2.3 Inclusion criteria
Following patients were considered for enrolment in the study:
- Adult patients age > 18 years.
- All the patients who meet the diagnostic criteria of the National
Institute of Health (NIH) Pakistan for COVID-19
infection,14 which are as follows:
- Clinical manifestations that include fever and pulmonary symptoms
(cough, shortness of breath, chest pain, and tightness).
- Radiological findings of consolidation, ground-glass opacities (GGOs)
either on chest X-ray or high-resolution computed tomography (HRCT).
- Real-time fluorescent reverse transcription-polymerase chain reaction
(RT-PCR) of respiratory samples (nasal/oropharyngeal swab or tracheal
secretions) positive for SARS-CoV-2.
After being enrolled in the study, the eligible patients were then
segregated into the following two groups, based on diagnostic criteria
and classification criteria of the NIH Pakistan:14
- The ‘general group’ that includes asymptomatic and mild cases.
- The ‘heavy group’ that includes moderate and severe cases.
The following criteria were used to define the two groups.