INTRODUCTION : Globally, around 760 million cases and 6.9 million deaths were recorded since 2019. Currently, COVID-19 has been extensively studied globally, and the available studies indicate diversity in information about COVID-19 across regions and countries, highlighting the need for localized studies.
OBJECTIVE : The objective of this study is to understand the demographic and clinical characteristics of those who died due to COVID-19 and estimate the time intervals between the onset of symptoms, admission, and death.
METHODOLOGY : We obtained COVID-19 data for 38086 deaths from the epidemic section of the Directorate of Public Health and Preventive Medicine, Tamil Nadu, a southern Indian state from 25th March 2020 to 4th January 2024. Categorical variables were summarized as frequencies and percentages, while continuous variables were presented as mean, standard deviation (SD), median, and interquartile range (IQR) as appropriate. Proportions for categorical variables were analyzed using the chi-squared test. The analyses were performed using SPSS version 25.0.
RESULTS : The mean age of the deceased was 62.9 years (SD: 13.7 years), Almost two-thirds, 66.7%, of the deceased were males. 24% of deceased were from Chennai district. The crude death rate was 10.0/100,000 population; the agespecific death rate was highest (64.89/ 100,000 population) in the age group 75 years and above. 79.4 % reported with one or more comorbidities with most common being Diabetes(52.3%), hypertension(40.8%) & Coronary Artery disease. The comorbidities are higher (92.7%) in age group and 75 years and above and (63.9%) is noted in 0-14 years age group. Breathlessness (77.5), fever (75.6) and cough(68.4%) were the most common symptoms and it was found higher in age group 15-44 years. There is no difference in median time interval between hospital admission and death among age group and gender except the place of admission where the private institutions was higher when compared to government institutions. The time interval between getting lab tested covid-19 positive and death was shorter among age group 0-14 years and higher in private institutions
CONCLUSION : The Covid-19 death rate is highest among elderly age group, male gender and people living in districts with higher urban coverage. The comorbidities are higher in age group 75 years and above. The time interval between admission and death was higher in private institutions. The time interval between getting lab tested covid-19 positive and death was shorter among age group 0-14 years and higher in private institutions.