ABSTRACT
Objective: To describe the clinical and epidemiological profile of suspected COVID-19 cases admitted to a federal hospital in Rio de Janeiro, RJ, Brazil, and to identify factors associated with death. Methods: This was a cross-sectional study using local epidemiological surveillance data as at epidemiological week 27 of 2020 and logistic regression. Results: 376 hospitalized suspected COVID-19 cases were included;52.9% were female, 57.4% were 50 years old or over and 80.1% had comorbidities. 195 (51.9%) COVID-19 cases were confirmed and their lethality was higher (37.9%) than among discarded cases (24.2%). In the adjusted analysis, death among confirmed cases was associated with being in the 50-69 age group (OR= 11.65 - 95%CI 1.69;80.33), being aged 70 or over (OR= 8.43 - 95%CI 1.22;58.14), presence of neoplasms (OR= 4.34 - 95%CI 1.28;14.76) and use of invasive ventilatory support (OR= 70.20 - 95%CI 19.09;258.19). Conclusion: High prevalence of comorbidities and lethality was found;the main factors associated with death were being older, neoplasms and invasive ventilatory support.