COVID-19 Infection among Patients Attending the Fever Clinic of a Tertiary Care Centre: A Descriptive Cross-sectional Study.

ABSTRACT

Introduction: The COVID-19 is caused by a coronavirus. COVID-19 patients present with lymphopenia, thrombocytopenia, and elevated inflammatory markers. This study aims to find out the prevalence of COVID-19 infection among patients attending the fever clinic of a tertiary care centre. Methods: This was a descriptive cross-sectional study conducted from 15th July, 2020 to 15th January, 2021 in the Department of Pathology at a tertiary care centre. The ethical clearance was obtained from the Institutional Review Committee of a tertiary care centre (Reference number 2007021388). The patients who attended the fever clinic during the study period were subjected to the COVID-19 reverse transcriptase polymerase chain reaction test. A total of 1431 samples were taken using the convenience sampling method. All data were filled into a predesigned proforma and entered into Microsoft Excel. The data were analyzed using Statistical Package for the Social Sciences version 24.0. Point estimate at 95% Confidence Interval was calculated along with frequency and proportion for binary data and mean and standard deviation for continuous data. Results: Among 1431 patients attending the fever clinic, the prevalence of COVID-19 was found in 277 (19.31%) (17.26-21.36 at 95% Confidence Interval). Most patients belonged to the age group of 20-29 years. There were 113 (40.79%) females and 164 (59.21%) males. Conclusions: The prevalence of COVID-19 infection in this study was higher than similar studies done in similar settings. Most cases had a low hematocrit with anemia. The total count, absolute neutrophil count, and absolute leukocyte count showed a wide range of variation. Keywords blood cell count; COVID-19; hematology; lymphocytes; neutrophils.