COVID-19 trends in Colombian regions with the highest disease burden

Chaparro, P.; Zapata, H.; HURTADO, I.; ALZATE, A.; LESMES, M. C.; HERRERA, S.

Introduction: COVID-19 pandemic is currently the most significant global public health challenge, with more than 31 million cases reported to date. Colombia first reported COVID-19 cases in the country by early March 2020, and six months later it has reached ~750,471 clinical cases, with significant regional differences in morbidity, mortality, and hospitalization rates. Aims: Identify population characteristics and hospital capacity in the 13 municipalities with the highest disease notification and examine differences in cumulative reported cases, hospitalization, and mortality rates that may explain the regional differences. Materials and methods: A multi-group ecological study was performed based on the information available from public databases. Notification of cases, hospitalization, and crude mortality and age-adjusted rates were calculated. Results: The municipalities with the highest COVID-1 burden at different times during the study period displayed significant differences in population density and the proportion of elderly inhabitants, indigenous and afro descendants minorities; indices of unsatisfied basic needs and multidimensional poverty index, as well as the number of hospital beds. Likewise, essential variations in notification rates, hospitalization, and mortality were observed. The highest age-adjusted of reported cases (4,219 cases) and mortality (230.4 cases) rates were found in Leticia, the lowest general hospitalization rates in Buenaventura (37.5 cases) and the lowest ICU hospitalization rates (0) in Leticia and Tumaco due to a lack of these units in these municipalities. Conclusion: The probability of getting sick, hospitalized, and dying from COVID-19 appeared closely related to socio-economic, ethnic, and cultural characteristics, and also to hospital bed capacity.