Investigation of the changes in the general characteristics of COVID19 patients with the vaccination program

Abstract

Abstract Introduction After the onset of the Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic, many vaccine studies have started. With the start of the vaccination program in Turkey, changes in the demographic characteristics of the patients hospitalized from the emergency room to the intensive care unit due to COVID-19 caught our attention. This study aims to investigate whether this observation we made is scientifically meaningful. Thus, it will be helpful to investigate the effect of priority ordering in vaccination programs in other pandemics that may occur later. Materials & Methods Demographic characteristics and hospitalization processes of patients hospitalized in the intensive care unit before and after vaccination were compared. Charlson Comorbidity Index (CCI) and Acute Physiologic Assessment and Chronic Health Evaluation (APACHE) scores as well as intensive care unit length of stay and mortality were used for comparison. Results While age [mean (SD); 70,8 (12,2) vs 66,2 (15,2), p=0,032] and duration of intensive care stay [day; mean (SD); 6,4 (6,3) vs 9,4 (7,4); p<0,001] increased in the post-vaccination group, a statistically significant decrease was observed in APACHE [mean (SD); 26,9 (9,2) vs 20,9 (9,0); p=0,008] and CCI scores [mean (SD); 4,3 (2,2) vs 3,6 (2,7); p<0,001]. Conclusion Regulating the priorities of those to be vaccinated causes rapid changes in the patient population. For this reason, vaccination of vulnerable groups will contribute to the operation of the health system.

Keywords

• COVID19
• SARS-CoV-2
• Vaccination

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