Clinical features of COVID-19 patients in Abdul Wahab Sjahranie Hospital, Samarinda, Indonesia (Preprint)

BACKGROUND Coronavirus Disease (COVID-19) is caused by SARS-CoV-2 infection. Indonesia officially established the first COVID-19 confirmation case in early March 2020. East Kalimantan has been determined as a candidate for the new capital of Indonesia since 2019. This makes Abdul Wahab Sjahranie Hospital Samarinda as the largest hospital there has been designated as the main referral hospital for COVID-19 patients in East Kalimantan. OBJECTIVE We report the epidemiological, clinical, laboratory, and radiological characteristics of these patients. METHODS All patients with laboratory-confirmed COVID-19 by RT-PCR were admitted to Abdul Wahab Sjahranie Hospital in Samarinda. We retrospectively collected and analyzed data on patients with standardized data collection from medical records. RESULTS By May 8, 2020, 18 admitted hospital patients had been identified as having laboratory-confirmed COVID-19. Most of the infected patients were men (16 [88.9%] patients); less than half had underlying diseases (7 [38.9%] patients). Common symptoms at the onset of illness were cough (16 [88.9%] patients), sore throat (8 [44.4%] patients), and fever (8 [44.4%] patients). Laboratory findings of some patients on admission showed anemia. Levels of aspartate aminotransferase (AST) and alanine aminotransferase (ALT) were increased in 10 (55.6%) of 18 patients. On admission, abnormalities in chest x-ray images were detected in 6 (33.3%) patients who had pneumonia. The mean duration from the first hospital admission to discharge was 33.1 ± 9.2 days. The majority of COVID-19 patients are male. COVID-19 comorbidities were found in several patients. The main clinical symptoms of COVID-19 in this study were cough, sore throat, and fever. The abnormal laboratory finding in COVID-19 patients is anemia, an increase in AST and ALT levels, and chest x-ray images of pneumonia. All patients are in mild condition. The average length of hospital admission patients to discharge is more than 30 days. CONCLUSIONS Although all patients are in mild condition, the inability of a local laboratory to check for positive confirmation of COVID-19 makes the admission period of the patient in the hospital very long. The availability of RT-PCR tests at Abdul Wahab Sjahranie Hospital Samarinda will greatly assist the further management of COVID-19 patients.