The Effect of Chronic Diseases, Age and Gender on Morbidity and Mortality of COVID-19 Infection.

BACKGROUND

We aimed to reveal how chronic diseases, age and gender affected morbidity and mortality in patients with Coronavirus disease of 2019 (COVID-19).

METHODS

Medical records of all reverse transcription polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR) positive COVID-19 patients followed up in hospital and home isolation between 13 of Mar 2020 and 12 of May 2020 were retrospectively reviewed. The patients were from Kayseri Province, Turkey. Patients' demographic and clinical characteristics and the factors associated with morbidity and mortality were analyzed.

RESULTS

Of all the patients, 773 (95.8%) were alive and 34 (4.24%) died. The fatality rate was 4.2%. There were differences between the age groups in terms of fatality rate (<0.001). The fatality rate in patients above the age of 65 yr was significantly higher. The fatality rate in the male gender was 2.44 times higher (<0.05). It was 1.104 times higher in advanced age (<0.001) and 10.893 times higher in patients with at least one comorbid disease (<0.05). Hypertension increased mortality by 3.635 times (<0.05) and chronic pulmonary diseases by 2.926 times (<0.05).

CONCLUSION

Advanced age, male gender and accompanying chronic diseases have adverse effects on the course and severity of the disease and hospitalization. They also increased the rate and risk of mortality.