Outcomes of COVID-19 patients with comorbidities in southwest Nigeria

Abstract

Background Data on the comorbidities that result in negative outcomes for people with COVID-19 are currently scarce for African populations. This study identifies comorbidities that predict death among a large sample of COVID-19 patients from Nigeria. Methods This was a retrospective analysis of medical records for 2184 laboratory confirmed cases of COVID-19 in Lagos, southwest Nigeria. Extracted data included age, sex, severity of condition at presentation and self-reported comorbidities. The outcomes of interest were death or discharge from facility. Results Most of the cases were male (65.8%) and the median age was 43 years (IQR: 33–55). Four hundred and ninety-two patients (22.5%) had at least one comorbidity and the most common amongst them were hypertension (74.2%) and diabetes (30.3%). The mortality rate was 3.3% and a significantly higher proportion of patients with comorbidities died compared to those with none. The comorbidities that predicted death were hypertension (OR: 2.21, 95%CI: 1.22–4.01), diabetes (OR: 3.69, 95% CI: 1.99–6.85), renal disease (OR: 12.53, 95%CI: 1.97–79.56), cancer (OR: 14.12, 95% CI: 2.03–98.19) and HIV (OR: 1.77–84.15]. Conclusion Comorbidities are prevalent and the associated risk of death is high among COVID-19 patients in Lagos, Nigeria. Public enlightenment, early identification and targeted care for COVID-19 cases with comorbidities are recommended as the pandemic evolves.

A Year Retrospective Study on the Morbidity and Mortality Pattern of Covid-19 Patients in an Isolation Facility in Benin City, Nigeria

“…More middle-aged persons were affected by covid-19 with a Mean age (SD) of 44.5±34.5. This is in line with similar articles from Nigeria, with a mean age of 46.16 and a median age of 43 years (IQR: 33-55) [4].…”

“…This study comprised 327 admitted patients in an isolation center in South-South Nigeria, 215 (63.2%) were males and 112 were females (36.8%). Similar studies in South-Western Nigeria showed 74.7% male preponderance [12] and 65.8% male [4]. Global data indicated a higher covid-19 case fatality rate among men than women [13].…”

“…It is known that some of these comorbidities tend to coexist in patients most commonly hypertension and diabetes, and our findings showed that having multiple comorbidities increases the risk of death from COVID-19. In a similar study, patients with two or more comorbidities were about four times more likely to die than those with one comorbidity [4].…”

“…Current statistics (April 2, 2021) showed that African countries accounted for about 3.3% and 4% of the 130.24 million cases and 2.84million deaths reported globally [3]. In sub-Saharan Africa, Nigeria ranks among the top 5 countries with the highest number of confirmed COVID-19 cases [4]. Reports on April 2, 2021, showed 163,063 confirmed cases and an estimated 2058 deaths.…”

“…However, there has been a policy shift to home-based care by some states for mild cases. This has been properly coordinated in order to accurately identify groups at risk so as to inform risk communication to communities and early management of COVID-19 [4].…”