ABSTRACT
BACKGROUND: The activity level of the 2019 novel coronavirus (2019-nCoV) or coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19), as it is now called, is considered low. Despite early preventive lockdown measures and a massive vaccination drive, almost the entire adult population in India will have been vaccinated at least once by the beginning of 2022 (2,072,946,593 till 11 August 2022). There is still concern about a pan-India outbreak and threat due to newly emerging pathogenic strains. The goal of this study is to find out how common various presenting complaints are in COVID-19 patients as well as how comorbidities affect the severity of the illness. METHODS: This cross-sectional observational study was conducted from December 2020 to January 2021 at a tertiary care hospital's department of internal medicine in North India. The study included 237 patients who were COVID-19-positive and were admitted to our hospital after providing informed consent. They were classified into three groups: mild, moderate, and severe. RESULTS: Fever was the most common presenting symptom, affecting 84.4% of the population, while diarrhoea was the least common, affecting only 3.4% of the population. Fever, cough, sore throat, headache, and breathlessness were significantly correlated with the severity of the illness. Gastrointestinal symptoms like diarrhoea did not have any significant correlation with the severity of the illness. The severity of illness was statistically related to comorbidities such as hypertension, diabetes, coronary artery disease, chronic kidney disease, and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease. CONCLUSION: Males were more likely to develop more serious illnesses. However, the correlation was not statistically significant. The number of comorbid conditions and the severity of the illness were found to have a fair and significant relationship. None of the diarrhoea symptoms were related to the severity of the illness.
ABSTRACT
Introduction: Hepatitis C virus (HCV) infection is a serious global public health problem. It is estimated that 2% to 3% of the world's population is infected with the virus. It was found that chronic hepatitis C is an independent predictor of the development of type 2 diabetes mellitus. Infection with HCV or the inflammatory response to HCV infection likely contributes to the development of insulin resistance (IR), which increases the risk of developing type 2 diabetes in the long term. This study aimed to assess the insulin resistance in hepatitis C and its correlation with various metabolic parameters. Materials and Methods: This cross-sectional observational study was conducted at a tertiary care hospital in North India in the Department of Internal Medicine with hepatitis C-positive patients attending an out-patient or in-patient department. We took a total of 100 patients aged > 18 years and divided them into two groups: Group A with hepatitis C (cases) and Group B without hepatitis C (controls). There were a total of 50 hepatitis C patients and 50 patients without hepatitis C. Results: A total of 100 patients were included in the present study after obtaining informed consent. There was a significantly higher level of serum ferritin and insulin in group A patients than group B patients. There was a positive correlation of insulin resistance with the serum insulin, ferritin levels, cholesterol, LDL and triglyceride level and a negative correlation with the serum HDL level. The incidence of insulin resistance was positively correlated with changes in fibrosis in the liver due to the hepatitis C infection. Conclusions: From our study, we found that there is an increased incidence of insulin resistance in the patients with hepatitis-C infection, and insulin resistance is associated with the presence of altered hepatic function test results.
