Basrah experience among 6404 patients with COVID-19

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Abstract

Background

The first case of COVID-19 report in Basrah was in early March 2020. This study aimed to assess some of the characteristics of patients with COVID-19 in Basrah for the period from March, 4 th to September, 8 th 2020.

Methods

Retrospective database analysis of the University of Basrah database. All RT-PCR positive patients during the study period were enrolled.

Results

Of 6404 patients included, male constituted 54.8%. Healthcare workers constituted 11.4% of the infected people. Of health care workers 16.1% were physicians. The mean age for the whole cohort was 39±16.7 years; adolescents and children younger than 20 years constituted 12.4%. The peak age was 31-40 years, those aged 61 years or more constituted 9.8% only. The case fatality rate was 3% (males 55.2% and females 44.8%). No death was reported in adolescents or children. The highest death rate was among those age 61 years or more.

Conclusion

The situation of COVID-19 infection in Basrah, Iraq is evolving like other countries. Furthers studies are needed to assess associated comorbidities, treatment lines, outcomes and variables associated with mortality.

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  1. SciScore for 10.1101/2020.10.19.20215384: (What is this?)

    Please note, not all rigor criteria are appropriate for all manuscripts.

    Table 1: Rigor

    Institutional Review Board StatementIACUC: The study was approved by the ethical committee of Basrah University.
    Randomizationnot detected.
    Blindingnot detected.
    Power Analysisnot detected.
    Sex as a biological variablenot detected.

    Table 2: Resources

    No key resources detected.


    Results from OddPub: We did not detect open data. We also did not detect open code. Researchers are encouraged to share open data when possible (see Nature blog).


    Results from LimitationRecognizer: We detected the following sentences addressing limitations in the study:
    The case fatality was very low in Saudi Arabia of around 0.2% and in outher countries ranging 2.7-7%% according to the disease waves.(17, 18) Study limitation: We think that the prevalence of COVID-19 infection is underestimated due to multiple factors, such as: Majority of people with symptoms compatible with COVID-19, do not undergo RT-PCR testing, majority of mild to moderate cases were treated in the private sector without RT-PCR testing. Beside that a lot of death at home were not labeled as COVID-19 because no tests have been done. Comorbidities and smoking status were not studied in this report and it will the project for future work.

    Results from TrialIdentifier: No clinical trial numbers were referenced.


    Results from Barzooka: We did not find any issues relating to the usage of bar graphs.


    Results from JetFighter: We did not find any issues relating to colormaps.


    Results from rtransparent:
    • Thank you for including a conflict of interest statement. Authors are encouraged to include this statement when submitting to a journal.
    • Thank you for including a funding statement. Authors are encouraged to include this statement when submitting to a journal.
    • No protocol registration statement was detected.

    About SciScore

    SciScore is an automated tool that is designed to assist expert reviewers by finding and presenting formulaic information scattered throughout a paper in a standard, easy to digest format. SciScore checks for the presence and correctness of RRIDs (research resource identifiers), and for rigor criteria such as sex and investigator blinding. For details on the theoretical underpinning of rigor criteria and the tools shown here, including references cited, please follow this link.