Statistical Analysis of Critical Socioeconomic Factors in the Development of COVID-19 Disease

Abstract

The study aimed to analyze the impact of several economic and social factors on the course of the COVID-19 pandemic by comparing statistical data in large and representative samples and to assess the critical factors influencing the development of the infectious process of the SARS-CoV-2 virus.To create this review, the necessary publications were found on the Internet for the selected keywords both in one tag and different tag combinations. Statistics of economic and social factors were based on data available on the Internet. The Pearson correlation coefficient (r) to determine the statistical relationship was used.The relationship between economic or social factors and the impact of the 15-month COVID-19 pandemic in different regions was investigated using various available statistics for five continents and 52 countries for the first time. A positive relationship between the consequences of viral epidemic and GDP per capita or the type of human diet was found with correlation coefficients in the range of 0.42–0.87. The development of the viral epidemic showed a less clear correlation with population density from r = -0.18 to r = -0.28, depending on the selected group of countries. For island nations, geographic isolation was the dominant defense against SARS-CoV-2 infection.The comparison of the development of COVID-19 according to statistical data in different regions and the study of economic or social aspects, performed on large representative samples, showed that the productive infection and pathogenicity of SARS-CoV-2 increased with a high standard of living and excessive consumption of staple foods. In countries with low GDP and adequate protein or fat intake, the rates of SARS-CoV-2 infection, and death did not exceed the minimum epidemic threshold. The study of the influence of consumed macronutrients on the dynamics of the infectious cycle of the SARS-CoV-2 virus will help explain the reason for such resistance to the pathogen. Such a study would require further comparative analysis of COVID-19 pandemic statistics.