Epidemiological Characteristics of COVID-19Patients in Kütahya Province in Turkey

Abstract

Aim: It is aimed to evaluate the epidemiological features of COVID-19 patients and risk factors affectinghospitalization. Methods: This cross-sectional study included 883 adult patients whose Polymerase Chain Reaction testswere positive for SARS-CoV-2 in Kütahya province until July 2020. The patients were questioned interms of their socio-demographic characteristics, drugs, comorbidities, and symptoms. They weredivided into two groups according to their hospitalization status and outpatient treatment status. Results: There were 473 female and 410 male participants in the study. 532 of 883 adult patients werehospitalized. The most common symptoms were fatigue (47.9%), myalgia (44.7%), and loss of smelland taste (32.4%). Hospitalization was associated with advanced age, low income, presence of additionaldisease, several symptoms, smoking, comorbidities including diabetes mellitus, chronic kidney diseases,cardiovascular and respiratory system. In multivariant analyses, advance age, low income, fever, dyspneaand chronic lung diseases were associated with increased odds of hospital admission.Conclusion: In our study, it was found that independent risk factors for hospitalization were advancedage, low income, fever, shortness of breath, and chronic lung diseases. We think that determining riskfactors for hospitalization may be a guide for clinicians in predicting patient prognosis.