Symptoms of COVID-19 Confirmed Cases Presenting to Emergency Department in A Tertiary Care Centre: A Descriptive Cross-sectional Study

INTRODUCTION: Clinical presentation of the patient with COVID-19 in emergency department is very important. The proper assessment of the symptom allows correct intervention. So, this study is conducted specifically to find out the clinical spectrum of the patient on presentation to emergency department. METHODS: This was a descriptive cross-sectional study. A retrospective analysis of patient record was done. There were 258 COVID-19 positive cases admission from 13th April to 13th August 2020. Out of these cases 57 cases were excluded as they did not have respiratory symptoms but were admitted for other medical conditions. So, 201 symptomatic patients were analyzed in this study. Symptoms of all patient with the confirmed diagnosis of COVID-19 admitted from emergency department was analyzed. Data entry was done in excel sheet and presenting symptoms of COVID-19 positive patients were described along with their comorbid conditions. RESULTS: Two hundred and one symptomatic patients were analyzed in this study. Mean age of this study population was 37.9 years (median 37) with minimum age of 2 months and maximum age of 83 years. There were 114 (56.7%) male and 87 (43.3%) female; 109 (54.2%) patients were from outside the and 92 (45.8%) were from inside of Kathmandu Valley. The most common presenting symptom was fever 131 (65.2%) and cardiovascular condition including hypertension was the most common comorbid condition. CONCLUSIONS: Fever was the most common symptoms of the patient presenting to COVID19 emergency of our hospital. Moreover, fever needs to be analyzed carefully in terms of its onset total duration and associated cough and underlying comorbid condition.