An Analysis of COVID-19 Patients Receiving Care in a Tertiary Facility in Southern Nigeria

Information pertaining to the clinical characteristics of COVID-19 in sub-Saharan Africa remains sparse. In Nigeria, it is limited to few isolated reports and case series confined to the early phase of the outbreak. The objective of this study is to describe the presenting characteristics, co-morbidities and outcomes of Nigerian patients managed over a 3-month period in a tertiary hospital.

This was a descriptive cross-sectional study involving the total population of patients with laboratory confirmed diagnosis of COVID-19 in the University of Benin Teaching Hospital, Edo State, Nigeria from March 31 to June 30, 2020. Data was collected using a review of patients' records. Analysis was by IBM SPSS version 25.0. The level of significance was set at p < 0.05.

A total of 173 patients with mean age (SD) 50.7± 20.1 years were managed. One hundred and five (60.7%) were males and the commonest age group was 20-39 years (34.7%). The commonest presenting symptoms were fever, cough and malaise found in 103 (71.5%), 101 (70.1%) and 63 (43.8%) patients respectively. Twenty-five (14.5%) patients had severe disease; 60 (34.7%) had underlying medical conditions mostly hypertension and diabetes mellitus. Outcome analyses showed 117 (67.6%) discharges, 45 (26.0%) deaths, 10 (5.8%) discharges against medical advice, and 1 (0.6%) transfer to another facility. Male sex (p=0.044), increasing age (p<0.001), presence of symptoms (p=0.010), presence of co-morbidities (p=0.010) and non-healthcare worker status (p< 0.001) were significantly associated with mortality.

The first epidemiological and clinical summary of COVID-19 cases in Edo state, Nigeria over a three-month period is presented showing globally recognized patterns of male predilection and higher mortality with increasing age and co-morbidity.