Methods
All patients with confirmed or suspected H1N1 who reported from January
2018 till December 2019 at the Department of Medicine & Allied,
Northwest General Hospital & Research Centre (NWGH & RC), Peshawar,
Pakistan were recruited to the study.
Participants were enrolled to the study based on early respiratory
symptoms and clinical suspicion as assessed by the physician and/or
positive results of the rapid real-time polymerase chain reaction. A
structured questionnaire was used to collect data on demographics,
underlying medical conditions, smoking history, duration of hospital
stay, clinical laboratory data, outcome, and personal history.
Participants were observed till either death or discharge from the
hospital, whichever happened first. Patients were admitted in accordance
to the hospital’s admission policy and treated in the isolation rooms
meant specifically for either suspected or confirmed patients of H1N1.
Blood samples for biochemical analysis were collected on the day of
admission. They were all given fever medications, fluid therapy,
antivirals, oxygen therapy, as well as noninvasive ventilation and
invasive mechanical ventilation as per individual needs.
Statistical analysis was performed using SPSS software (version 23;
SPSS, Chicago, IL, USA). Distribution of variables was assessed by
histograms. Results are expressed as mean (standard deviation SD) and
percentage, or frequency for continuous and categorical variable
respectively. Comparison of continuous variables was done via the
independent Student’s t -test while that of categorical variables
was done via the chi-square test. A two-sided P value less than 0.05 was
used to show statistical significance.
The hospital ethics committee granted this study ethical approval
(Ref#: IRB-EB/NWSM/696/2020). All participants provided informed
written consent.