Clinical and demographic profile of COVID-19 patients- A cross-sectional study from a tertiary care medical college hospital from South India

Background: Acute respiratory illness with fever and respiratory symptoms such as cough and shortness of breath comprise the main clinical presentations of Corona virus disease (COVID-19).Clinical manifestations in COVID-19 shows significant regional variations. Objective of the study: To study the demographic and clinical profiles of laboratory confirmed COVID-19 patients in South India Methods: In this cross sectional study,patients diagnosed with COVID-19 by reverse transcriptase-polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR) test were taken up for the study.History of fever,throatpain,cough,breathlessness,malaise were taken.Blood pressure,respiratory rate,oxygen saturation were recorded.Data on co-morbid illnessness like diabetes,hypertension,renal disease were also noted .All these were correlated to assess the clinical course of COVID-19 Results: Of the total 518 patients,257(49.6%) patients were in the age group of 46 to 65 years and 309 (59.7 %) patients were males. History of fever was present in 349(67.38%) patients and cough was present in 291 (56.17%) patients. Throat pain and running nose was present in 291 (56.2%)and 110 (21.23%) patients respectively. Heart rate was between 60 and 100 beats per minute in 472 (80.3%) of patients and 102 (19.7%) patients had respiratory distress with respiratory rate ≥24. Oxygen saturation was between 90-93% in 57 (9.85%) patients and 87(16.8%) patients were on oxygen support with 21(4.1%) patients on non-invasive ventilation. A total of 291(56.2%) patients were treated with steroids. Diabetes mellitus was present in 214(41.3%), hypertension in 150 (29%) patients. Case fatality rate was 2.1% Conclusion: Severe disease and lower oxygen saturation was associated with older age and co-morbid diseases particularly diabete