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. 2022 Oct 27;63(3):E375-E382.
doi: 10.15167/2421-4248/jpmh2022.63.3.2037. eCollection 2022.

First wave of the COVID-19 pandemic in Madrid: handling the unexpected in a tertiary hospital

Lucía Hernández-Rivas  1 , Eva Fernández-Breton  1 , Teresa Pedraz  1 , Claudia García-Vaz  1 , José Miguel Cantero-Escribano  1 , Mercedes Martínez-Castro  1 , Verónica Pérez-Blanco  1 , Ana Robustillorodela  1
Affiliations

First wave of the COVID-19 pandemic in Madrid: handling the unexpected in a tertiary hospital

Lucía Hernández-Rivas et al. J Prev Med Hyg. .

Abstract

Introduction: The COVID-19 pandemic was declared on March 11th, 2020. By the end of January, the first imported cases were detected in Spain and, by March, the number of cases was growing exponentially, causing the implementation of a national lockdown. Madrid has been one of the most affected regions in terms of both cases and deaths. The aim of this study is to describe the epidemic curve and the epidemiological features and outcomes of COVID-19 patients hospitalized in La Paz University Hospital, a tertiary hospital located in Madrid.

Methods: We included confirmed and probable COVID-19 cases admitted to our centre from February 26th to June 1st, 2020. We studied trends in hospitalization and ICU admissions using joinpoint regression analysis.

Results: A sample of 2970 patients was obtained. Median age was 70 years old (IQR 55-82) and 54.8% of them were male. ICU admission rate was 8.7% with a mortality rate of 45.7%. Global CFR was 21.8%. Median time from symptom onset to death was 14 days (IQR 9-22).

Conclusions: We detected an admissions peak on March 21st followed by a descending trend, matching national and regional data. Age and sex distribution were comparable to further series nationally and in western countries.

Keywords: COVID-19; Epidemic curve; Pandemic; SARS-CoV-2.

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Figures

Fig. 1.
Fig. 1.
COVID-19 hospitalized population pyramid. Age and gender distribution of hospitalizations are shown here. Hospitalization status is added in terms of ICU admissions and deaths, showing its age and gender distribution
Fig. 2.
Fig. 2.
Length of stay in days of hospitalization. Boxplot distribution is shown here.
Fig. 3.
Fig. 3.
Time from symptom onset to hospital admission. Boxplot distribution is shown.
Fig. 4.
Fig. 4.
Number of COVID-19 cases by date of diagnosis and date of symptom onset.
Fig. 5.
Fig. 5.
Joinpoint regression model: admitted patients by date of diagnosis.
Fig. 6.
Fig. 6.
Joinpoint regression model: ICU admissions.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

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