Incidence of cases of Covid 19 and its impact on Primary Care

Abstract

Introduction: In December 2019, the SARS-CoV-2 virus responsible for the COVID 19 infection was identified. In Ecuador, 922.166 infections and 35,754 deaths related to the coronavirus have been reported to date.

Methodology: The objective of this study was to determine the current situation of patients confirmed with SARS COV 2 infection, in a primary care unit in the province of Cotopaxi. It was a descriptive and cross-sectional study that included 121 patients from the San Buenaventura Health Center diagnosed with COVID 19 through the polymerase chain reaction (PCR) test, the confirmed cases were grouped by sex, age group and according to the symptoms present at the time of diagnosis. All suspected patients and contacts of confirmed patients who did not have PCR, as well as those who did not have complete informative data, were excluded.

Results and Discussion: Of the 121 patients confirmed with SARS COV 2 infection: 60.4% were men and 39.6% women, the age group with the greatest impact was between 20 to 64 years, in relation to comorbidities it was found to obesity (13.2%) as the main risk factor, only 12.4% were asymptomatic and within the symptoms presented by this group of patients in order of prevalence was fever (30.6%), followed by odynophagia (21.5%), other dermatological (1.7%) and gastrointestinal (5.8%) symptoms that were infrequent. In primary care, patients with SARS COV 2 infection can present a wide spectrum of symptoms, ranging from asymptomatic symptoms to very flowery and specific symptoms, such as severe respiratory symptoms described in the literature, which are a reason for timely referral to more complex units. for your assistance.

Conclusion: It should be noted that this study carried out at the beginning of the pandemic was essential to keep a real epidemiological statistics of the cases of covid 19 in primary care, allowing the reinforcement of prevention measures, biosecurity at the community level and avoiding the rate of fatal events.