Chronic obstructive lung diseases as a risk factor for severe COVID-19 (review)

Abstract

The review presents meta-analyses and original studies data of severe outcomes of COVID-19 infection in patients with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease. The main risk factors for the severe course of COVID-19 in many studies have been identified as follows: age over 65 years, chronic lung diseases, systemic arterial hypertension, cardiovascular diseases, diabetes mellitus, immunosuppression, chronic kidney and liver diseases. It was shown that patients with concomitant respiratory diseases were 4.2 times more likely to have a severe course of COVID-19 (OR 4.21; 95% CI 2.96.0), especially in patients with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (OR 5.8, 95% CI 3.98.5). Patients with bronchial asthma also more often received mechanical ventilation (OR 1.58; 95% CI 1.022.44; p = 0.04), treatment in intensive care units (OR 1.58; 95% CI 1.092.29; p = 0.02), had longer hospital stays (OR 1.30; 95% CI 1.091.55; р 0.003) and higher mortality (OR 1.53; 95 % CI 1.012.33; p = 0.04) compared with COVID-19 patients without asthma or other chronic obstructive pulmonary diseases. Another factor contributing to severe outcomes of COVID-19 is tobacco use, which increases the risk of severe disease, hospitalization and poor outcomes. Patients with chronic obstructive pulmonary diseases, especially smokers, were more likely to have a severe COVID-19 and adverse outcomes of this disease, which must be taken into account when prescribing treatment for coronavirus infection.