Epidemiological Characteristics of COVID-19 Patients in Kütahya Province in Turkey

Aim: It is aimed to evaluate the epidemiological features of COVID-19 patients and risk factors affecting hospitalization. Methods: This cross-sectional study included 883 adult patients whose Polymerase Chain Reaction tests were positive for SARS-CoV-2 in Kütahya province until July 2020. The patients were questioned in terms of their socio-demographic characteristics, drugs, comorbidities, and symptoms. They were divided into two groups according to their hospitalization status and outpatient treatment status. Results: There were 473 female and 410 male participants in the study. 532 of 883 adult patients were hospitalized. The most common symptoms were fatigue (47.9%), myalgia (44.7%), and loss of smell and taste (32.4%). Hospitalization was associated with advanced age, low income, presence of additional disease, several symptoms, smoking, comorbidities including diabetes mellitus, chronic kidney diseases, cardiovascular and respiratory system. In multivariant analyses, advance age, low income, fever, dyspnea and chronic lung diseases were associated with increased odds of hospital admission. Conclusion: In our study, it was found that independent risk factors for hospitalization were advanced age, low income, fever, shortness of breath, and chronic lung diseases. We think that determining risk factors for hospitalization may be a guide for clinicians in predicting patient prognosis. Keywords: COVID-19, epidemiology, hospitalization, symptoms, comorbidity