Nutritional Advice El Mondo
Objectives:
What is the impact of age, sex, comorbidities and clinical characteristics on the severity of COVID-19?
Study design:
This review article included 55 studies with a total of 10,014 patients with SARS-CoV-2 (COVID-19) infection.
No publication bias was found in case of age (≥50 years, age ≥65 years), comorbidities and clinical manifestations.
Results and conclusions:
The investigators found male cases and cases with an age of ≥50 years [OR = 2.41, p 0.00001 and RR = 3.36, p = 0.0002, respectively] were severely affected by COVID-19.
The investigators found patients having age ≥65 years were not associated [p = 0.110] with the severity of COVID-19.
The investigators found presence of at least one comorbidity or hypertension, diabetes, cerebrovascular disease, cardiovascular diseases, respiratory disease, malignancy, chronic kidney disease and chronic liver diseases individually increased the severity of COVID-19 cases significantly [OR = 3.13, p 0.00001, OR = 2.35, p 0.00001, OR = 2.42, p 0.00001, OR = 3.78, p 0.00001, OR = 3.33, p 0.00001, OR = 2.58, p 0.00001, OR = 2.32, p 0.00001, OR = 2.27, p = 0.0007 and OR = 1.70, p = 0.003, respectively].
The investigators found clinical manifestation such as fever, cough, fatigue, anorexia, dyspnea, chest tightness, hemoptysis, diarrhea and abdominal pain [OR = 1.68, p = 0.0001, OR = 1.41, p = 0.004, OR = 1.26, p = 0.03, OR = 2.38, p 0.0001, OR = 4.30, p 0.00001, OR = 2.11, p = 0.002, OR = 4.93, p 0.0001, OR = 1.35, p = 0.03 and OR = 2.38, p = 0.008, respectively] were significantly associated with the severity of COVID-19 cases.
The investigators found no association of COVID-19 severity with myalgia, pharyngalgia, nausea, vomiting, headache, dizziness and sore throat [p > 0.05].
The investigators concluded that male patients and elderly or older patients (age≥50 years) are at a higher risk of developing disease severity. Furthermore, the presence of at least one or combined comorbidities like hypertension, diabetes, cerebrovascular disease, cardiovascular diseases, respiratory disease, malignancy, chronic kidney disease and chronic liver disease increases the severity of COVID-19. The prevalence of most common clinical symptoms like fever, cough, fatigue, anorexia, dyspnea, chest tightness, hemoptysis, diarrhea and abdominal pain are significantly higher in severe patients and these are associated with the disease severity. This meta-analysis (review article) will help health care providers make appropriate medical decisions for their patients based on age, sex, comorbidities and clinical symptoms.
Original title:
Impact of age, sex, comorbidities and clinical symptoms on the severity of COVID-19 cases: A meta-analysis with 55 studies and 10014 cases by Barek A, A and Islam MS.
Link:
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC7737518/
Additional information of El Mondo:
Find more information/studies on coronavirus right here.