Epidemiology and Clinical Characteristics in Individuals with Confirmed SARS-CoV-2 Infection During the Early COVID-19 Pandemic in Saudi Arabia
Alhamlan et al.,
Epidemiology and Clinical Characteristics in Individuals with Confirmed SARS-CoV-2 Infection During the Early..,
medRxiv, doi:10.1101/2021.07.13.21260428 (Preprint)
Retrospective hospitalized patients in Saudi Arabia showing higher mortality with most treatments although not reaching statistical significance.
Confounding by indication, time, or other factors is likely (a 19x higher risk with lopinavir/ritonavir and 3.5x higher risk with azithromycin is not supported by other studies for example). The number of patients treated with HCQ is not provided.
This study is excluded in the after exclusion results of meta
analysis:
substantial unadjusted
confounding by indication likely; substantial
confounding by time likely due to declining usage over the early stages of the pandemic when overall treatment protocols improved dramatically.
Alhamlan et al., 16 Jul 2021, retrospective, database analysis, Saudi Arabia, preprint, 10 authors.
Abstract: medRxiv preprint doi: https://doi.org/10.1101/2021.07.13.21260428; this version posted July 16, 2021. The copyright holder for this preprint
(which was not certified by peer review) is the author/funder, who has granted medRxiv a license to display the preprint in perpetuity.
It is made available under a CC-BY-ND 4.0 International license .
Epidemiology and Clinical Characteristics in Individuals with Confirmed SARS-CoV-2
Infection During the Early COVID-19 Pandemic in Saudi Arabia
Fatimah S. Alhamlan1,2,3*, Reem S. Almaghrabi4, Edward B. Devol5, Anwar B. Alotaibi5, Saleh
M. Alageel5, Dalia A. Obeid1,6, Basem M. Alraddadi7, Sahar I. Althawadi3, Maysoon S.
Mutabagani3, Ahmed A. Al-Qahtani1,2
1
Department of Infection and Immunity, King Faisal Specialist Hospital and Research Center, Riyadh, Saudi Arabia
College of Medicine, Alfaisal University, Riyadh, Saudi Arabia
3
Department of Pathology and Laboratory Medicine, King Faisal Specialist Hospital and Research Center, Riyadh,
Saudi Arabia
4
Department of Medicine, King Faisal Specialist Hospital and Research Center, Riyadh, Saudi Arabia
5
Department of Biostatistics, Epidemiology and Scientific Computing, King Faisal Specialist Hospital and Research
Center, Riyadh, Saudi Arabia
6
National Health laboratory, Saudi Center for Disease Prevention and Control, Riyadh, Saudi Arabia
7
Department of Medicine, King Faisal Specialist Hospital and Research Center, Jeddah, Saudi Arabia
2
Keywords: SARS-CoV-2, COVID-19, Epidemiology, COVID-19 Treatment Regimens
*Corresponding author. Fatimah S. Alhamlan Tel.: 966 11 442 4365, Fax: 966 11 442 4519.
Email address: falhamlan@kfshrc.edu.sa
1
NOTE: This preprint reports new research that has not been certified by peer review and should not be used to guide clinical practice.
medRxiv preprint doi: https://doi.org/10.1101/2021.07.13.21260428; this version posted July 16, 2021. The copyright holder for this preprint
(which was not certified by peer review) is the author/funder, who has granted medRxiv a license to display the preprint in perpetuity.
It is made available under a CC-BY-ND 4.0 International license .
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Soon after the novel corona virus, severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV2), emerged in Wuhan, China, in December 2019, its transmission from human to human
established a foothold worldwide [1, 2]. In Saudi Arabia, the first case of a SARS-CoV-2–
infected person was reported on March 2, 2020, a Saudi national who had returned to the country
from Iran [3]. As of July 11, 2021, there have been over 500,000 confirmed cases, 481,241
recovered cases, and 7963 deaths in Saudi Arabia [4]. The number of confirmed positive cases
had been escalating until now, July 2021, despite the country’s strict control measures.
Severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) is the causative agent of the
catastrophic coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) global pandemic. This study aimed to
provide epidemiologic and clinical characteristics of patients with confirmed COVID-19 in
Saudi Arabia and to determine whether characteristic profiles differ between patients who are
symptomatic vs. asymptomatic for the disease. The first 492 consecutive patients diagnosed with
SARS-CoV-2 infection at King Faisal Specialist Hospital and Research Centre in Saudi Arabia
between March and September 2020..
Late treatment
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