Clinical Characteristics of Patients with COVID-19 at the Time of Hospital Admission in the First Five Months of the Pandemic in the Republic of Panama

Abstract

Background: In December 2019, an outbreak of pneumonia caused by a new coronavirus was reported in Wuhan, China. In Panama, the first case was diagnosed on March 9, 2020.  The primary objective was to define the clinical characteristics of our population at the time of hospital admission.
Methods: Retrospective, descriptive, multicenter study of hospitalized patients with a confirmed diagnosis of SARS-CoV-2 infection, from March 1 to July 31, 2020, in 7 hospitals in the Republic of Panama. 
Results: We evaluated 837 files. 60.7% were male and the mean age was 53.6 years (P25-75; 42 - 65). Average number of days between onset of symptoms to hospitalization was 6 days (P25-75; 3-8). The most common symptoms were fever 73,8%, dyspnea 71,1% and cough 64,4%; and the most frequent comorbidities were hypertension 35,2% and diabetes mellitus 17,7 %. 78.5% of the patient were in the moderate/severe phase. The PaO2 was 74 mmHg in mild disease (P25-75;  62 – 85 mmHg) and 58 mmHg in severe cases (P25-75;  48 – 66), the D-dimer 578 ng/ml (P25-75;  309 – 1178), ferritin 666 ng/ml (P25-75; 329-1203,5), interleukin-6 26,8 pg/ml (P25-75;  8,9 – 87,3), C-reactive protein 54,2 mg/L (P25-75; 16,7 – 128 mg/L). The hospital stay was 10 days (P25-75; 6 – 15), and 81.9% of the patients were discharged home. 18.1% died, mostly male, older than 60 years.
Conclusions: The patients who were hospitalized were men of productive age, with comorbidities of hypertension and diabetes.