Original Research

Prevalence and Impact of COVID-19 in Immuno-compromised Individuals: An Experience from a Private Outpatient Setting of South Punjab, Pakistan

Qazi Masroor Ali1
Quaid-e-Azam Medical College
Ali Imran1
Quaid-e-Azam Medical College
Sadaf Shafique2
Bahawal Victoria Hospital Bahawalpur
Raheel Khan2
Bahawal Victoria Hospital Bahawalpur
Hafiz Muhammad Kaleem Ullah2
Bahawal Victoria Hospital Bahawalpur
Sajjad Sohail2
Bahawal Victoria Hospital Bahawalpur
Muhammad Sohail Tariq2
Bahawal Victoria Hospital Bahawalpur
Maria Masroor3
Shaikh Zayed Hospital, Rahim Yar Khan
Ghulam Muhy-u-din Chaudhary4
Nishtar Medical University, Multan

✉ Correspondence: Qazi Masroor Ali Email: Masroorqazi@outlook.com

DOI https://doi.org/10.70302/jpsim.v3i2.2222
Volume: 3, Issue 2 Pages: 117–120 Published: 15 Jun 2022
Received: 07 Jan 2022 Accepted: 16 Apr 2022 Published Online: 15 Jun 2022

Abstract

Objective

To find out the prevalence and impact of COVID-19 on immunocompromised patients visiting outpatient department of a private healthcare facility of South Punjab, Pakistan.

Methods

This cross-sectional study was done at Outpatient Department of Aleena Hospital, Bahawalpur, Pakistan from 1st June 2020 to 30th December 2020. We included a total of 197 patients of both genders aged between 15 to 90 years visiting outpatient department of Aleena Hospital for various medical reasons. All patients underwent antibody testing for COVID-19 adopting immunochromatography for both IgG and IgM. A patient was labeled as immunocompromised if having diabetes mellitus or liver cirrhosis.

Results

In a total of 197 patients, 122 (61.9%) were male. Overall, mean age was 45.1±13.3 years ranging 15 to 90 years. A total of 50 (25.4%) cases were antibody positive for COVID-19. BMI ≥ 25 (p=0.045), and “been to close proximity with someone who travelled outside/inside the country” (p=0.014) were noted to have significant association with COVID-19 positive cases while all other variables had insignificant association (p>0.05). Presence of diabetes mellitus was noted to have significant association with COVID-19 antibody positivity (p=0.002). Overall, no significant association of immunocompromised status and COVID-19 antibodies positivity was observed (p=0.090).

Conclusion

Prevalence of positive COVID-19 antibodies was very high among patients visiting outpatient department of a private healthcare setting of South Punjab, Pakistan. Immunocompromised individuals were not found to have any significant association with COVID-19 infections.

Keywords
COVID-19 diabetes mellitus immunocompromised polymerase chain reaction.

How to Cite This Article

Ali QM, Imran A, Shafique S, Khan R, Ullah HMK, Sohail S, et al.. Prevalence and Impact of COVID-19 in Immuno-compromised Individuals: An Experience from a Private Outpatient Setting of South Punjab, Pakistan. J Pak Soc Intern Med. 2022;3(2):117–120. doi:10.70302/jpsim.v3i2.2222

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Conflict of Interest

All authors declare no competing interests.

Disclosed in accordance with ICMJE and COPE guidelines.

Funding

No specific funding was received for this research.

Funder information follows the Crossref Funder Registry standard.

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CC BY CC BY 4.0 This article is published under the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License. May be shared and adapted with attribution. © 2022 Journal of Pakistan Society of Internal Medicine.
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