Characteristics, Comorbidities, Complications, and Outcomes Among 802 Patients With Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome Coronavirus 2 in a Community Hospital in Florida

Objectives: Coronavirus disease 2019 continues to increase throughout the United States. Despite the rapid progression of the disease, there is limited information of the factors associated with mortality in Florida. This study aims to review the demographics, characteristics, comorbidities, complications, and outcomes of hospitalized patients, and their association with mortality.

Design: Cohort study.

Setting: A community-based tertiary-care hospital of Orlando Health, Orlando Regional Medical Center.

Patients/subjects: Data of hospitalized patients who tested positive for severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 between March 1, 2020, and August 31, 2020, at the Orlando Regional Medical Center.

Interventions: None.

Measurements and main results: Main data assessed included patient demographics, clinical characteristics, comorbidities, complications, outcomes, and inhospital mortality. The median age for hospitalized patients was 61 years; among them, 56% were males. Most were of African American (n = 288, 35.9%), Hispanic (n = 237, 29.6%), and Caucasian (n = 217, 27.1%) descent. More patients presented with symptoms developing at home (n = 589, 75.9%) than from skilled nursing and long-term acute care facilities. The most common comorbidities were diabetes mellitus (42.8%), obesity (39.2%), lung disease (23.3%), coronary artery disease (20.2%), and congestive heart failure (18.3%). Complications with higher odds of mortality were mechanical ventilation (odds ratio, 148.00, p < 0.001), coinfections (odds ratio, 56.42, p < 0.001), acute kidney injury (odds ratio, 84.01, p < 0.001), atrial fibrillation (odds ratio, 28.30, p < 0.001), acute myocardial infarction (odds ratio, 23.29, p < 0.001), and acute venous thromboembolism (odds ratio, 26.43, p < 0.001).

Conclusions: We identified an increase of severity of coronavirus disease 2019 within older patients of African American and Hispanic descent with comorbidities such as diabetes, coronary artery disease, congestive heart failure, chronic kidney disease, cancer, liver disease, or cerebrovascular disease. Noninvasive positive-pressure ventilation and high-flow nasal cannula oxygen may have helped avert mechanical ventilation, and this may have improved patient outcomes over the course of the study period.