Perfil epidemiológico e laboratorial da COVID-19 em pacientes de um centro de medicina diagnóstica em uma metrópole da Amazônia

In January 2020, the World Health Organization (WHO) declared the outbreak a Public Health Emergency of International Concern, and due to its rapid global spread, classified it as a pandemic in March of the same year, caused by Coronavirus Disease 19 (COVID-19). It is a highly transmissible disease, as it is spread from person to person through respiratory droplets contaminated with the virus. This research aimed to evaluate the profile of patients who underwent laboratory testing for COVID-19 at a Diagnostic Medicine Center during the second half of 2021 in Belém/Pará. This is an observational, descriptive, retrospective, cross-sectional study with a qualitative and quantitative approach, using data from patients of both sexes, with no minimum age requirement, who underwent laboratory tests for the diagnosis of COVID-19 at Amaral Costa Medicina Diagnóstica during the second semester of 2021. The study assessed COVID-19 diagnostic tests and the following variables: age, sex, vaccination status, type of vaccine, and vaccination dose. During 2021, a total of 4,968 tests were performed at the diagnostic center. Of these, 2,716 were RT-PCR tests, 261 were isothermal amplification tests, and 1,991 were viral antigen tests. Of the tests performed, 4,779 did not confirm a COVID-19 diagnosis, 1 was considered indeterminate, and 188 (sample size) confirmed the infection. The predominant diagnostic method was RT-PCR (70%), with a higher prevalence of female patients (56%), most of whom were vaccinated (67%), mainly withthe Sinovac (24%) and AstraZeneca (20%) vaccines; 58% had received the second dose.