COVID-2019-2020-2021: Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis

Introduction: The world has faced the pandemic of COVID-19 in March 2020 and still it continues to affect in 2021. There is a great variation about the course of the disease and its features. Hence, in the present systemic review, we intend to determine the pooled estimations in the clinical features and prognosis along with the subgroups based on the severity of the disease in various regions of the world. Materials and Methods: Online data were collected from the search engines of EBSCO, PubMed, Google Scholar, and Scopus. The searched terms were COVID 19, CORONA, SARS-CoV-2, clinical features, Wuhan, etc. The study articles were collected that from January 2020 to February 2021. Based on the PRISMA guidelines, a meta-analysis was performed. Results: A total of 5067 articles were selected, of which 176 were finalized for the study. There were a total of 11 countries that were included, with a total of 21/2 lakh participants. Mean age was 47.5 years. Around 22.5% had comorbidities. The mortality was 5.5%. We observed a strong association between the medical condition of the patient and the severity of the infection. In severe cases, the most common symptoms were respiratory and gastrointestinal. The mortality was registered in those with pneumonia and end-organ failure. Conclusion: It can be concluded from this meta-analysis that in a fourth of the positive patients, the disease was severe. In nearly 6% of the COVID-19 patients, mortality was seen. Patients with comorbidities and the severe form of the disease should be closely monitored.

Automated summary

This meta-analysis reviewed 5067 articles and selected 176 for analysis, including 11 countries and 215,000 participants. It found that respiratory and gastrointestinal symptoms were common in severe cases, with mortality mainly seen in patients with pneumonia and end-organ failure. It emphasized the importance of close monitoring for patients with comorbidities and severe forms of the disease.