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COVID-19 in Patients With a Past History of Chemical War Injury: A Cross-Sectional Study in Southern Iran

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  03 May 2021

Amir Emami ,
FatemehSadat Pezeshkian Open the ORCID record for FatemehSadat Pezeshkian [Opens in a new window] ,
Fatemeh Javanmardi ,
Ali Akbari  and
Ali A. Asadi-Pooya Open the ORCID record for Ali A. Asadi-Pooya [Opens in a new window]
Amir Emami
Affiliation:
Burn & Wound Healing Research Center, Department of Microbiology, Shiraz University of Medical Sciences, Shiraz, Iran
FatemehSadat Pezeshkian
Affiliation:
Epilepsy Research Center, Shiraz University of Medical Sciences, Shiraz, Iran
Fatemeh Javanmardi
Affiliation:
Burn & Wound Healing Research Center, Department of Microbiology, Shiraz University of Medical Sciences, Shiraz, Iran
Ali Akbari
Affiliation:
Department of Anesthesiology, School of Medicine, Shiraz University of Medical Sciences, Shiraz, Iran
Ali A. Asadi-Pooya*
Affiliation:
Epilepsy Research Center, Shiraz University of Medical Sciences, Shiraz, Iran Jefferson Comprehensive Epilepsy Center, Department of Neurology, Thomas Jefferson University, Philadelphia, PA, USA
*
Corresponding Author: Ali A. Asadi-Pooya, Email: aliasadipooya@yahoo.com.
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Abstract

Objective:

This study aimed to determine whether COVID-19 is associated with a different presenting clinical picture or a more severe course of illness in people with a past history of chemical war injury.

Methods:

This is a multicenter retrospective study in Fars Province, Iran, from August 22 to October 4, 2020. People with a past history of chemical war injury and COVID-19 were studied. Two age- and sex-matched control groups, double the size of the patient group each, from the same database of patients with COVID-19 who were hospitalized at the same time (ie, healthy controls and pseudocontrols).

Results:

A total of 46 people with a past history of chemical war injury, 92 healthy controls, and 92 pseudocontrols were studied. People with COVID-19 and a past history of chemical war injury had a significantly higher rate of chest pain compared with others. There were no other clinical differences between the groups. Mortality rate was 17.39%, 15.21%, and 27.17% in people with a past history of chemical war injury, the control group, and the pseudocontrol group, respectively.

Conclusions:

A past history of a chemical war injury does not add to the risk of COVID-19 and does not significantly modify its clinical picture either.

Keywords

chemicalCOVID-19mortalityriskwar
Type
Brief Report
Information
Disaster Medicine and Public Health Preparedness , Volume 16 , Issue 6 , December 2022 , pp. 2352 - 2354
Copyright
© Society for Disaster Medicine and Public Health, Inc. 2021

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