Epidemiology and Clinical Characteristics of Covid-19 Mortality in Jos, Nigeria

Background: Coronavirus Disease 2019 mortality figures in Africa are comparatively lower than the figures in Europe, Asia and the Americas. Many reasons have been adduced for the differences which include the younger population in Africa. We therefore out set to describe the epidemiology and clinical features among in-hospital mortalities in our setting. Methods: This was a retrospective study of all mortalities due to confirmed COVID-19 at the Jos University Teaching Hospital from April 2020 to April 2021. Descriptive statistics were used to present results and Chi Square analysis used to determine the association between morbidities, sex and ventilator use. A p-value of <0.05 was considered statistically significant. Results: A total of 80 mortalities were recorded over the 12 month period. Sixty one (76.0%) were males. The mean age of the study population was 61 ± 15 years and twenty nine (36.3%) were aged ≤59 years. The median duration of hospitalization for in-hospital mortality was 4days (IQR 1-35). Fever; 61(76.3%), cough; 59(73.8 %) and dyspnea; 56 (70.0%) were the commonest presenting symptoms and 35(43.8%) had the three symptoms. Hypertension; 48(60.0%) and type 2 diabetes mellitus; 36(45.0%) were the commonest co-morbidities in the patients, and 31(38.8%) had at least two co-morbidities. Eighteen (22.5%) had both hypertension and diabetes mellitus. Hypertension and having two or more co-morbidities where associated with requirement for ventilator support (P <0.013 and P<0.001 respectively). Conclusion: Fever, cough, dyspnea and two or more co-morbidities are common among COVID-19 mortalities in Jos. Efforts to quickly identify such patients and manage comorbidities are needed to reduce mortality.