Clinical Characteristics and Outcomes of Almost 24000 Hospitalized Patients with COVID-19 by Sex and Severity During the First 12 Months of the Pandemic in Yazd, the Central City of Iran

Abstract This study was designed and implemented to analyze and establish documents related to the above cases in the first to third COVID-19 epidemic waves for the use of researchers and doctors during and after the epidemic. The current case series study was conducted on 24563 thousand hospitalized COVID-19 patients by examining their clinical characteristics within a one-year period from the beginning of the pandemic on 02.22.2020 to 02.14.2021, which included the first to the third waves, based on gender and severity of COVID-19. The mean age of the participants was 56 ± 20.71, and 51.8% were male. Out of a total of 24563 thousand hospitalized COVID-19 patients until February 2021, there were 2185 mortalities (9.8%) and 2559 cases of severe COVID-19 (13.1%). The median duration of hospitalization was 13 days for patients with severe cases of COVID-19 (IQR-7-23). The rate of hospital mortality was higher in severe (37.8%) than in non-severe (4.8%) cases of COVID-19, While the risk of severe cases increased significantly in the third and early fourth waves (HR=1.672, 95% CI: 1.48-1.89, P<0.001). Also, the risk of contracting severe COVID-19 increased significantly in patients aged ≥ 65 years old (HR=2.1, 95%CI: 1.1.93-2.72, P<0.001). As shown by the results, the rates of hospital mortality (9.3% vs. 8.5%) and severe cases of COVID-19 (13.6% vs. 12.5%) were higher among men than women (P<0.01). In our study, the mortality rate and severity of COVID-19 were within the scope of global studies. Men experienced higher severity and mortality than women. The was a significantly higher prevalence of old age and underlying diseases in individuals with severe COVID-19. Our data also showed that patients with a previous history of COVID-19 had a more severe experience of COVID-19, while most of these patients were also significantly older and had an underlying disease.