Characteristics, management and factors associated with poor outcomes in COVID-19 patients in Burkina Faso: insights from a 2021 large-scale ambispective study.

Objectives: To assess treatment and identify predictive factors of worsening in COVID-19 patients. Methods: This study was ambispective (both prospective and retrospective) and part of a multidisciplinary, multicenter project designed to generate epidemiological, sociological and anthropological data about the COVID-19 epidemic in Burkina Faso. Medical records of patients admitted for COVID-19 at the hospitals of Ouagadougou and Bobo-Dioulasso from March 2020 to April 2021 were reviewed. To identify predictive factors of severe complications, we used Poisson regression models. Results: In total, 1,511 patients were included, of whom 70% were aged ≤50 years, 59% were men and 97% were living in an urban area. Of the 86% of patients treated, 92.9% of them received the combo Azithromycin-hydroxychloroquine. A total of 78 (5.2%) patients experienced complications during hospitalization, and 49 (3.3%) patients died. Multivariate analysis identified patient's age, residence and comorbidity as factors associated with poor outcomes. Conclusions: Although most people had symptoms, most of them recovered without sequelae, and few patients had severe forms of disease. Age was a strong predictor of worse outcomes in this population.