Description of COVID-19 patients admitted in an intensive care unit in the Seychelles Islands

Objectives: to describe the population affected by COVID-19 infection, according to selected epidemiological, laboratory and clinical variables; in addition to estimating mortality and length of stay in the population studied. Design, frame of reference and patients: an observational retrospective study was carried out on seriously ill COVID-19 patients, who were admitted to the Intensive Care Unit of the H.H Sheikh Khalifa Bim Zayed Al Nahyan Hospital in the period from January 2021 to September 2021. Results: During the investigation, it is evident that there was a predominance of patients aged between 45 and 64 years (48,6 %), mainly affecting men (56,8 %). Most patients were not vaccinated (93,2 %), had leukocytosis (75,7 %) and normal D-dimer (41,9 %). Severe acute respiratory distress syndrome was present in 66,2 %. 60,8 % of the total patients passed away, amongst which 52,7 % of those deceased group had a stay of less than 10 days. Conclusions: the population was comprised of middle-aged, male patients with a history of non-communicable, chronic diseases, without to vaccinate, diagnosed mainly with rapid antigen tests. Laboratory studies were fundamental to assess the initial state and clinical evolution, and depicting the severity of the disease leading to high mortality.