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. 2022 Aug;43(8):915-926.
doi: 10.15537/smj.2022.43.8.20220182.

Survival, mortality, and related comorbidities among COVID-19 patients in Saudi Arabia: A hospital-based retrospective cohort study

Mohammad A Al-Ghamdi  1 , Rajaa M Al-Raddadi  1 , Iman K Ramadan  1 , Ahmad A Mirza  1 , Hanan A Alsaab  1 , Hani F Alobaidi  1 , Mohammed Y Bin Hayd  1
Affiliations

Survival, mortality, and related comorbidities among COVID-19 patients in Saudi Arabia: A hospital-based retrospective cohort study

Mohammad A Al-Ghamdi et al. Saudi Med J. 2022 Aug.

Abstract

Objectives: To assess the survival of COVID-19 patients in Saudi Arabia and to investigate possible mortality predictors.

Methods: This is a retrospective cohort study involving 248 patients with severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus-2 who were admitted to the primary COVID-19 referral hospital in Jeddah between March and June of 2020. Socio-demographic characteristics, comorbidities, laboratory investigations, management protocols, complications, treatment options, and mortality data were extracted from electronic medical records. The time analysis began at the first signs of illness thorough discharge or death.

Results: Our study showed that in-hospital complications including heart failure followed by acute renal failure had the largest effect size on mortality (p<0.001). Elderly patients and those with comorbid asthma had a higher risk of death. Non-survivors presented more commonly with shortness of breath and fever than survivors. High D-Dimer level was a marginally significant indicator of mortality in the studied population (p=0.05). We did not find a significant benefit in relation to any treatment option.

Conclusion: Age, asthma, some in-hospital complications are important survival indicators in hospitalized COVID-19 patients. The controllable co-factors should be monitored and managed by healthcare workers to reduce mortality rates in those hospitalized with COVID-19.

Keywords: COVID-19; SARS-CoV-2; Saudi Arabia; inpatients; mortality.

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Figures

Figure 1
Figure 1
- Kaplan-Meier survival curve of significant predictors of mortality: A) age wise stratification; B) presence of comorbid asthma, C) normal versus low hemoglobin level; D) D-dimer level-based stratification; E) presence of acute renal failure as a complication; F) presence of heart failure as a complication. *Statistically significant at p<0.05. NA: not applicable, because of lack of event in the specified cohort at the 50th percentile.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

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