Assessment of COVID-19 Severity Levels and Associated Factors Among Patients Admitted to the Treatment Centers in Southern Ethiopia

Abstract

Background: COVID-19, a highly impactful infectious disease, has been observed to result in psychological distress, organ impairment, and mortality. The severity and consequences of the illness appear to vary based on geographical location and individual characteristics. Understanding the disease and optimizing resource distribution through early classification depend on having data on the severity of COVID-19 patients. There is a dearth of information in this particular region regarding the severity of COVID-19 patients and related factors. Therefore, this study used an ordinal logistic regression model to determine the severity levels of COVID-19 and its associated components.

Materials and methods: A retrospective follow-up study was conducted on COVID-19 patients admitted between May 30, 2020, and October 15, 2021, at care centers in southern Ethiopia. 845 patients were included in this research. The mean (standard deviation) and median (interquartile range) were used to summarize the data. A multivariable ordinal logistic regression model was used to study the association between independent variables and COVID-19 severity levels.

Results: In terms of the severity of the disease, 12.07% of patients had severe COVID-19, 7.81% had critical disease, and 6.39% had moderate disease. 8.28% of the 845 patients died, while 88.88% of them made a full recovery. Older age (> = 40 years) (AOR = 5.75, 95% CI = 3.99, 8.27), comorbidities (AOR = 4.17, 95% CI = 3.03, 5.88), and low oxygen saturation (AOR = 3.44, 95% CI = 2.23, 5.56) were significantly linked to higher odds of experiencing more severe levels of COVID-19 compared to their counterparts.

Conclusion: 7.81% of patients were critically ill, while more than one-tenth (12.07%) were considered severely ill. Low oxygen saturation, comorbidities, and advanced age were found to be significantly associated with COVID-19 severity. Therefore, it is crucial to manage comorbidities, provide special treatment, and provide COVID-19 patients with underlying medical issues more attention due to the higher risk of poor outcomes. To speed up their recovery, medical professionals should regularly monitor and provide specialized care to older COVID-19 patients. In order to identify patients who are more likely to experience a severe illness and to better manage their treatment, it is imperative that oxygen saturation levels in COVID-19 patients be promptly identified and monitored.