ABSTRACT
Introduction: COVID-19 is a highly contagious viral disease which escalated into a global pandemic since its outbreak on 31 December 2019. Chest X-rays are the most common investigation in suspected cases to diagnose and manage pneumonia. The aim of this study was to find out the mean Brixia severity scores among symptomatic COVID-19 patients in a tertiary care centre. Methods: A descriptive cross-sectional study was conducted among the chest X-rays of symptomatic COVID-19-positive patients of a tertiary care centre. Data from 1 May 2021 to 31 July 2021 were collected between 1 August 2022 and 1 January 2023 from the hospital records. Ethical approval was taken from Institutional Review Committee (Reference number: 01-079/080). Patients with reverse transcriptase polymerase chain reaction with symptoms of COVID-19 were included in this study. Convenience sampling method was used. Point estimate and 95% Confidence Interval were calculated. Results: Among the total of 300 patients, the mean Brixia severity score was 7.15±5.07 and out of 235 patients with abnormal chest X-ray, the mean Brixia severity score was 9.13±3.84. A total of 68 (22.66%) patients had mild, 115 (38.33%) had moderate and 52 (17.33%) had severe scores. Conclusions: The mean Brixia severity score among symptomatic COVID-19 patients was found to be higher than the other studies done in similar settings. Keywords: COVID-19; Nepal; pneumonia; prevalence; x-ray.
Subject(s)
COVID-19 , Humans , Tertiary Care Centers , Cross-Sectional Studies , Disease Outbreaks , Nepal/epidemiologyABSTRACT
INTRODUCTION: Nepal government enforced a lockdown as a social distancing measure to curb the COVID-19 pandemic. The lockdown has led to compromises in day to day choices like food, exercise, sleep, self-care routines and utilization of healthcare facilities - directly and indirectly influencing aspects of health. Identification of compromised health choices can assist in better planning of inevitable future crises. METHODS: This is a cross-sectional descriptive study based on an online self -administered questionnaire, done using CHERRIES criteria, conducted from March 30, 2020, to July 31, 2020. Ethical approval for the study was obtained from the Institutional Review Committee of Nepal Health Research Council (Registration number: 2119; 300/2020 P). Descriptive statistics was used for analysis. RESULTS: Our study had 340 (51%) female and 325 (48.7%) male participants. A total of 112 (67.9%) reported decreased consumption of tobacco and 178 (53.6%) reported decreased consumption of alcohol during the lockdown period. Participants who reported that they would have visited a hospital if they had a flu-like illness increased from 151 (22.6%) pre-pandemic to 391 (58.6%) post-pandemic. Increase in news consumption was reported by 528 (79.2%). Out of 43 (6.4%) participants with a chronic condition, 30 (69.8%) reported having missed follow up due to the lockdown. CONCLUSIONS: The health of an individual is determined by various choices s/he makes on a day to day basis. Many of those choices are in turn influenced by the availability and accessibility of commodities. Lessons learned from the affected lives due to COVID-19 can be used in proper planning of inevitable future crises.