LAUSR

Background:The clinical presentation of COVID-19 varies from range of clinical symptoms to being completely asympto- matic. The country's case fatality rate in July was at 2.41% though the mortality has remained at a lower level in the Indian subcontinent. The present study aims at reviewing detailed demographic, systemic symptoms, comorbidities and its association with cycle threshold (Ct) values Methods:It is a retrospective study. The patients who died with the disease in the dedicated covid care hospital be- tween March 2020 through October 2020 were included in the study. Records from Medical Records Department were retrieved with data entered in Microsoft excel sheet. The analysis was done in percentage and average values as re- quired. Results:A total of 10383 patients of confirmed COVID-19 were admitted to the hospital. Among these patients, 1321 patients died (12.72 deaths per 100 admissions). Among these death cases 83 patients had undergone RT PCR testing at MAMC at the time of admission. Out these 38 (45%) were females and 45 (54%) males. Crude death rate is calculated 127 per 1000 admissions. Deaths were highest in the month of June (21.5 per 100 admissions) followed by May (14.3) and August (10.2). Maximum comorbidities observed in death cases was hypertension (39%), Diabetes (33%), Coronary Artery disease (16%) and Chronic kidney disease (16%). Among these deaths 34% occurred within 24 hours of admission and additional 11% occurred in next 24 hrs. The lowest average Ct value (20) was observed in older patients (>60 years) indicating higher viral RNA burden. Conclusions:Mortality was highest in >60 year old males, correlating with average lower Ct values suggesting higher viral load. Mortality was highest in the month of June. As close to 50% deaths occurred within 48hrs of admission indi- cating that patients arrived to the hospital in late stages of illness minimizing their chance of survival.