en Epidemiology Original Article <div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family:Arial;"><span style="font-size:10pt"><span style="line-height:200%"><span style="color:black"><b><span style="font-size:7.0pt"><span style="line-height:200%"><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif""></span></span></span></b></span></span></span><br> <span style="font-size:10pt"><span style="line-height:200%"><span style="color:black"><b>Background: </b>COVID-19 continues to pose a significant healthcare challenge throughout the world. This study aimed to investigate epidemiological characteristics and associated mortality factors among hospitalized patients with COVID-19 in the Mazandaran province.</span></span></span><br> <span style="font-size:10pt"><span style="line-height:200%"><span style="color:black"><b>Materials & Methods:</b> In this descriptive study, the medical information of patients admitted to 39 hospitals in 17 cities in Mazandaran province between February 20, 2020, and February 20, 2021, were initially assessed and then entered the survey based on the study criteria. For data analysis, statistical approaches such as Chi-square and Fisher&#39;s exact test were performed at a significance level of 5%.</span></span></span><br> <span style="font-size:10pt"><span style="line-height:200%"><span style="color:black"><b>Results:</b> Out of the initial 34036 patients total patients, 21007 were included in the study with a mean age of 53.75&plusmn;18.23 years, and 10219(48.6%) were males. The majority of cases and the highest mortality percent belonged to the age groups of 60 to 70 and 70 to 80. The Mortality proportion was 11.6% (n=2431), with a higher value in males than females. Moreover, the highest mortality rate was seen in ICU&nbsp; (n=2803, 85.7%). Underlying diseases with the highest mortality rate were diabetes&nbsp; (n=2058, 43%) and chronic heart disease&nbsp; (n=166, 6.83%). The most common symptoms of illness were fever&nbsp; (n=9025, 43%), hemoptysis&nbsp; (n=5911, 28.10%), sore throat&nbsp; (n=3771, 18%), and low blood pressure&nbsp; (n=3626, 17.30%).</span></span></span><br> <span style="font-size:10pt"><span style="line-height:200%"><span style="color:black"><b>Conclusion:</b> This study showed a high mortality rate among COVID-19 cases and dissected the related risk factors, including age, gender, underlying diseases, and ICU admission.</span></span></span></span><br> &nbsp;</div> COVID-19,Epidemiology,SARS-CoV-2,Iran, 18 27 http://johe.rums.ac.ir/browse.php?a_code=A-10-503-1&slc_lang=en&sid=1 Rouhollah Shabestan r-shabestan@alumnus.tums.ac.ir 22400319475328460010789 22400319475328460010789 Yes M.Sc in Epidemiology, Dept. of Biostatistics and Epidemiology, School of Public Health, Tehran University of Medical Sciences, Tehran, Iran. Tehran University of Medical Sciences Bahman Amani b89amani@yahoo.com 22400319475328460010790 22400319475328460010790 No M.Sc in Health Technology Assessment, Dept. of Health Management and Economics, School of Public Health, Tehran University of Medical Sciences, Tehran, Iran Tehran University of Medical Sciences Behnam Amani b.amani89@yahoo.com 22400319475328460010791 22400319475328460010791 No M.Sc in Health Technology Assessment, Dept. of Health Management and Economics, School of Public Health, Tehran University of Medical Sciences, Tehran, Iran Tehran University of Medical Sciences Saeed Khorramnia msaeed.khorramnia@gmail.com 22400319475328460010792 22400319475328460010792 No Assistant Prof., Dept. of Anesthesiology, School of Medicine, Rafsanjan University of Medical Sciences, Rafsanjan, Iran. Rafsanjan University of Medical Sciences Sara Zareei s.zareei@gmail.com 22400319475328460010793 22400319475328460010793 No M.Sc in Biochemistry, Dept. of Cell & Molecular Biology, Faculty of Biological Sciences, Kharazmi University, Tehran, Iran. Kharazmi University Mohammad Reza Parsaie mrparsaie@gmail.com 22400319475328460010794 22400319475328460010794 No MD, Health Deputy, Mazandaran University of Medical Sciences, Sari, Iran. Mazandaran University of Medical Sciences Hormoz Kianian hormozk45@gmail.com 22400319475328460010795 22400319475328460010795 No B.Sc in Public Health, Health Deputy, Mazandaran University of Medical Sciences, Sari, Iran. Mazandaran University of Medical Sciences Ali Charkameh alicharkame@gmail.com 22400319475328460010796 22400319475328460010796 No B.Sc in Public Health, Health Deputy, Mazandaran University of Medical Sciences, Sari, Iran. Mazandaran University of Medical Sciences Arash Akbarzadeh arashakbarzadeh@yahoo.com 22400319475328460010797 22400319475328460010797 No M.Sc in Biostatistics, Dept. of Biostatistics and Epidemiology, School of Public Health, Tehran University of Medical Sciences, Tehran, Iran Tehran University of Medical Sciences,