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

Alam, Mohammad Rahanur; Kabir, Md. Ruhul; Reza, Sompa

The global pandemic of COVID-19 is posing the biggest threat to humanity through its ubiquitous effect of unfathomable magnitude. Although COVID-19 is a viral disease, there might be an association between different comorbidities and the occurrence of the disease. Our study aims to determine the association between the COVID-19 infection and pre-existing comorbidities such as asthma, diabetes, liver disease, lung disease, heart disease, kidney disease, hypertension, and obesity through a web-based self-reported survey. Univariate and multivariate logistic regression analyses were done using these risk factors as independent variables. 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 more likely to develop the disease than others who did not diagnose as diseased. Therefore, older adults, females, 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.