{"status":"ok","message-type":"work","message-version":"1.0.0","message":{"indexed":{"date-parts":[[2025,10,12]],"date-time":"2025-10-12T04:50:07Z","timestamp":1760244607920,"version":"build-2065373602"},"reference-count":31,"publisher":"MDPI AG","issue":"1","license":[{"start":{"date-parts":[[2022,12,25]],"date-time":"2022-12-25T00:00:00Z","timestamp":1671926400000},"content-version":"vor","delay-in-days":0,"URL":"https:\/\/creativecommons.org\/licenses\/by\/4.0\/"}],"funder":[{"name":"United States Agency for International Development (USAID)"},{"name":"International Federation of the Red Cross (IFRC)"}],"content-domain":{"domain":[],"crossmark-restriction":false},"short-container-title":["IJERPH"],"abstract":"<jats:p>Background: Care demand exceeded the availability of human and material resources during the COVID-19 pandemic, which is the reason why triage was fundamental. The objective is to know the clinical and sociodemographic factors of confirmed or suspected COVID-19 cases in triage stations from different Ecuadorian provinces. Method: A multicenter study with a retrospective and descriptive design. The patients included were those who accessed the Respiratory Triage stations deployed by the Ecuadorian Red Cross in eight Ecuadorian provinces during March and April 2021. Triage allows for selecting patients that need urgent treatment and favors efficacy of health resources. Results: The study population consisted of a total of 21,120 patients, of which 43.1% were men and 56.9% were women, with an age range between 0 and 98 years old. Severity of COVID-19 behaved differently according to gender, with mild symptoms predominating in women and severe or critical symptoms in men. Higher incidence of critical cases was observed in patients over 65 years old. It was observed that overweight predominated in critical, severe, and moderate cases, while the body mass index of patients with mild symptoms was within the normal range. Conclusions: The Ecuadorian Red Cross units identified some suspected COVID-19 cases, facilitating their follow-up and isolation. Fever was the most significant early finding.<\/jats:p>","DOI":"10.3390\/ijerph20010313","type":"journal-article","created":{"date-parts":[[2022,12,27]],"date-time":"2022-12-27T04:40:39Z","timestamp":1672116039000},"page":"313","update-policy":"https:\/\/doi.org\/10.3390\/mdpi_crossmark_policy","source":"Crossref","is-referenced-by-count":0,"title":["A Multicenter Study about the Population Treated in the Respiratory Triage Stations Deployed by the Red Cross during the COVID-19 Pandemic"],"prefix":"10.3390","volume":"20","author":[{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0003-1422-7807","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Jos\u00e9 Antonio","family":"Ponce-Bland\u00f3n","sequence":"first","affiliation":[{"name":"Red Cross Nursing University Centre, University of Seville, 41009 Seville, Spain"},{"name":"International Federation of the Red Cross, Ecuador Headquarters, Quito 170403, Ecuador"}],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]},{"given":"Roc\u00edo","family":"Romero-Castillo","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Red Cross Nursing University Centre, University of Seville, 41009 Seville, Spain"}],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]},{"given":"Leyre","family":"Rodr\u00edguez-Leal","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Red Cross Nursing University College, Autonomous University of Madrid, 28003 Madrid, Spain"}],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0003-3326-657X","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Raquel","family":"Gonz\u00e1lez-Herv\u00edas","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Red Cross Nursing University College, Autonomous University of Madrid, 28003 Madrid, Spain"}],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0002-5801-4857","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Juan Francisco","family":"Velarde-Garc\u00eda","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Red Cross Nursing University College, Autonomous University of Madrid, 28003 Madrid, Spain"},{"name":"Research Group of Humanities and Qualitative Research in Health Science (Hum&QRinHS), Universidad Rey Juan Carlos, Avenida Atenas s\/n, 28922 Alcorcon, Spain"},{"name":"Nursing Research Support Unit, Hospital General Universitario Gregorio Maranon, Calle Dr. Esquerdo 46, 28007 Madrid, Spain"}],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0002-2084-3051","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Beatriz","family":"\u00c1lvarez-Embarba","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Red Cross Nursing University College, Autonomous University of Madrid, 28003 Madrid, Spain"}],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]}],"member":"1968","published-online":{"date-parts":[[2022,12,25]]},"reference":[{"key":"ref_1","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"860","DOI":"10.1093\/jamia\/ocaa051","article-title":"Rapid design and implementation of an integrated patient self-triage and self-scheduling tool for COVID-19","volume":"27","author":"Judson","year":"2020","journal-title":"J. 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