Gaipov, AbduzhapparGusmanov, ArnurAbbay, AnaraSakko, YesbolatIssanov, AlpamysKadyrzhanuly, KainarYermakhanova, ZhanarAliyeva, LazzatKashkynbayev, ArdakMoldaliyev, IklasCrape, ByronSarria-Santamera, Antonio2022-04-252022-04-252021Gaipov, A., Gusmanov, A., Abbay, A., Sakko, Y., Issanov, A., Kadyrzhanuly, K., Yermakhanova, Z., Aliyeva, L., Kashkynbayev, A., Moldaliyev, I., Crape, B., & Sarria-Santamera, A. (2021). Correction to: SARS-CoV-2 PCR-positive and PCR-negative cases of pneumonia admitted to the hospital during the peak of COVID-19 pandemic: analysis of in-hospital and posthospital mortality. In BMC Infectious Diseases (Vol. 21, Issue 1). Springer Science and Business Media LLC. https://doi.org/10.1186/s12879-021-06239-91471-2334https://bmcinfectdis.biomedcentral.com/articles/10.1186/s12879-021-06239-9https://doi.org/10.1186/s12879-021-06239-9http://nur.nu.edu.kz/handle/123456789/6117Background: During the spike of COVID-19 pandemic in Kazakhstan (June-2020), multiple SARS-CoV-2 PCR-test negative pneumonia cases with higher mortality were reported by media. We aimed to study the epidemiologic characteristics of hospitalized PCR-test positive and negative patients with analysis of in-hospital and post-hospital mortality. We also compare the respiratory disease characteristics between 2019 and 2020. Methods: The study population consist of 17,691 (March–July-2020) and 4600 (March–July-2019) hospitalized patients with respiratory diseases (including COVID-19). The incidence rate, case-fatality rate and survival analysis for overall mortality (in-hospital and post-hospital) were assessed. Results: The incidence and mortality rates for respiratory diseases were 4-fold and 11-fold higher in 2020 compared to 2019 (877.5 vs 228.2 and 11.2 vs 1.2 per 100,000 respectively). The PCR-positive cases (compared to PCR-negative) had 2-fold higher risk of overall mortality. We observed 24% higher risk of death in males compared to females and in older patients compared to younger ones. Patients residing in rural areas had 66% higher risk of death compared to city residents and being treated in a provisional hospital was associated with 1.9-fold increased mortality compared to those who were treated in infectious disease hospitals. Conclusion: This is the first study from the Central Asia and Eurasia regions, evaluating the mortality of SARS-CoV-2 PCR-positive and PCR-negative respiratory system diseases during the peak of COVID-19 pandemic. We describe a higher mortality rate for PCR-test positive cases compared to PCR-test negative cases, for males compared to females, for elder patients compared to younger ones and for patients living in rural areas compared to city residents. Keywords: SARS-CoV-2, COVID-19-like pneumonia, PCR test, In-hospital mortality, Post-hospital mortality, Provisional hospitals, Infectious disease hospitals, KazakhstanenAttribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 3.0 United StatesSARS-CoV-2COVID-19-like pneumoniaPCR testIn-hospital mortalityPost-hospital mortalityProvisional hospitalsInfectious disease hospitalsKazakhstanType of access: Open AccessArticle