THE SYMPTOMS AND CO-MORBIDITIES OF COVID-19 PATIENTS AT HOME ISOLATION IN INDIA

Abstract

Introduction: An Indian Government has issued the guidelines on home isolation for very mild/pre-symptomatic COVID-19 cases based on a proposal of the Directorate of Public Health and Preventive Medicine. This has originated when COVID-19 designated hospitals started to shift asymptomatic and stable patients to quarantine facilities to reserve beds for those in need of treatment. Objectives: To determine the prevalence of symptoms and co-morbidities of COVID-19 positive patients at home isolation OPD. Methods: This cross-sectional study was conducted at a designated COVID-19 tertiary care hospital in Pune, India, which had included all COVID-19 positive patients enrolled for the home isolation care from the 15th July to 15th August 2020. Results: There were total 639 adults out of which 362 were males and 277 females. The most common presenting symptom present in 49.4% cases was fever. Hypertension was the most prevalent comorbidity noticed in 10% of patients followed by Diabetes in 6.7%. The maximum time lag of positive COVID-19 test to registration for home isolation OPD of 8 days was observed in only 1 patient. The significant association was seen between symptom of fever with the adults (males) and in the age group of 31-50 years(p