Clinical Profile Of Patients Who Died Of Covid-19 Infection At A Field Hospital In Cape Town

Karki, Abhaya

Clinical Profile Of Patients Who Died Of Covid-19 Infection At A Field Hospital In Cape Town

Thesis / Dissertation

2023

Abstract

Background: In May 2020, Cape Town was designated as the COVID-19 outbreak's epicenter in South Africa. As the infection spread so did admissions in hospitals and mortality among the infected. Field hospitals were established to take the burden off the hospitals, however, the mortality rate in these facilities has not been described yet. This study describes the clinical profile and characteristics of patients who died in this field hospital. Methods: This was a single-center, retrospective cross-sectional study involving secondary dataset and folder review of patients who died in Cape Town International Convention Center (CTICC), Hospital of Hope during its commission from June 2020 to August 2020. Results: During its period of operation the CTICC had 1502 admissions and 83 deaths giving a mortality rate of 5.53%. Among the patients who died, 55% were female and 77% were older than 60 years. Most patients (75%) had more than two comorbidities. Of these patients 71% had hypertension and 45% had diabetes. As per the CTICC admission category, 77% were category three patients who were either terminally ill or referred to as not for further escalation. Blood results showed that 77.14% of patients had high D-dimer and 97.7% had high CRP. Conclusions: The CTICC field hospital was the first intermediate care facility in South Africa born out of a time of need. The mortality rate at this field hospital was 5.53%. Further studies should explore the benefits of palliative care on patients who were admitted as not for escalation.

Keywords

Family Medicine

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