Epidemiological and clinical laboratory features of COVID-19 in adults in the Ulyanovsk region

Khasanova A.A., Kafarova A.I.

Ulyanovsk State University, Ulyanovsk

The new coronavirus infection still occupies a special place among infectious pathologies, which requires careful monitoring, both from the epidemiological surveillance standpoint and during patient observation in the acute period of the disease and extended medical examination in the future.
Purpose: to study the epidemiological, clinical and laboratory features of COVID-19 in adults in the Ulyanovsk region.
Methods. A retrospective analysis of Rospotrebnadzor data on the incidence and prevalence of COVID-19 in the Ulyanovsk region for 2020-2023 was carried out. Case histories of hospitalized patients were used to study the clinical and laboratory characteristics of the new coronavirus infection.
Results. During the 2020–2023 period, an intensive increase in the incidence of COVID-19 was registered in the Ulyanovsk region with maximum values in 2022. A predominance of the female sex was revealed throughout the pandemic. In 2020, the disease was most often registered in the age category of «50–64 years», and in 2021–2022 «30–49 years». Since 2023, all age groups over 30 years old have been prevalent in the incidence structure. According to the social structure in 2020, the most vulnerable group was the group of workers and military personnel, followed by the involvement of pensioners and the non-working population. In the presence of respiratory symptoms, the probability of confirming the diagnosis of "COVID-19" was highest in working patients over 50 years old and male pensioners. Significant clinical and laboratory changes were detected in patients in the acute period of COVID-19.
Conclusions. The study indicates the importance of dispensary monitoring of patients who have had COVID-19. It is necessary to pay special attention to working groups of people over 50 years old, especially with respiratory symptoms and laboratory changes in the acute period of the disease in the form of leukocytosis with monocytosis, suppression of the lymphocyte lineage, hypercoagulation, increased markers of inflammation and cytolysis.