Examining and investigating the impact of demographic characteristics and chronic diseases on mortality of COVID-19: Retrospective study.

Background: Epidemiological features characterization of COVID-19 is highly important for developing and implementing effective control measures. In Saudi Arabia mortality rate varies between 0.6% to 1.26%. The purpose of the study was to investigate whether demographic characteristics (age and gender) and non-communicable diseases (Hypertension and Diabetes mellitus) have a significant association with mortality in COVID-19 patients.

Methods: Prior to data collection, an expedite approval was obtained from Institutional Review Board (IRB Log No: RC. RC20.09.10) in Al Habib Research Center at Dr. Sulaiman Al-Habib Medical Group, Riyadh, Saudi Arabia. This is a retrospective design where we used descriptive and inferential analysis to analyse the data. Binary logistic regression was done to study the association between comorbidities and mortality of COVID-19.

Results: 43 (86%) of the male patients were non-survivors while 7 (14%) of the female patients were survivors. The odds of non-survivors among hypertensive patients are 3.56 times higher than those who are not having a history of Hypertension (HTN). The odds of non-survivors among diabetic patients are 5.17 times higher than those who are not having a history of Diabetes mellitus (DM). The odds of non-survivors are 2.77 times higher among those who have a history of HTN and DM as compared to those who did not have a history of HTN and DM.

Conclusions: Those patients that had a history of Hypertension and Diabetes had a higher probability of non-survival in contrast to those who did not have a history of Diabetes and hypertension. Further studies are required to study the association of comorbidities with COVID-19 and mortality.