Factors predicting the outcome of patients admitted with COVID-19 infection at Pietersburg Hospital, Polokwane, Limpopo province.

Background: The emergence of the novel coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19), in late 2019 in Wuhan City, has led to a global outbreak of COVID-19, culminating in the declaration of a pandemic by the World Health Organization. Objectives: The aim of the study was to evaluate the factors predicting the outcome in patients with COVID-19 infection. Method: This was a retrospective study using secondary data of patients admitted with laboratory-confirmed severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) polymerase chain reaction (PCR) results at Pietersburg Hospital between 01 March 2020 and 31 March 2021, which were extracted from DATCOV portal. Results: There were 444 eligible study participants, of which 225 (50.7%) were female and 219 (49.3%) were male patients. Their median age was 57 years. A total of 159 (36%) in-hospital deaths related to COVID-19 infection were reported. Using the logistic regression model, two predictor variables, age and intensive care unit (ICU) admission were independently associated with mortality. An increase in patient's age per year, increased the odds of dying. The ICU admission had a three-fold odds for non-survival. In-hospital mortality was associated with shorter length of hospitalisation because of disease severity and late patient presentation, with a median duration of 4 days (interquartile range [IQR] 2.0-9.0). Conclusion: Age and ICU admission were significantly related to non-survival, with hypertension being the common factor in all deaths reported. Contribution: The study emphasises the importance of pandemic preparedness and strengthening healthcare services to protect vulnerable groups such as the elderly population.