Takeaway
- The presence of hypertension and diabetes together was associated with a significantly increased risk of inpatient COVID-19 mortality.
- Furthermore, advanced age (>65 years), male sex, hypertension and cerebrovascular disease were independently associated with an increased risk of inpatient mortality, irrespective of ethnicity or high social deprivation scores.
Why this matters
- Findings will help focus clinical attention on all high-risk patients with COVID-19 admitted to the hospital, particularly those with hypertension with or without associated diabetes.
Study design
- A retrospective, single-center study included 907 patients with COVID-19 (age, >17 years) who were admitted to the hospital between March and May 2020.
- Funding: Sandwell and West Birmingham National Health Service Trust Research and Development Department.
Key results
- 60.2% of the patients survived.
- The presence of diabetes and hypertension together was associated with a greater risk of COVID-19 mortality (OR, 2.75; 95% CI, 1.80-4.21; P<.001) vs hypertension alone (OR, 1.95; 95% CI, 1.26-3.02; P=.003) and diabetes alone (OR, 1.28; 95% CI, 0.66-2.48; P=.463).
- Advanced age (OR, 3.32; 95% CI, 2.15-5.11), male gender (OR, 2.04; 95% CI, 1.47-2.82), hypertension (OR, 1.69; 95% CI, 1.10-2.61) and cerebrovascular disease (OR, 1.87; 95% CI, 1.31-2.68) were independently associated with an increased risk of mortality.
- The mortality risk did not differ between the different quintiles of ethnicity and social deprivation.
- Among biomarkers, high-sensitivity troponin I was the best predictor of mortality (OR, 4.43; 95% CI, 3.10-7.10).
- Angiotensin-receptor blockers (OR, 0.57; 95% CI, 0.33-0.96) and angiotensin-converting enzyme inhibitors (OR, 0.65; 95% CI, 0.43-0.97) were not associated with adverse outcomes.
Limitations
- Retrospective design.
This clinical summary originally appeared on Univadis, part of the Medscape Professional Network.
