Association Between Clinical-Epidemiological Data and Complications in Covid-19 Patients Treated at a Tertiary University Referral Hospital in the Country

The SARS-CoV-2 pandemic resulted in high global morbidity and mortality. One observed aspect was the occurrence of COVID-19-associated complications. This research aimed to identify associations between clinical-epidemiological factors and complications in patients affected by the virus. This work presents preliminary data from a larger project in which respiratory samples from COVID-19 patients treated at a university hospital were sequenced throughout the pandemic’s evolution. This is a genomic epidemiology study in which 2,395 naso- and oropharyngeal secretion samples from 2,379 patients with confirmed SARS-CoV-2 infection by multiplex RT-PCR with Ct ≤ 30 were sequenced between April 2020 and January 2022. Clinical and epidemiological data were collected from electronic medical records and stored in a database (REDCap, 7.6.3). Genomic and clinical data were analyzed using RStudio (2022.07.01). A minimum interval of 60 days was considered to identify reinfections. Preliminary univariate analysis data are reported here, particularly those reaching statistical significance (p < 0.001). Several analyzed variables were statistically more associated with clinical complications. The mean age among individuals with complications was 57.5 years, whereas among patients without complications it was 41.2 years. Sex (25.2% men vs. 12.9% women) and ethnicity (Black 32.1%, mixed race 22.4% vs. White 16.2%) were statistically more related to complications. As expected, patients with more severe illness were significantly more affected by complications. Predisposing conditions most significantly associated with complications were diabetes mellitus, obesity, chronic kidney disease, immunodeficiencies, neoplasms, chronic cardiovascular, hepatic, hematologic, neurologic, and pulmonary diseases. Complications were also more associated with Gamma and Omicron variants. Complications were also more related to non-healthcare workers (41.9% vs. 1.6%). Vaccination was protective against complications: 9.5% of fully vaccinated individuals, 2.9% with booster, and 21.5% unvaccinated presented complications. In this retrospective cohort, factors more strongly associated with clinical complications were identified. This information is useful to guide the management of COVID-19 cases by anticipating individuals who are more susceptible.