Çıtak Necati, Pekçolaklar Atilla
Department of Thoracic Surgery, Bakırköy Dr. Sadi Konuk Research and Education Hospital, İstanbul, Turkey.
Department of Thoracic Surgery, Bursa City Hospital, Bursa, Turkey.
Turk Thorac J. 2022 Mar;23(2):137-144. doi: 10.5152/TurkThoracJ.2022.21043.
Coronavirus diseases 2019 test numbers vary from country to country. The present study aims to investigate whether there is a relationship between the number of coronavirus diseases 2019 tests by country with the income inequality of countries.
The association between the number of coronavirus diseases 2019 tests and income inequality metrics was evaluated in 197 countries. Income inequality metrics consisted of the gross domestic product per capita, Gini index, the P80/P20 ratio, human development index ranking, and poverty rate. The share of the tests that gave positive results (positive rate) and fatality rates was calculated by countries.
There was a strong positive correlation between the number of coronavirus diseases 2019 tests per million people and the number of coronavirus diseases 2019 patients per million people (rho = 0.697, P < .001). A significant correlation was observed between the number of coronavirus diseases 2019 tests and all income inequality metrics (P < .001). The strongest positive correlation with the number of coronavirus diseases 2019 tests was between gross domestic product per capita (rho = 0.775), while the strongest negative correlation with the number of coronavirus diseases 2019 tests was between human development index ranking (rho = -0.836). The multiple regression analysis showed that age (P = .01), gross domestic product per capita (P < .001), and human development index ranking were independent factors affecting the number of coronavirus diseases 2019 tests per million people (adjusted R2 = 0.301). The fatality rate was associated with the number of coronavirus diseases 2019 tests (P = .01).
Income inequalities in countries are associated with the number of coronavirus diseases 2019 tests. For this reason, many deaths from coronavirus diseases 2019 may have gone overlooked in countries with poor-income inequality metrics.
2019年冠状病毒病检测数量因国家而异。本研究旨在调查各国2019年冠状病毒病检测数量与国家收入不平等之间是否存在关联。
对197个国家的2019年冠状病毒病检测数量与收入不平等指标之间的关联进行评估。收入不平等指标包括人均国内生产总值、基尼系数、P80/P20比率、人类发展指数排名和贫困率。各国计算了检测呈阳性结果的比例（阳性率）和死亡率。
每百万人口的2019年冠状病毒病检测数量与每百万人口的2019年冠状病毒病患者数量之间存在强正相关（rho = 0.697，P <.001）。观察到2019年冠状病毒病检测数量与所有收入不平等指标之间存在显著相关性（P <.001）。与2019年冠状病毒病检测数量最强的正相关是人均国内生产总值（rho = 0.775），而与2019年冠状病毒病检测数量最强的负相关是人类发展指数排名（rho = -0.836）。多元回归分析表明，年龄（P =.01）、人均国内生产总值（P <.001）和人类发展指数排名是影响每百万人口2019年冠状病毒病检测数量的独立因素（调整R2 =0.301）。死亡率与2019年冠状病毒病检测数量相关（P =.01）。
各国的收入不平等与2019年冠状病毒病检测数量相关。因此，在收入不平等指标较差的国家，许多2019年冠状病毒病死亡病例可能被忽视。
