The first case of 2019-nCoV, was registered in December 2019 in Hubei, China; It was declared a pandemic by the WHO on March 11, 2020. The SARS-CoV-2 virus, or COVID-19 disease, has exponentially impacted Panama.
We proceeded to analyze the demographic and clinical characteristics of patients with molecular detection of SARS-CoV-2, treated at the CSS in the period from June to November 2020, identifying the number of detected and undetected patients, age, sex, patient status, health region, symptoms, comorbidity and detection period.
From a retrospective-analytical-descriptive approach, the study included 146,020 patients with demographic and clinical characteristics, provided by the data entered in the Modulab system of the Molecular Biology Laboratory and NAT of the Dr. Arnulfo Arias Madrid Hospital Complex.
Of the 146,020 patients, 31% were detected for COVID-19 by RT-PCR and 69% were not detected. Among the detected patients, 62% were symptomatic with frequent clinical findings, such as fever, cough, and rhinorrhea, and 38% were asymptomatic. 20% of the positive COVID-19 cases had some comorbidity. The median detection period from the date of symptom onset to detection by RT-PCR of SARS-CoV-2 was 4 days.
This investigation provides epidemiological information not previously described on the cases detected by SARS-CoV-2 of the insured Panamanian population.
Este obra está bajo una licencia de Creative Commons Reconocimiento-NoComercial-CompartirIgual 4.0 Internacional.
