Perfil epidemiológico dos casos de Covid-19 e as sequelas comunicativas e deglutitorias no município de Lagarto

Abstract

Objective: To characterize the epidemiological profile of patients affected by the severe form of COVID-19 and the communicative and swallowing sequelae. Methods: An epidemiological study of incidence, observational and longitudinal, with a descriptive objective, with a quantitative, retrospective and documental approach. The research was carried out at the Hospital Universitário de Lagarto (HUL), located in the state of Sergipe. Data were collected from patients who were in the intensive care units and in the wards of the same hospital. As a criterion for inclusion of research participants, patients over eighteen years of age, of both sexes, female and male, residing or not in the city of Lagarto, admitted with COVID-19 between 2020 and 2022 were included. University Hospital of Lagarto-SE. Results: Information was obtained from 615 medical records. Among them, the mean age of hospitalized patients was 61 years old, 57.4% were male and 89.3% were self-declared brown. A higher prevalence of diabetes (42.7%), hypertension (65.2%) and neurological diseases (16.3%) was observed in comorbidities (risk group) in hospitalized patients. Regarding the hospitalization characteristics of the patients, it should be noted that 73.8% did not stay in the ICU, 61.4% did not use mechanical ventilation and 46.6% used a feeding tube and 63.5% of the patients were discharged from the hospital. The mean length of stay was 16.4 days, the mean length of intubation was 13 days, and the mean length of time using a feeding tube was 18.7 days. Conclusion: The study showed that the prevalence of those affected was among men and the elderly, with Hypertension and Diabetes Mellitus being the most common comorbidities. Regarding the identified speech-language sequelae, those with the highest prevalence were those related to swallowing.