinical manifestations at onset were cough (65.8%), dyspnea (40.2%), myalgia (37.8%), and fever (63.4%), loss of appetite (47%), chest pain (38.6%), and headache (49.4%). While the less common were agitation (17.3%), vomiting (22.2%), diarrhea (16.7%), and nausea (24.3%). Laboratory data indicated significant correlation between lymphocyte counts with the severity of the disease based on O2 saturation. Conclusion: Overall, assessment the clinical data of COVID-19 patients play a crucial role in understanding the outbreak of novel viral pneumonia, which helps to identify high risk individuals with COVID-19.