Mortality prognostic factors for covid-19 in Rio Grande do Norte, Brazil

Mortality prognostic factors for covid-19

Abstract

Introduction: Covid-19 has several mortality prognostic factors due to the worsening of the disease, including comorbidities, symptoms, and risk behaviors. In this sense, the objective of the study was to evaluate the association of comorbidities and symptoms as deaths among confirmed cases of covid-19 in the state of Rio Grande do Norte, Brazil. Method: This was a cross-sectional study, in which 44,098 confirmed cases, officially disclosed, were selected, of which 1,615 were deaths, whose predictor variables were: elderly, white, diabetes, heart, respiratory and renal diseases, immunosuppression, cough, fever, sore throat, and dyspnea. Bayesian and Classical Analysis of Poisson Regression were used to adjust the mortality incidence rate ratios. Results: Deaths corresponded to 3.7% of confirmed cases of covid-19. Elderly people with covid-19 were 10 (95%CI: 8.25-12.74) times more likely to die than their counterpart. The surplus of deaths was 34% (95%CI: 1.12-1.60) higher among men, but the white race/color was a protective factor (IRR: 0.63; 95%CrI: 0.50-0.79). Comorbidities such as diabetes (IRR: 2.13), heart (IRR: 2.03), respiratory (IRR: 1.90) and immunosuppressive (IRR: 2.89) diseases, in addition to symptoms such as coughing (IRR: 1.39) and dyspnea (IRR: 1.52) were prognostic factors associated with covid-19 mortality. Conclusions: The elderly people had a surplus of mortality due to covid-19 in Rio Grande do Norte. Also men and people who presented comorbidities such as diabetes, heart diseases, respiratory diseases and immunosuppression, in addition to symptoms such as cough and dyspnea, were associated with higher mortality. Keywords: coronavirus Infections; death; pandemics; risk factors.