Comparative epidemiologic analysis of COVID-19 patients during the first and second waves of COVID-19 in Uganda.

Introduction: Uganda was affected by two major waves of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19). The first wave during late 2020 and the second wave in late April 2021. This study compared epidemiologic characteristics of hospitalized (HP) and non-hospitalized patients (NHP) with COVID-19 during the two waves of COVID-19 in Uganda.

Methods: Wave 1 was defined as November-December 2020, and Wave 2 was defined as April-June 2021. In total, 800 patients were included in this study. Medical record data were collected for HP (200 for each wave). Contact information was retrieved for NHP who had polymerase-chain-reaction-confirmed COVID-19 (200 for each wave) from laboratory records; these patients were interviewed by telephone.

Findings: A higher proportion of HP were male in Wave 1 compared with Wave 2 (73% vs 54%; =0.0001). More HP had severe disease or died in Wave 2 compared with Wave 1 (65% vs 31%; <0.0001). NHP in Wave 2 were younger than those in Wave 1, but this difference was not significant (mean age 29 vs 36 years; =0.13). HP were significantly older than NHP in Wave 2 (mean age 48 vs 29 years; <0.0001), but not Wave 1 (mean age 48 vs 43 years; =0.31).

Interpretation: Demographic and epidemiologic characteristics of HP and NHP differed between and within Waves 1 and 2 of COVID-19 in Uganda.