Impact of Age, Sex, and Cardiovascular Disease in Mortality in COVID-19 at the Medical City

Abstract

INTRODUCTION: COVID-19 (coronavirus disease 2019), which is caused by the human severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-COV-2), has reached a pandemic level. As a novel disease, local epidemiologic data are important to determine high-risk age groups, as well as risk factors that contribute to mortality. This study is a retrospective cohort study of 182 COVID-19–positive patients confirmed by real-time polymerase chain reaction. Baseline demographics and data on the preexisting cardiovascular comorbidities of 182 COVID-19 patients were collected by chart review and underwent statistical analysis using STATA 14 software (StataCorp, College Station, Texas). In the study, the majority of COVID-19 patients were 61 years or older (44.5%), with a higher prevalence of individuals 61 years or older among those who died (68.4%) compared with survivors (38.2%) (P = 0.005). In terms of gender, half of the patients were male (57.7%). In terms of cardiovascular disease, the most prevalent was hypertension (48.3%), followed by diabetes (28.0%). The prevalence of coronary artery disease (CAD) was significantly higher among patients who died (15.8%) compared with survivors (2.8%) (P = 0.022). In the univariate logistic regression analysis, older age was significantly associated with increased odds for mortality (odds ratio, 1.06; 95% confidence interval, 1.03–1.09). In terms of comorbidities, having CAD was significantly associated with increased odds for mortality (odds ratio, 6.6; 95% confidence interval, 1.7–24.6). Other variables were not significantly associated with mortality. In our study, advanced age and the presence of underlying CAD have been associated with an increased risk of in-hospital mortality among COVID-19 patients. KEYWORDS: age, cardiovascular disease, COVID-19, mortality, sex