tetano
Editor, Senior Moderator
Open Forum Infect Dis
. 2025 Feb 7;12(3)
faf072.
doi: 10.1093/ofid/ofaf072. eCollection 2025 Mar. Clinical Comparison of COVID Waves 2-5. An Inpatient Retrospective Comparative Analysis From Karachi, Pakistan
Muneeba Ahsan Sayeed[SUP] 1 [/SUP], Elisha Shalim[SUP] 2 [/SUP], Shaiza Farman[SUP] 2 [/SUP], Fizza Farooqui[SUP] 3 [/SUP], Beenish Syed[SUP] 1 [/SUP], Ishfaque Ahmed[SUP] 1 [/SUP], Anika Iqbal[SUP] 1 [/SUP], Aneel Kumar[SUP] 4 [/SUP], Raniyah Akhter[SUP] 4 [/SUP], Furkan Hyder[SUP] 5 [/SUP], Hasan Ali Shah[SUP] 5 [/SUP], Adeel Hussain[SUP] 5 [/SUP], Sarwat Rasheed[SUP] 6 [/SUP], Saba Afshan[SUP] 4 [/SUP], Rizwana Salik Nukrich[SUP] 4 [/SUP], Madiha Raza[SUP] 5 [/SUP], Haseeb U Rehman[SUP] 4 [/SUP], Abdul Razzaque Memon[SUP] 7 [/SUP], Abdul Wahid Rajput[SUP] 7 [/SUP], Muhammad Saeed Quraishy[SUP] 8 [/SUP]
Affiliations
Background: Each coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) wave is unique in its clinical presentation and outcome. In this study, we compared the clinical characteristics and outcomes of COVID waves 2-5 in inpatient settings.
Methods: A retrospective study was conducted at the Sindh Infectious Diseases Hospital and Research Center on adult patients who were admitted with a positive COVID polymerase chain reaction from July 2020 to March 2022. SPSS 26 was used to analyze the data.
Results: A total of 3190 COVID-19 patients were admitted. Wave 2 had the highest percentage of discharges compared with mortality (81%; P = .0001). Cytokine release syndrome was most common in wave 3 (32.7%; P = .0001). Severe COVID on admission was predominant in wave 4 (79.4%; P = .0001), with the highest rates of intubation (27.1%; P = .0001), septic shock (24.3%; P = .0001), and disease progression (50.8%; P = .0001). In wave 5, the majority were elderly (median age, 68 years) and had mild COVID (22.4%; P = .0001), most had comorbidities (84.6%; P = .0001), and the ratio of acute kidney injury was high (29.2%; P = .0001). Mortality was lowest in wave 2 (18.9%; P = .0001) and highest in wave 4 (42.5%; P = .0001; odds ratio, 3.18; 95% CI, 2.6-3.8; compared with wave 2).
Conclusions: Each wave had some unique characteristics compared with other waves, with wave 4, driven by the Delta variant, being the deadliest one in terms of disease severity and outcomes.
Keywords: COVID; comparison; disease severity; outcome; waves.
. 2025 Feb 7;12(3)
faf072.doi: 10.1093/ofid/ofaf072. eCollection 2025 Mar. Clinical Comparison of COVID Waves 2-5. An Inpatient Retrospective Comparative Analysis From Karachi, Pakistan
Muneeba Ahsan Sayeed[SUP] 1 [/SUP], Elisha Shalim[SUP] 2 [/SUP], Shaiza Farman[SUP] 2 [/SUP], Fizza Farooqui[SUP] 3 [/SUP], Beenish Syed[SUP] 1 [/SUP], Ishfaque Ahmed[SUP] 1 [/SUP], Anika Iqbal[SUP] 1 [/SUP], Aneel Kumar[SUP] 4 [/SUP], Raniyah Akhter[SUP] 4 [/SUP], Furkan Hyder[SUP] 5 [/SUP], Hasan Ali Shah[SUP] 5 [/SUP], Adeel Hussain[SUP] 5 [/SUP], Sarwat Rasheed[SUP] 6 [/SUP], Saba Afshan[SUP] 4 [/SUP], Rizwana Salik Nukrich[SUP] 4 [/SUP], Madiha Raza[SUP] 5 [/SUP], Haseeb U Rehman[SUP] 4 [/SUP], Abdul Razzaque Memon[SUP] 7 [/SUP], Abdul Wahid Rajput[SUP] 7 [/SUP], Muhammad Saeed Quraishy[SUP] 8 [/SUP]
Affiliations
- PMID: 40066088
- PMCID: PMC11890920
- DOI: 10.1093/ofid/ofaf072
Background: Each coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) wave is unique in its clinical presentation and outcome. In this study, we compared the clinical characteristics and outcomes of COVID waves 2-5 in inpatient settings.
Methods: A retrospective study was conducted at the Sindh Infectious Diseases Hospital and Research Center on adult patients who were admitted with a positive COVID polymerase chain reaction from July 2020 to March 2022. SPSS 26 was used to analyze the data.
Results: A total of 3190 COVID-19 patients were admitted. Wave 2 had the highest percentage of discharges compared with mortality (81%; P = .0001). Cytokine release syndrome was most common in wave 3 (32.7%; P = .0001). Severe COVID on admission was predominant in wave 4 (79.4%; P = .0001), with the highest rates of intubation (27.1%; P = .0001), septic shock (24.3%; P = .0001), and disease progression (50.8%; P = .0001). In wave 5, the majority were elderly (median age, 68 years) and had mild COVID (22.4%; P = .0001), most had comorbidities (84.6%; P = .0001), and the ratio of acute kidney injury was high (29.2%; P = .0001). Mortality was lowest in wave 2 (18.9%; P = .0001) and highest in wave 4 (42.5%; P = .0001; odds ratio, 3.18; 95% CI, 2.6-3.8; compared with wave 2).
Conclusions: Each wave had some unique characteristics compared with other waves, with wave 4, driven by the Delta variant, being the deadliest one in terms of disease severity and outcomes.
Keywords: COVID; comparison; disease severity; outcome; waves.