A preliminary study of coronavirus disease 2019 in China: the impact of cardiovascular disease on death risk

Rethemiotaki, Irene

INTRODUCTION: The primary purpose of this work is to study coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) in China and to identify the prognostic characteristics of patients with the highest death risk. MATERIAL AND METHODS: The statistical methods used to derive the results of this work are the chi-square test and one-way analysis of variance (ANOVA) to examine the characteristics of COVID-19 associated deaths. A multiple logistic regression analysis was used with the odds ratio (OR) to find statistically significant prognostic factors with the highest death risk for this type of disease. RESULTS: According to multiple logistic regression analyses, males (OR = 1.68; 95% CI: 1.48–1.91) who are over 50 years old (OR = 7.2; 95% CI: 1.01–51.6) from Hubei (OR = 7.73; 95% CI: 5.71–10.47) have the highest risk of death from this type of disease. Moreover, individuals who are retirees (OR = 2.83; 95% CI: 2.47–3.25) and had a Wuhan-related exposure (OR = 2.17; 95% CI: 1.68–2.79) have two times higher risk of death from COVID-19, while the risk is thirteen times higher with the comorbid condition “cardiovascular disease” (OR = 13.6; 95% CI: 10.3–17.9). CONCLUSIONS: The results of this study describe for the first time the importance of cardiovascular disease as a primary prognostic risk factor for death from coronavirus disease 2019.