Evaluating COVID-19 Patients' Characteristics

Patients were recruited from University Hospital Coventry and Warwickshire (UHCW), an 1100 bed tertiary UK hospital in the West Midlands, UK. The COVID-19 positive, symptomatic group were patients that were admitted based on respiratory symptoms and were then found to be COVID-19 positive based on a PCR test. Asymptomatic patients were identified through regular SARS-CoV-2 screening in accordance with the national guidelines at the time. COVID-19 negative patients (control arm) were identified from patients entering hospital for surgery associated with non-infectious conditions (for example, a prostate biopsy). These patients received a SARS-CoV-2 PCR test prior to admission to the hospital. The patients were reviewed for eligibility, consented to enter the study and were given a patient information leaflet. A letter detailing recruitment was then sent to their general practitioner. Demographic data collected included the age, gender, nationality, smoker status, medications they were currently prescribed and SARS-CoV-2 vaccination status of the patient. The most common medications the participants were prescribed were paracetamol, bisoprolol, omeprazole, AdCal D3, a statin, metformin, amlodipine, ramipril and sertraline. These drugs were seen in all the groups. In total, 85 patients were recruited into the study. Table 1 provides the demographic breakdown of the patient groups.