Comparison of patients’ findings and examination results
The mean O2 saturation at the admission was 83.9±9.2,
with a mean of 85.4±8.5 and 82.5±9.8 at Hospital B and Hospital A,
respectively. Regarding the radiological findings, bilateral infiltrates
were present in 29% of the included patients at admission, with a
prevalence of 26% at Hospital B and 32% in Hospital A (Table
4) .
The local chest examination findings were variable among patients.
Breathing rhythm was regular in 58% of the patients, irregular in 13%
of the patients, and the data about the remaining 29% were not
documented. For the breathing depth, 53% of the patients showed a
normal depth of respiration, 10% showed shallow breathing, 7% showed
deep breathing, and 30% did have a documented breathing depth. For the
breathing quality, 57.9% of the patients showed a normal breathing
quality, 10% showed labored breathing, and the remaining 32% did have
a documented breathing depth. In the same context, 65% of the included
patients did not have any added sounds; however, there was a high
variability of the breathing added sounds among the remaining ones.
Bilateral crepitations were found in 17% of the patients, 8% had
wheezes, 7% had bilateral crackles, 3% had rhonchi, and 1% had
scattered crepitations. There was a statistically significant difference
among the two hospitals in the patterns of breathing rhythm
(P -value= 0.017), breathing quality (P -value= 0.029), and
added sounds (P -value= 0.029) among the included patients