ABSTRACT
BACKGROUND:
Multimorbidity can influence intensive care unit (ICU) admissions and deaths due to coronavirus disease (COVID-19).
OBJECTIVE:
To analyze the association between multimorbidity, ICU admissions, and deaths due to COVID-19 in Brazil.
DESIGN AND SETTING:
This cross-sectional study was conducted using data from patients with severe acute respiratory syndrome (SARS) due to COVID-19 recorded in the Influenza Epidemiological Surveillance Information System (SIVEP-Gripe) in 2020.
METHODS:
Descriptive and stratified analyses of multimorbidity were performed based on sociodemographic, ventilatory support, and diagnostic variables. Poisson regression was used to estimate the prevalence ratios.
RESULTS:
We identified 671,593 cases of SARS caused by COVID-19, of which 62.4% had at least one morbidity. Multimorbidity was associated with male sex, age 60–70 and ≥ 80 years, brown and black skin color, elementary education and high school, ventilatory support, and altered radiologic exams. Moreover, all regions of the country and altered computed tomography due to COVID-19 or other diseases were associated with death; only the northeast region and higher education were associated with ICU admission.
CONCLUSION:
Our results showed an association between multimorbidity, ICU admission, and death in COVID-19 patients in Brazil.
KEY WORDS (MeSH terms):
Multimorbidity; Morbidity; COVID-19; Hospitalization; Death; Comorbidity
AUTHORS’ KEY WORDS:
Coronavirus deaths in Brazil; COVID-19 prevalence studies; Hierarchical multiple logistic models; Intensive care unit