Time to recovery and its predictors among COVID-19 positive patients admitted to treatment centers of Southwestern Ethiopian hospitals. A multicenter retrospective cohort study

BACKGROUND: Nowadays, coronavirus disease is a leading cause of death. Therefore, the study aimed to assess the time to recovery and its predictors among Covid-19 positive patients. METHODS: A hospital-based retrospective cohort study was conducted among 300 COVID-19 patients admitted to Southwestern Ethiopian hospital COVID-19 treatment centers from August 7, 2020 to February 7, 2022. Kaplan Meier was used to estimate the survival time and the Log-rank test was used to compare the survival time between groups of categorical variables. The multivariable survival regression model was used to identify a significant predictor of time to recovery among COVID-19 patients at a P value ⩽ 0.05 with a 95% CI. RESULT: In this study, 92% of patients admitted to Jimma University COVID-19 treatment center and Mettu Karl Comprehensive Specialized Hospital COVID-19 treatment center were recovered from COVID-19 after a maximum of 33 days of follow-up. The overall incidence density was 11.99/100 PD (person day) with a 95% CI of [11.273, 12.719] per 100 PD after a total of 3452 PD observations. The median time of recovery from COVID-19 was 10 days. Age (AHR = 1.945, 95% CI: 1.157, 3.268), hypertension (AHR = 1.856, 95% CI, 1.30, 2.63), diabetes (AHR = 1.406, 95% CI, 1.05, 1.84), being critical (0.298, 2039, 0.434), cancer (AHR = 3.050, 95% CI, 1.172, 7.943), and tuberculosis (AHR = 2.487, 95% CI, 1.504, 4.110) were found to be independent predictors of time to recovery of COVID-19 patients. CONCLUSION: A total of 92% of patients were recovered within 10 days of the median time. Age, hypertension, diabetes mellitus, tuberculosis, severity of the case, cancer, and the presence of acute kidney injury were predictors of recovery time of COVID-19 patients. Therefore, healthcare providers should give strict follow-up and priority to elderly patients with chronic illnesses and those under supportive care.