Title: EFFECT OF COVID 19 PANDEMIC ON THE GLOBAL WORLD

Biography:

National COVID-19 Coordination and RCCE Consultant.Addis Ababa, Ethiopia.

Abstract

BACKGROUND: Since the occurrence of COVID-19 in  the world,it has claimed nearly 1.39 million human lives in the world and more than 1500 lives in Ethiopia. The number of deaths is increasing with variable distribution in the world. Despite its increasing fatality, the clinical characteristics of the deceased patients  are  not  yet fully  known.  Analyzing  the  clinical characteristics of deceased patients will help to improve the outcome  of infected patients.  Hence,  this  study  aimed  to determine the clinical characteristics of patients who died due to COVID-19 in Ethiopia.
METHODS: Hospital based multi-center cross-sectional study was conducted using chart review of deceased patients. Since the number of COVID-19 related deaths was limited, all consecutive COVID-19 related hospital deaths were analyzed. The data was entered into and analyzed using SPSS version 25.0. Descriptive statistics was used to explain the data collected from the survey.
RESULT: A total of 92 deceased patient charts were analyzed of these patients,65 (71%) were males. Age ranged from 17 to 92years (mean age being 59 years). On arrival vital signs, 60.5% of them had hypoxia, 49% had tachycardia and only 32% of patients had fever. Three fourth of the patients 64/85 had at least one comorbidity.   Diabetes  mellitus (DM)   was   the   commonest comorbidity accounting for 445.9%, followed by hypertension, 23/85(27%), and HIV/ AIDS, 15/85 (17.5%).
CONCLUSION: The results of this study showed that COVID-19  deceased patients presented with  respiratory failure  and hypoxia. However, less than a third of these patients had fever. In addition, the presence of comorbid illnesses and non-COVID-19 diseases like AIDS defining illness in significant amount needs further  study  to  identify  their  level  of contribution  to  the increasing burden of COVID-19 deaths in Ethiopia.
KEYWORDS: Mortality, COVID-19, Ethiopia.