Clinical Characteristics and symptoms of patients with the recurrence of COVID-19 and underlying disease in Taleghani and Valiasr hospitals in Khuzestan, Iran

Background and aims: Due to the widespread prevalence of COVID-19 in the world, especially in Iran, this study attempted to evaluate risk factors associated with the recurrent of COVID-19 patients in health-care centers of Khuzestan province.Methods: This study was conducted on patients admitted to Taleghani and Valiasr hospitals, with positive COVID-19 real-time-polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR), from 20 February 2020 to 19 January 2021. Meanwhile, 398 cases with the recurrent of COVID-19 were included. Investigations were conducted as follows, demographic characteristics, clinical signs and symptoms, and underlying disease, history of ICU hospitalization, international travel, and contacts with foreign nationals and mortality. The collected data were recorded by laboratory experts.Results: Out of 398 patients, 251 (63.07%) were male, and 147 (36.93%) were female. The average age was 49.39 years old. None of the patients were hospitalized in ICU. Most patients were in 30-40 years (24.37%). International travelling and contact with foreigners was observed in only 25 (6.28%) cases. The most underlying diseases were hypertension and diabetes. In this study, the number of patients who died was 253 (63.57%).Conclusion: Due to the severe symptoms and higher mortality among COVID-19 recurrent patients with underlying disease, it is recommended to give more attention to COVID-19 recurrent patients with underlying diseases such as diabetes and hypertension. Presenting the results of this study to health-care systems might help a better understanding of risk-factors associated with the recurrent COVID-19 disease, leading to a better control and management of this patients.Keywords: COVID-19, SARS-CoV-2, clinical characteristics, recurrence, Khuzestan, Ira