Risk Factors for SARS-CoV-2 Infection, Pneumonia, Intubation, and Death in Northeast Mexico

Abstract

Despite the social distancing and mobility restriction measures implemented for susceptible people around the world, infections and deaths due to COVID-19 continued to increase, even more so in the first months of 2021 in Mexico. Thus, it is necessary to find risk groups that can benefit from more aggressive preventive measures in a high-density population. This is a case-control study of suspected COVID-19 patients from Nuevo León, Mexico. Cases were: (1) COVID-19-positive patients and COVID-19-positive patients who (2) developed pneumonia, (3) were intubated and (4) died. Controls were: (1) COVID-19-negative patients, (2) COVID-19-positive patients without pneumonia, (3) non-intubated COVID-19-positive patients and (4) surviving COVID-19-positive patients. ≥ 18 years of age, not pregnant, were included. The pre-existing conditions analysed as risk factors were age (years), sex (male), diabetes mellitus, hypertension, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, asthma, immunosuppression, obesity, cardiovascular disease, chronic kidney disease and smoking. The Mann-Whitney U tests, Chi square and binary logistic regression were used. A total of 56,715 suspected patients were analysed in Nuevo León, México, with 62.6% being positive for COVID-19 and, of those infected, 14% developed pneumonia, 2.9% were intubated and 8.1% died. The mean age of those infected was 44.7 years, while of those complicated it was around 60 years. Older age, male sex, diabetes, hypertension, and obesity were risk factors for infection, complications, and death from COVID-19. This study highlights the importance of timely recognition of the population exposed to pre-existing conditions to prioritise preventive measures against the virus.

Sex, Age, and Comorbidities Are Associated with SARS-CoV-2 Infection, COVID-19 Severity, and Fatal Outcome in a Mexican Population: A Retrospective Multi-Hospital Study

“…Therefore, this was a lifestyle condition, which could be expected to predispose Mexican men to severe COVID-19. However, smoking was not positively associated in any of the analyses that we performed and the contrary phenomenon was observed, where smokers had a decreased probability of infection, severity, and death; this result has also been reported before [ 4 , 12 , 15 ]. An explanation for this could be that nicotine can have immunomodulatory and anti-inflammatory effects.…”

“…Particularly, a recent study reported male sex, age, and comorbidities as risk factors for SARS-CoV-2 infection, pneumonia, intubation, and death in data collected from 11 February 2020 to 24 September 2020 with a total of 35,476 positive cases from a Mexican northeastern population [ 15 ]. By comparing periods of time analyzed by Hid-Cordero and colleagues (2021), the predominant SARS-CoV-2 variant was B.1, B.1.1, and B.1.1222, whereas, during the period studied in the present investigation, the predominant variants were delta (AY.20), followed by B.1.1.519.…”

Clinical and Demographic Factors Associated With COVID-19, Severe COVID-19, and SARS-CoV-2 Infection in Adults

“…[3][4][5][6][7][8][9][10][11][12][13][14][15][16][17][18] In contrast, the associations of underlying medical conditions with infection acquisition are less well-defined, although retrospective reports have reported diabetes and obesity were associated with increased risk. 7,[19][20][21][22][23][24] Prospective studies have identified both demographic characteristics and comorbidities as risk factors associated with severe COVID-19. [25][26][27][28][29][30][31] Much of the data defining risk for either acquisition of SARS-CoV-2 or severe COVID-19 come from studies that relied on surveys, registries, or electronic medical records.…”

MicroRNAs as Potential Tools for Predicting Cancer Patients’ Susceptibility to SARS-CoV-2 Infection and Vaccination Response

“…The first epidemiological and clinical investigations showed that most COVID-19 cases were attributed to elder or middle- aged men, with a mean incubation period of 5.2 days [ 7 , 8 ]. Aside from age and gender, there are also pre-existing conditions that are considered to be risk factors for SARS-CoV-2 infection, namely: hypertension, obesity, diabetes mellitus, asthma, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, chronic kidney disease, smoking, and diseases that induce an immunosuppression state such as cancer [ 9 ].…”