249 Research article EMHJ – Vol. 28 No. 4 – 2022 Introduction Chinese scientists isolated a new coronavirus from pa- tients in Wuhan, China on 7 January 7 2020 (1). The cause of the disease named coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) was a new virus strain called severe acute respiratory coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) (2). The World Health Organization (WHO) declared the outbreak a public health emergency of international concern on 30 January 2020 (3). The pandemic has affected high- and low-income countries and millions of people have been infected by SARS-CoV-2 (4–6). In March 2020, WHO de- clared COVID-19 a pandemic (global epidemic) (7). The high rate of virus spread have led to high rates of infec- tion and mortality (8). Given the severity of the pandem- ic and lack of effective treatments, efforts were made to slow the spread of the disease to allow time to produce and administer effective vaccines and/or treatment (8,9). Until 2 decades ago, human coronaviruses were only known to cause uncomplicated respiratory infections such as the common cold. However, two new coronaviruses, severe acute respiratory syndrome (SARS) and Middle East respiratory syndrome (MERS), caused severe outbreaks around the world in 2003 and 2012, respectively (10). Infection with SARS-Cov-2 is very similar to other viral infections in terms of clinical manifestations (7,11), and patients show a wide range of clinical symptoms from mild and asymptomatic to very severe including viral pneumonia, respiratory failure and even death (12). The main symptoms of COVID-19 include fever, cough, and fatigue. Other symptoms include headache, haemoptysis (bloody sputum), diarrhoea, shortness of breath and lymphopenia (12,13). Severe cases have also been associated with heart damage and pulmonary opacification. A high percentage of people (about 80%) show asymptomatic infection or mild symptoms of a cold, while about 20% experience more severe symptoms of the disease, such as, pneumonia, sepsis, septic shock and acute respiratory distress syndrome (14–16). Depending on the severity of the disease, patients may need to be assisted in breathing (e.g. Epidemiological and clinical characteristics of patients with COVID-19 in Islamic Republic of Iran Marzieh Araban, 1 Mahmood Karimy, 2 Hamid Koohestani, 2 Ali Montazeri 3 and Daniel Delaney 4 1 Department of Health Education and Promotion, Social Determinants of Health Research Center, Public Health School, Ahvaz Jundishapur University of Medical Sciences, Ahvaz, Islamic Republic of Iran. 2 Social Determinants of Health Research Center, Saveh University of Medical Sciences, Saveh, Islamic Republic of Iran. 3 Mental Health Research Group, Mother and Child Health Research Centre, Iranian Institute for Health Sciences Research, ACECR, Tehran, Islamic Republic of Iran. 4 Department of Psychology, University of Rhode Island, Kingston, Rhode Island, United States of America. (Correspondence to: Mahmood Karimy: karimymahmood@yahoo.com). Abstract Background: Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) is a worldwide public health emergency. Aims: This study aimed to investigate the epidemiological and clinical characteristics of patients with COVID-19 in Saveh city, Islamic Republic of Iran in 2020. Methods: In this descriptive analytical research, 3181 patients suspected of having COVID-19 who visited Saveh med- ical centres were investigated. Patients were confirmed with COVID-19 using polymerase chain reaction testing. Data on sociodemographic, epidemiological and clinical characteristics of the patients were collected using a validated form through interviews and medical records. The chi-squared, t and Fisher exact tests were used to assess differences in socio- demographic, epidemiological and clinical characteristics between patients with positive and negative polymerase chain reaction results. Logistic regression analysis was used to examine the association between independent variables and death from COVID-19. Results: About half the patients (48.3%) had a history of chronic disease. Diabetes (16.2%), high blood pressure (14.8%) and cardiovascular disease (12.4%) were the most prevalent chronic diseases among patients who were confirmed positive for COVID-19. Risk factors for death among confirmed COVID-19 patients were: intubation (odds ratio (OR) = 8.97; 95% con- fidence interval (CI): 5.15–15.63), age ≥ 80 years (OR = 5.81; 95% CI: 1.91–17.60), oxygen saturation < 93% (OR = 2.48; 95% CI: 1.51–4.08), diabetes (OR = 1.88; 95% CI: 1.00–3.54) and shortness of breath (OR = 1.70; 95% CI: 1.02–2.82). Conclusion: Given the greater risks of contracting and dying from COVID-19 in certain groups of patients, health educa- tion programmes targeting these groups are recommended. Keywords: coronavirus, COVID-19, risk factors, public health, Iran Citation: Araban M; Karimy M; Koohestani H; Montazeri A; Delaney D. Epidemiological and clinical characteristics of hospitalized patients with COVID-19 in Islamic Republic of Iran. East Mediterr Health J. 2022;28(4):249–257. https://doi.org/10.26719/emhj.22.008 Received: 21/12/20; accepted: 06/10/21 Copyright © World Health Organization (WHO) 2022. Open Access. Some rights reserved. This work is available under the CC BY-NC-SA 3.0 IGO license (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/3.0/igo)