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. 2022 Mar 29;37(1):317.
doi: 10.4102/sajid.v37i1.317. eCollection 2022.

Experiencing COVID-19 at a large district level hospital in Cape Town: A retrospective analysis of the first wave

Nadè Claassen  1 , Gerhard van Wyk  1 , Sanet van Staden  1 , Michiel M D Basson  1
Affiliations

Experiencing COVID-19 at a large district level hospital in Cape Town: A retrospective analysis of the first wave

Nadè Claassen et al. S Afr J Infect Dis. .

Abstract

Background: The coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic in tertiary hospitals from South Africa and world wide have been well described, but limited data are published on the findings. This article aimed to describe patients admitted to a large district hospital in Cape Town, South Africa, during the first wave of severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) Infections. To compare the clinical features and further investigate survivors and deceased COVID-19 patients.

Methods: A single centre retrospective review of clinical records and laboratory data of patients admitted with a positive SARS-CoV-2 polymerase chain reaction (PCR) from April 2020 to August 2020.

Results: A total of 568 patients with a positive SARS-CoV-2 PCR were admitted to the study centre for one night or longer and of these patients 154 (27%) died of COVID-19. The median age of patients who died of COVID-19 was 66 years and 53 years for survivors. Hypertension, diabetes mellitus and obesity were the commonest comorbidities in patients who survived and died of COVID-19. There were no major differences when comparing the severity of infiltrates on chest X-rays (CXR) of COVID-19 survivors with deceased patients. More than half (58%) of deceased patients died within 3 days following admission to hospital. A substantial number of patients who died of COVID-19 had associated acute kidney injury (n = 79, 51%).

Conclusion: Acute kidney injury had a high prevalence amongst patients who died of COVID-19. Delays in transfer to intensive care unit (ICU), limited ICU capacity and disease severity contributed to a substantial number of patients dying within 3 days of admission.

Keywords: COVID-19; admissions; comorbidities; diabetes; district level hospital; first wave of infections; hypertension; mortality.

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Conflict of interest statement

The authors declare that they have no financial or personal relationships that may have inappropriately influenced them in writing this article.

Figures

FIGURE 1
FIGURE 1
Comparison of reasons for admission to internal medicine during the months of February 2020 and June 2020.
FIGURE 2
FIGURE 2
Flow diagram detailing number of patients admitted, survived and died.
FIGURE 3
FIGURE 3
Timing of death since the day of admission. N = 149.
FIGURE 4
FIGURE 4
Acute complications amongst patients who died of COVID-19.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

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