clinical presentation, management, and outcomes of patients with covid-19 disease: a report from a large tertiary hospital in iran

Objectives: the aim of the present study was to assess clinical characteristics, management, and inhospital outcomes of covid19 among oil refinery workers in a single referral center. methods: this crosssectional study was conducted in a noncovid single referral center from march to august 2020. at the naft grand hospital, a covid19 specimen collection and molecular detection unit was established, and staff were trained how to collect suitable samples (sufficiently deep swabs), store, pack, and transport them. the diagnosis of covid19 infection (sarscov2) was confirmed by realtime reverse transcription polymerase chain reaction (rtpcr). results: overall, 500 patients with confirmed covid19 infection were included, among whom the most common comorbidities were hypertension (52.2%) and diabetes (45.6%). moreover, 298 patients (59.6%) had one to three comorbidities; 148 patients (29.6%) had four to six comorbidities, and two patients (0.4%) suffered from seven and more comorbidities. out of these, 23 patients (4.6%) had cancer, and 206 (41.2%) suffered from other diseases. most of the patients (390, 78.8%) received kaletra, and 387 (78.02%) were treated with azithromycin. overall, pcr results were positive in 377 (75.4%) patients; computed tomography scan (ctscan) was positive in 413 (82.6%), and crp test rendered positive results in 335 patients (67%). conclusions: most referred cases were survivors with mild to moderate symptoms, and a few of them were unfortunately nonsurvivors. this could be due to the appropriate responses to treatment and institutional isolation of people with mild covid19 symptoms. thus, good and evidencebased clinical care combined with intense public health interventions will save the lives of thousands, if not millions, worldwide.