ABSTRACT
COVID-19, the disease caused by the novel coronavirus, started spreading rapidly across the world. Although, many aspects of disease is still under the observation. Therefore, in this study retrospectively was investigated the data on patients discharged from Georgian hospitals between February and June. According to Georgian regulation, all patients with confirmed COVID-19 should be hospitalized. The data sources were hospitalization registry and the standardized case report forms. In this descriptive study, epidemiological characteristics of 500 COVID-19 cases confirmed with PCR tests were analyzed. Among variables were: gender, age and geographic distribution, disease characteristics, underlying health conditions, test-related features, etc. Majority of patients (72.0%) were admitted to hospitals by the ambulance. The mean age of the patients was 43 years. The sex distribution was merely the same for both genders (49.4% male and 50.6% female). The most common symptoms were fever (82.4%, 95% CI 78.4-85.9), fatigue (49.6%, 95% CI 44.7-54.5), and cough (38.3%, 95% CI 33.6-43.1). The proportion of asymptomatic cases during the PCR testing were 16.6%. More than one symptom was observed in 57.6% of patients. Most common underlying health conditions were cardiovascular diseases (21.8%), diabetes (7.6%), kidney disease (3.6%), chronic lung disease (2.4%), cancer (2.2%), and chronic hepatitis (1.8%). Disease severity significantly differ among cases. Of those without comorbidity conditions, 94% had mild severity. However, among those with comorbidity conditions 35% were sever or critical. 50% of patients were reported as obese. The proportion of severe or critical patients was higher with BMI-18.5-24.9 and BMI ≥30. The case-fatality rate was 2.6%, with majority of deaths among aged ≥70. The severity of illness was strongly associated with comorbidity conditions and BMI. These findings are important to contribute and improve evidence-based knowledge for the novel coronavirus. Key messages Hospitalization of all COVID-19 cases, despite their severity, improving positive outcome of patients. Follow-up for discharged patients is necessary to control medium and long-term impact of COVID-19.