Article type
Year
Abstract
Background: Subjects particularly vulnerable to severe disease may be those with pre-existing medical conditions such as diabetes, cardiovascular diseases, renal failure, obesity, and immunodeficiency due to their relatively weak immunity. Evaluating the prevalence of these chronic conditions is fundamental to mitigate COVID-19 complications. So far no relevant systematic review study.
Objectives: To provide a systematic evaluation and a detailed estimate of the prevalence of comorbidities in severe COVID-19 cases. This assessment may aid the public health sector while developing policies for surveillance, preparedness, and response to COVID-19 and its severe outcomes.
Methods: PubMed, Embase, Web of Science, Cochrane Library, China National Knowledge Infrastructure, Wanfang and China Biology Medicine disc were searched to 6 April 2020 using the search terms (MeSH) “SARS-CoV-2”, “COVID-19”, “Diabetes, Hypertension, Cardiovascular diseases” OR “Obesity”. The search was limited to English and Chinese language articles describing the epidemiological, demographic, and clinical features of COVID-19 cases and reporting the prevalence of a number of chronic diseases in infected adults (age≥18 years). We exclude reports published as review articles, letters, case studies, editorials, conference abstracts, vaccination trails, family-based studies, and articles without abstracts. The prevalence of comorbidities including diabetes, hypertension, cardiovascular disease (CVD)/coronary artery disease (CAD), and obesity, together with clinical symptoms such as cough, fever, shortness of breath, and sore throat, were extracted from the identified studies. The primary outcome measure was the prevalence of comorbidities in severe COVID-19 cases. A Meta-analysis of proportions (and 95%CI) was calculated for the clinical symptoms and for each of the selected comorbidities using the Review Manager version 5.3 software. A random-effects model was used since it was assumed that the relationship between the comorbidities and severe COVID-19 varies across populations. The presence of heterogeneity among the identified studies (Cochran’s Q) and the extent of heterogeneity (I2) were examined, as described previously. Forest plots were used to illustrate the prevalence of comorbidities in severe COVID-19 from the selected studies and to inspect the heterogeneity of the individual findings.
Results and conclusions: This study is ongoing and results will be presented at the Evidence summit as available.
Patient or healthcare consumer involvement: None.
Objectives: To provide a systematic evaluation and a detailed estimate of the prevalence of comorbidities in severe COVID-19 cases. This assessment may aid the public health sector while developing policies for surveillance, preparedness, and response to COVID-19 and its severe outcomes.
Methods: PubMed, Embase, Web of Science, Cochrane Library, China National Knowledge Infrastructure, Wanfang and China Biology Medicine disc were searched to 6 April 2020 using the search terms (MeSH) “SARS-CoV-2”, “COVID-19”, “Diabetes, Hypertension, Cardiovascular diseases” OR “Obesity”. The search was limited to English and Chinese language articles describing the epidemiological, demographic, and clinical features of COVID-19 cases and reporting the prevalence of a number of chronic diseases in infected adults (age≥18 years). We exclude reports published as review articles, letters, case studies, editorials, conference abstracts, vaccination trails, family-based studies, and articles without abstracts. The prevalence of comorbidities including diabetes, hypertension, cardiovascular disease (CVD)/coronary artery disease (CAD), and obesity, together with clinical symptoms such as cough, fever, shortness of breath, and sore throat, were extracted from the identified studies. The primary outcome measure was the prevalence of comorbidities in severe COVID-19 cases. A Meta-analysis of proportions (and 95%CI) was calculated for the clinical symptoms and for each of the selected comorbidities using the Review Manager version 5.3 software. A random-effects model was used since it was assumed that the relationship between the comorbidities and severe COVID-19 varies across populations. The presence of heterogeneity among the identified studies (Cochran’s Q) and the extent of heterogeneity (I2) were examined, as described previously. Forest plots were used to illustrate the prevalence of comorbidities in severe COVID-19 from the selected studies and to inspect the heterogeneity of the individual findings.
Results and conclusions: This study is ongoing and results will be presented at the Evidence summit as available.
Patient or healthcare consumer involvement: None.