Comparative Study of Clinical Symptoms and Paraclinical Findings of COVID-19 Patients Hospitalized in Yasuj City According to RT-PCR Test Results

Background: COVID-19 is considered the most dangerous virus of the coronavirus family. COVID-19 is detected by RT-PCR from nasal and oropharyngeal swab samples. The present study was conducted to compare the clinical, paraclinical, and demographic characteristics of COVID-19 patients admitted to Shahid Jalil Hospital in Yasuj City in two RT-PCR+ and RT-PCR- groups. Methods: The present study is a retrospective descriptive study. Which was done by reviewing the files of 330 patients by random sampling method. Results: There was no significant difference between RT-PCR+ and RT-PCR- groups in most of the demographic characteristics, including age and gender. A significant correlation was observed between the RT-PCR test result and the clinical symptoms of fever, headache, impaired sense of smell, impaired sense of taste, nightmares, and heaviness in the chest (p value < 0.05). A statistically significant relationship between RT-PCR results and the number of neutrophils, BUN, and platelets was observed (p value < 0.05). Conclusion: With the help of some clinical symptoms such as loss of sense of taste, smell, and fever, it can be used to diagnose COVID-19 disease in the early stages of the disease when the patient's RT-PCR test is negative due to low viral load.