Risk factors for mortality of adult inpatients with Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19): a systematic review and meta-analysis of retrospective studies

Mohammad Parohan; Sajad Yaghoubi; Asal Seraj; Mohammad Hassan Javanbakht; Payam Sarraf; Mahmoud Djalali

SARS-CoV-2, which belongs to a unique clade of the sarbecovirus subgenus of the 52 Orthocoronavirinae subfamily (4), was later designated coronavirus disease 2019 in 53 February, 2020, by World Health Organization. 54 Patients with COVID-19 present primarily with fever, dry cough and fatigue or myalgia (5). 55 Although most patients with COVID-19 are thought to have a favorable prognosis, older patients 56 and those with chronic diseases may have worse outcomes (6). Patients with chronic underlying 57 conditions may develop viral pneumonia, dyspnea and hypoxemia within 1week after onset of the 58 disease, which may progress to respiratory or end-organ failure and even death (7). 59 Several studies have reported the clinical characteristics and risk factors associated with death in 60 patients with COVID-19 pneumonia (2, 6, (8) (9) (10) (11) . We are aware of no systematic review and meta-61 analysis that summarized available findings in this regard. Thus, we aimed to systematically 62 review the present evidences on the association between age, gender, hypertension, diabetes, 63 chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD), cardiovascular diseases (CVDs) and risk of death 64 from COVID-19 infection, and to summarize the available findings in a meta-analysis. 67 Study protocol 68 The present systematic review and meta-analysis were planned, conducted and reported in 69 adherence to the Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses (PRISMA) 70 guidelines (12).