Comorbidities might be a risk factor for the incidence of COVID-19: Evidence from a web-based survey of 780,961 participants

Alam, M. R.; Kabir, M. R.; Reza, S.

Background: The global pandemic of COVID-19 is posing the biggest threat to humanity through its ubiquitous effect of unfathomable magnitude. It has been responsible for over four hundred thousand death worldwide to date. There has been evidence that various comorbidities have a higher risk associated with case fatality. Although COVID-19 is a viral disease, there might be an association between different comorbidities and the occurrence of the disease. Method: Sociodemographic and medical history data on different comorbidities such as asthma, diabetes, liver disease, lung disease, heart disease, kidney disease, hypertension, and obesity were collected by a web-based self-reported survey between 25th March 2020 to 4th June 2020 by the Nexoid United Kingdom. Univariate and multivariate logistic regression analyses were done using these risk factors as independent variables. Result: A total of 780,961 participants from 183 different countries and territories participated in this study. Among them, 1516 participants were diagnosed with COVID-19 prior to this study. A significant risk association was observed for age above 60 years, female gender as well as different pre-existing disease conditions such as diabetes, kidney disease, liver disease, and heart diseases. Asthma and diabetes were the major dominant comorbidities among patients, and patients with existing diabetes were 1.464 (AOR: 1.464; 95% CI: 1.228-1.744), more likely to develop the disease than others who did not diagnose as diseased. Conclusion: Older adults, female as well as people with comorbidities such as diabetes mellitus, heart disease, kidney disease, and liver disease, are the most vulnerable population for COVID-19. However, further studies should be carried out to explain the pathway of these risk associations.