High HIV prevalence in an early cohort of hospital admissions with COVID-19 in Cape Town, South Africa

BACKGROUND: South Africa (SA) has a high prevalence of HIV and tuberculosis. Cape Town was the SA metropole most affected in the early stages of the COVID-19 pandemic. Early observational data from Africa may provide valuable insight into what can be expected as the pandemic expands across the continent.OBJECTIVES: To describe the prevalence, clinical features, comorbidities and outcome of an early cohort of HIV-positive and HIV-negative patients admitted with COVID-19.METHODS: This was a descriptive observational study of an early cohort of adults with COVID-19 pneumonia admitted from 25 March to 11 May 2020.RESULTS: Of 116 patients (mean age 48 years, 61% female) admitted, 24 were HIV-positive (21%). The most common symptoms reported were cough (n=88; 73%), shortness of breath (n=78; 69%), fever (n=67; 59%), myalgia (n=29; 25%) and chest pain (n=22; 20%). The most common comorbidities were hypertension (n=46; 41%), diabetes mellitus (n=43; 38%), obesity (n=32; 28%) and HIV (n=24; 21%). Mortality was associated with older age (mean (standard deviation) 55 (12) years v. 46 (14) years; p<0.01); the presence of hypertension or hypertension along with diabetes and/or obesity; lower partial pressure of arterial oxygen to fraction of inspired oxygen ratio; and higher urea level, white cell count, neutrophil count, and C-reactive protein, lactate dehydrogenase and ferritin levels, and high neutrophil to lymphocyte ratio. The overall survival rate for all hospital admissions was 86/116 (73%). In this early cohort, survival was similar in patients with HIV (n=18; 75%) compared with those without HIV (n=67; 75%) (p=1). Of the 74 patients admitted to the wards, 63 (85%) survived, whereas 22 of 42 (52%) admitted to the intensive care unit survived.CONCLUSIONS: Patients with HIV infection represented a large proportion of all COVID-19 admissions. The presentation and outcome of patients with HIV did not differ significantly from those of patients without HIV.

Bibliographic Details

Main Authors:	Parker,A, Koegelenberg,C F N, Moolla,M S, Louw,E H, Mowlana,A, Nortjé,A, Ahmed,R, Brittain,N, Lalla,U, Allwood,B W, Prozesky,H, Schrueder,N, Taljaard,J J
Format:	Digital revista
Language:	English
Published:	South African Medical Association 2020
Online Access:	http://www.scielo.org.za/scielo.php?script=sci_arttext&pid=S0256-95742020000900004
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