Profile of patients hospitalized by COVID-19: the importance of hospital epidemiological surveillance

Rationale: Since December 2019, the novel coronavirus SARS-Cov-2, also called COVID-19, has spread rapidly across countries, making it one of the biggest health challenges of this century. In Brazil, it was declared a public heal-th emergency in March 2020. The aim of this study was to describe the profile of patients hospitalized by COVID-19 in an emergency hospital in the city of Rio de Janeiro, as well as the factors associated with in-hospital death. Methods: Retrospective observational study, which included patients hospitalized between March and December 2020 with a confirmed diagnosis of COVID-19. The epidemiological, clinical, and laboratory aspects were extracted from the epidemiological investigation files and the hospital chart. Results: 582 suspected cases of COVID-19 were hospitali-zed and 317 were confirmed, of which 182 (57.5%) were male, and most were residents in the north of Rio de Janeiro (42.5%). Main tomographic or radiological findings: ground glass (34.7%) and pulmonary infiltrate (15.4%), and more than half of those hospitalized (64.0%) had at least one comorbidity. Among hospitalized patients, the overall lethality was 53.6%, and among those admitted to the ICU, this percentage was 84.5%. Age and use of ventilatory support and ICU were the variables that showed a statistically significant association with in-hospital mortality. Conclusion: This study reinforces the importance of epidemiological surveillance, in a hospital setting, especially for diseases in which the passive surveillance system may not be able to adequately report, as in the case of COVID-19.