Epidemiological and clinical characteristics of COVID-19 in Eastern Algeria
Authors: Saida Karouche , Amel Benbott , Marwa Rouar Salim Djouad , Chaima Hafiane 
Published: October 2022

<p><strong><span id="page12384R_mcid6" class="markedContent"><span dir="ltr">ABSTRACT</span></span></strong><span id="page12384R_mcid7" class="markedContent"><br /><strong><span dir="ltr">INTRODUCTION. </span></strong></span><span id="page12384R_mcid8" class="markedContent"><span dir="ltr">COVID-19 is a highly transmissible and pathogenic viral infection caused by severe </span></span><span id="page12384R_mcid9" class="markedContent"><span dir="ltr">acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). Algeria was also affected by the COVID-19, it was </span></span><span id="page12384R_mcid10" class="markedContent"><span dir="ltr">considered the third most affected country in Africa.</span></span><span id="page12384R_mcid11" class="markedContent"><br /><strong><span dir="ltr">AIM. </span></strong></span><span id="page12384R_mcid12" class="markedContent"><span dir="ltr">The main aim of the study was to identify risk factors and the impact of risk factors on the incidence </span></span><span id="page12384R_mcid13" class="markedContent"><span dir="ltr">SARS-CoV-2 infection and the clinical course of the COVID-19, through a behavioral survey on a representative </span></span><span id="page12384R_mcid14" class="markedContent"><span dir="ltr">sample of the people who have been previously diagnosed with COVID-19.</span></span><span id="page12384R_mcid15" class="markedContent"><br /><strong><span dir="ltr">MATERIALS AND METHODS. </span></strong></span><span id="page12384R_mcid16" class="markedContent"><span dir="ltr">A partial cross-sectional study of 808 people from a population of both </span></span><span id="page12384R_mcid17" class="markedContent"><span dir="ltr">sexes, aged 1 to 90 years allowed the description of the epidemiological profile of patients in the city of Oum-</span></span><span id="page12384R_mcid18" class="markedContent"><span dir="ltr">El-Bouaghi in eastern Algeria. </span></span><span id="page12384R_mcid19" class="markedContent"><br /><strong><span dir="ltr">RESULTS. </span></strong></span><span id="page12384R_mcid20" class="markedContent"><span dir="ltr">The results of the study shows that the SASR-CoV-2 infection appears to be very strongly related </span></span><span id="page12384R_mcid21" class="markedContent"><span dir="ltr">to social and biological factor. The relationship between different BMI classes and the pandemic is confirmed </span></span><span id="page12384R_mcid22" class="markedContent"><span dir="ltr">by a significant difference (p < 0.001). The results of the epidemiological profile of the SARS-CoV-2 infected </span></span><span id="page12384R_mcid23" class="markedContent"><span dir="ltr">population shows that COVID-19 particularly affects people aged 40-50 years. In was noted that there is a very </span></span><span id="page12384R_mcid24" class="markedContent"><span dir="ltr">highly significant difference (p=0.000) between age and COVID-19. Although no relationship between disease </span></span><span id="page12384R_mcid25" class="markedContent"><span dir="ltr">and gender of patients was observed (p=0.110). It was also noted that there is a very significant difference </span></span><span id="page12384R_mcid26" class="markedContent"><span dir="ltr">(p=0.001) between smoking and SARS-CoV-2 infection. And the survey data show that marriages predominate </span></span><span id="page12384R_mcid27" class="markedContent"><span dir="ltr">among patients</span></span></p>