Background: SARS‐CoV‐2 was first reported in December 2019. The severity of COVID-19 infection ranges from being asymptomatic to severe infection leading to death. The aim of the study is to describe the clinical characteristics and outcomes of hospitalized COVID-19 patients within the largest government healthcare facilities in the Emirate of Abu Dhabi, the capital of UAE.
Methods: This paper is a retrospective cross-sectional study of all patients admitted to Abu Dhabi Healthcare services facilities (SEHA) between the period of March 1st until May 31st with a laboratory-confirmed test of SARS-CoV2, known as Coronavirus disease (COVID19). Variation in characteristics, comorbidities, laboratory values, length of hospital stay, treatment received and outcomes were examined. Data was collected from electronic health records available at SEHA health information system.
Results: There were 9390 patients included; patients were divided into severe and non-severe groups. 721 (7.68%) patients required intensive care while the remaining majority (92.32 %) were mild-moderate cases. The mean age (41.8 years) is less than the mean age reported globally. Our population had a male predominance and variable representation of different nationalities. Three major comorbidities were noted, hypertension, diabetes mellitus and chronic kidney disease. The laboratory tests that were significantly different between the severe and the non-severe groups were LDH, Ferritin, CRP, neutrophil count, IL6 and creatinine level. The major antiviral therapies the patients have received were a combination of hydroxychloroquine and favipiravir. The overall in hospital mortality was 1.63% while severe group mortality rate was 19.56 %. The Death rate in the adults younger than 30 years was noted to be higher compared to elderly patients above 60 years, 2.3% and 0.9 % respectively.
Conclusion: our analysis suggests that Abu Dhabi had a relatively low morbidity and mortality rate and a high recovery rate compared to published rates in China, Italy and The United States. The demographic of the population is younger and has an international representation. The country had the highest testing rate in relation to the population volume. We believe the early identification and younger demographic had affected the favorable comparative outcome in general with early identification of cases leading to a lower mortality rate.