Comparison of comorbidities among severe and non-severe COVID-19 patients in Asian versus non-Asian populations: A systematic review and meta-analysis.
Anju Puri, Lin He, Mohan Giri and 2 others
PMID 34761532WHAT IT FOUND
Patients with severe COVID-19 more often had hypertension, diabetes, cardiovascular disease and chronic kidney disease than non-severe patients; cancer and COPD were less consistent.
Key findings
01Hypertension was more common in severe than non-severe patients in both Asian and non-Asian studies.
02Diabetes and cardiovascular disease were more common in severe than non-severe patients in both Asian and non-Asian studies.
03Chronic kidney disease was more common in severe than non-severe patients in both Asian and non-Asian studies.
STILL TO COME
How it was doneWhat they foundWhat it means for RNs
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What it does not show
Most included studies were retrospective, so comorbidity records may have been captured differently across countries and settings. The studies varied in how severe and non-severe COVID-19 were defined, and the results differed widely between studies. The paper does not show that these comorbidities caused severe disease; it only reports that they were more common in patients already classified as severe. Cancer and COPD findings were inconsistent between Asian and non-Asian studies, and the COPD text for non-Asian studies conflicts with its reported result. The review was not registered in PROSPERO before the search began.
Declared interests
The authors declared no conflicts of interest. Funding was provided by the Chongqing Municipal Education Commission.
The easy way to misread this
Do not conclude that hypertension, diabetes, cardiovascular disease or chronic kidney disease caused severe COVID-19. The studies compared patients who were already severe with patients who were not severe, so they show association, not cause.