Rabat – A Moroccan team of researchers have identified several fatal predictors among people infected with COVID-19 – in a first of its kind study conducted in Morocco.
In a recent scientific study published in the Annals of Medicine and Surgery, Moroccan researchers noted three possible reasons for the increasing death rate associated with COVID-19 infection and resuscitation.
The authors aimed to “identify clinical and para-clinical predictors of mortality related to COVID-19” in Morocco.
The study was conducted in the Mohammed VI University Hospital Center in Oujda, Morocco, by a team consisting from various departments at the University Hospital Center, including the local Intensive Care Unit and various departments at the Mohammed I University in Oujda.
The three key factors discovered were related to associated heart failure, to high D-dimer levels – a specific protein fragment which is produced when blood clots dissolve within the body, and to the requirement for artificial respiration.
“These predictors could help clinicians to identify early patients with high risk of lethality in order to reduce [COVID-19-related] mortality,” reads the study.
There have already been a number of studies reporting different prognostic factors for fatal forms of COVID-19, including being 60 to 69 years old, being male, the need for extra oxygen upon admission, and smoking. This study was conducted in order to better understand the predictive factors in Moroccan hospitals specifically.
The study observed 600 patients over a time span of 12 months, between January 2020 and December 2020. The participants ranged in age from 1.5 to 115 years old, with 403 males and 197 females, equivalent to a 67.2% to 32.8% split. By the end of the study, 195 patients, or 32.50% had died of COVID-19-related complications.
“It is not a high percentage in terms of resuscitation and anesthesia in general,” one of the doctors participating in the study Abderrahim Elkaouini told local media, adding that “there are Chinese and Italian studies that recorded a mortality rate ranging between 35 and 40 percent.”
