**3. Results**

This section may be divided by subheadings. It should provide a concise and precise description of the experimental results, their interpretation, as well as the experimental conclusions that can be drawn.

#### *3.1. Clinical Characteristics of Total Patients Admitted in STIDH*

Out of total 860 COVID-19 patients admitted over the period of one year, 628 (73%) were males and 232 (27%) were females with the male to female ratio of 2.7:1. A total of 439 (51%) patients were ≤45 years, 165 (19.2%) were from age group 46–55 years, 103 (12.0%) were from age group 56–65 years, 83 (9.7%) were from age group 66–75 years and 70 (8.1%) patients were more than 75 years of age. Age and gender wise distribution of total admitted patients has been represented in Figure 1.

**Figure 1.** Age and Gender wise distribution of total COVID-19 patients admitted in STIDH (N = 860).

Out of total admitted patients, the majority (44.3%) had severe COVID-19, 16.7% had moderate COVID-19 and remaining 39% had mild COVID-19 (Figure 2).

Among 860 patients admitted in our facility, 50 (5.8%) patients had died whereas 25 (2.9%) patients had to be referred to other center either due to the need of mechanical ventilation which could not be made available to few patients at our center during the peak of pandemic or due to the need of multispecialty care which included dialysis or concomitant surgical care (Figure 3).

**Figure 3.** Outcome of total patients admitted in STIDH (N = 860).

#### *3.2. Clinical Characteristics of the Mortalities in STIDH*

3.2.1. Baseline Characteristics

Among 50 deaths recorded, 38 (76%) were males and 12 (24%) were females, with male to female ratio of 3.17:1. The median age was 72.5 years, ranging from 36 to 95 years. Most (21/50, 42%) patients were of the age group ≥76 years, followed by 66–75 years (15/50, 30%). Distribution of total mortalities by gender and age groups are shown in Figure 4.

**Figure 4.** Age and gender wise distribution of mortalities in STIDH (n = 50).

41 patients (82%) who died of COVID-19 had underlying disease, the most common of which was hypertension (29/50, 58%), followed by diabetes (25/50, 50%), chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (12/50, 24%), obesity (9/50, 18%), heart disease (7/50, 14%), asthma (3/50, 6%), neoplastic disease (2/50, 4%) (One had carcinoma of gall bladder and the other had multiple myeloma) and chronic kidney disease (1/50, 2%) (Figure 5). A total of 33 (66%) patients who died during hospital stay had multiple (two or more than two) co-morbidities in our study.

**Figure 5.** Distribution of co-morbidities among mortalities in STIDH (n = 50).

Multiple comorbidities (2 or more) were likely to be present in patients with increasing age with statistically significant association (Table 1).


**Table 1.** Age wise distribution of comorbidities among mortalities in STIDH (n = 50).

The presence of multiple comorbidities, however, did not seem to have a significant association with sex (Table 2).

**Table 2.** Sex wise distribution of multiple comorbidities among mortalities in STIDH (n = 50).


### 3.2.2. Clinical Presentation

The median duration of symptoms prior to admission was 5 days, ranging from 1–20 days. The median duration of hospital stay was 10.5 days, ranging from 1–35 days. The median duration from the first symptom to death was 18 days, ranging from 2–39 days. For male patients, the median duration from the first symptom to death was 18.5 days and for female patients was 13.5 days. Most of the patients presented as severe disease (47/50, 94%), rest (3/50, 6%) presented as moderate disease and later progressed. Shortness of breath was the most common reported symptom among patients who eventually died (46/50, 92%), followed by cough (42/50, 84%), fever (37/50, 74%), body ache (13/37, 26%), headache (9/50, 18%) and diarrhea (2/50, 4%), as represented in Figure 6.

**Figure 6.** Distribution of symptoms at presentation among mortalities at STIDH (n = 50).

#### 3.2.3. Biomarkers and Hematological Variables

C-reactive protein was positive in 42/50 (84%) cases. D-dimer was found to be >1 mg/L in 29/50 (58%) cases and ferritin was >500 ng/ml in 21/50 (42%) patients at presentation. A total of 14 patients had repeated D-dimer measurements, which showed increase in the level of D- dimer. A total of 23/50 (46%) patients were anemic with the mean hemoglobin level being 12.85 g/dL, ranging from 9.6 to 18.4 g/dL. A total of 21/50 (42%) patients had thrombocytopenia, while 4/50 (8%) had thrombocytosis at presentation. A total of 25/50 (50%) had normal platelet count. Of 21 patients with thrombocytopenia, 10 had moderate and 11 had mild thrombocytopenia. A total of 40/50 (80%) patients had lymphocytopenia (absolute lymphocyte count <1000 cells/μL) at presentation (Figure 7). Neutrophil to lymphocyte ratio was >11.75 in 30/50 (60%) patients, with the mean NLR being 18.38, ranged from 1.52 to 98. A total of 10/50 (20%) patients had renal impairment and 4/50 (8%) had transaminitis at presentation. A total of 29/50 (58%) developed acute kidney injury during hospital stay, while 10/50 (20%) developed hepatic impairment.

**Figure 7.** Distribution by hematological picture of the mortalities in STIDH (n = 50).
