COVID-19 and Comorbidities: Audit of 2,000 COVID-19 Deaths in India

Authors

Shaffi F. Koya^1, , Shahul H. Ebrahim^{2, *,} , Lekha D. Bhat³, Bindhya Vijayan^4, , Salman Khan⁴, Soji D. Jose⁴, Zarin Pilakkadavath⁵, Premini Rajeev⁶, Jinbert L. Azariah⁴

¹Boston University School of Public Health, Boston, MA, USA

²University of Sciences, Technique and Technology, Bamako, Mali

³Central University of Tamil Nadu, Thiruvarur, Tamil Nadu, India

⁴Global Institute of Public Health, Thiruvananthapuram, Kerala, India

⁵Equityser Research and Development, Thiruvananthapuram, India

⁶Ananthapuri College of Nursing, Thiruvananthapuram, India

^*Corresponding author. Email: ebrahimsh2@gmail.com

DOI

10.2991/jegh.k.210303.001How to use a DOI?

Keywords

SARS-CoV; mortality; India; hypothyroidism; death audit

Abstract

Background: On September 5, 2020, India reported the second highest COVID-19 cases globally. Given India’s unique disease burden including both infectious and chronic diseases, there is a need to study the survival patterns of COVID-19. We aimed to describe the factors associated with COVID-19 deaths in the State of Tamil Nadu that has the highest COVID-19 case burden among the Indian states, and to compare deaths among COVID patients with and without comorbidities.

Methods: We analyzed the first 1000 COVID deaths (1 March to 26 June 2020) and 1000 recent deaths at the time of analysis (1–10 August 2020). We examined data on facility (public vs private), age, gender, duration of illness prior to and/or during hospitalizations, symptoms, comorbidities and cause of death. We used R statistical program to do the analysis. We compared deaths among patients with and without comorbidities using Wilcoxon rank sum test. p < 0.05 was considered significant.

Results: First, we found a shorter time interval from onset of symptoms to death in India than that was reported in the USA and China. Second, young adults without comorbidities had shorter survival from the time of onset of symptoms irrespective of their timing of hospitalization. Third, hypothyroidism is a COVID-19 associated co-morbidity. Longitudinal studies are needed to further assess the thyroid-COVID-19 link.

Conclusion: As COVID-19 infection rates are accelerating rapidly in India, it is crucial to sensitize young adults while protecting the elderly and other vulnerable populations.

Copyright

© 2021 The Authors. Published by Atlantis Press International B.V.

Open Access

This is an open access article distributed under the CC BY-NC 4.0 license (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/).

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TY  - JOUR
AU  - Shaffi F. Koya
AU  - Shahul H. Ebrahim
AU  - Lekha D. Bhat
AU  - Bindhya Vijayan
AU  - Salman Khan
AU  - Soji D. Jose
AU  - Zarin Pilakkadavath
AU  - Premini Rajeev
AU  - Jinbert L. Azariah
PY  - 2021
DA  - 2021/03/09
TI  - COVID-19 and Comorbidities: Audit of 2,000 COVID-19 Deaths in India
JO  - Journal of Epidemiology and Global Health
SP  - 230
EP  - 232
VL  - 11
IS  - 2
SN  - 2210-6014
UR  - https://doi.org/10.2991/jegh.k.210303.001
DO  - 10.2991/jegh.k.210303.001
ID  - Koya2021
ER  -