State of the Science Review
Prevalence of comorbidities among individuals with COVID-19: A rapid review of current literature

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ajic.2020.06.213Get rights and content

Highlights

  • One or more comorbidity is highly prevalent in severe and fatal COVID-19 cases.

  • Hypertension is the most prevalent comorbidity seen in COVID-19 populations globally.

  • No clear association exists between COVID-19 mortality and comorbidity.

Introduction

On February 11, 2020 WHO designated the name “COVID-19” for the disease caused by “severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2” (SARS-CoV-2), a novel virus that quickly turned into a global pandemic. Risks associated with acquiring the virus have been found to most significantly vary by age and presence of underlying comorbidity. In this rapid literature review we explore the prevalence of comorbidities and associated adverse outcomes among individuals with COVID-19 and summarize our findings based on information available as of May 15, 2020.

Methods

A comprehensive systematic search was performed on PubMed, Medline, Scopus, Embase, and Google Scholar to find articles published until May 15, 2020. All relevant articles providing information on PCR tested COVID-19 positive patient population with clinical characteristics and epidemiological information were selected for review and analysis.

Results

A total of 27 articles consisting of 22,753 patient cases from major epicenters worldwide were included in the study. Major comorbidities seen in overall population were CVD (8.9%), HTN (27.4%), Diabetes (17.4%), COPD (7.5%), Cancer (3.5%), CKD (2.6%), and other (15.5%). Major comorbidity specific to countries included in the study were China (HTN 39.5%), South Korea (CVD 25.6%), Italy (HTN 35.9%), USA (HTN 38.9%), Mexico, (Other 42.3%), UK (HTN 27.8%), Iran (Diabetes 35.0%). Within fatal cases, an estimated 84.1% had presence of one or more comorbidity. Subgroup analysis of fatality association with having comorbidity had an estimated OR 0.83, CI [0.60-0.99], p<0.05.

Conclusions

Based on our findings, hypertension followed by diabetes and cardiovascular diseases were the most common comorbidity seen in COVID-19 positive patients across major epicenters world-wide. Although having one or more comorbidity is linked to increased disease severity, no clear association was found between having these risk factors and increased risk of fatality.

Key Words

Severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2)
Coronavirus
Pandemic
Comorbidity
Epidemiology
Fatality or mortality

Cited by (0)

Author contributions: K.T.B., B.B.B., S.B. together developed the concept of the study, searched the database, and extracted the data. B.B.B. and S.B. did the quality assessment of the papers. S.B. did the statistical analysis and drafted the results section. K.T.B., S.B., and B.B.B. had equal contribution in developing the initial manuscript draft. M.J.S. provided guidance in refining the concept, and revision of the manuscript. All the authors were involved in editing and finalizing the complete version of the manuscript.”

Conflict of interest: None to report.

Ethical approval: Not required.

View Abstract