Mortality Risk Factors for Coronavirus Infection in Hospitalized Adults in Brazil: A Retrospective Cohort Study.

BACKGROUND: The COVID-19 pandemic has presented high morbidity and mortality, with associated high socioeconomic costs. Brazil ranks third in the number of COVID-19 cases, behind only India and the United States. OBJECTIVE: To analyze risk factors for mortality in adults hospitalized with COVID-19 in Brazil. METHODS: Observational retrospective cohort study including data from all Brazilian states and regions. The study included information from 468,226 in-hospital patients from all regions of Brazil from 1 January 2021 to 31 July 2021. Data from the influenza epidemiological surveillance system were used. The participants were adults hospitalized with COVID-19. A Cox regression model was used to analyze factors associated with mortality in adults with COVID-19. RESULTS: The in-hospital mortality lethality was 37.5%. The risk factors associated with COVID-19 mortality were older age, with a linear increase with increments in age, male sex, black or mixed race, low education level, comorbidities, use of ventilatory support, and living in the southeast, north, or northeast regions of the country. CONCLUSIONS: Our results illustrate the severity of the COVID-19 pandemic in Brazil and reinforce that policies and practices to deal with this disease should focus on groups and regions with higher risk, whereas public policies should promote nonpharmacological measures and vaccination in the Brazilian population.

Analysis of the impact of coronavirus disease 19 on hospitalization rates for chronic non-communicable diseases in Brazil.

BACKGROUND: The coronavirus disease (COVID-19) pandemic has impacted health services and healthcare systems worldwide. Studies have shown that hospital admissions for causes related to chronic non-communicable diseases (NCDs) have decreased significantly during peak pandemic periods. An analysis of the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on hospital admissions for NCDs is essential to implement disability and mortality mitigation strategies for these groups. Therefore, this study aimed to analyze the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on hospital admissions for NCDs in Brazil according to the type of NCD, sex, age group, and region of Brazil. METHODS: This is an ecological study conducted in Brazil. Data on hospital admissions from January 1, 2017 to May 31, 2021 were extracted from the Unified Health System's Hospital Admissions Information System. The hospital admission rates per 100,000 thousand inhabitants were calculated monthly according to the type of NCD, sex, age group, and region of Brazil. Poisson regression models were used to analyze the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on the number of hospital admissions. In this study, the pre-pandemic period was set from January 1, 2017 to February 29, 2020 and the during-pandemic from March 1, 2020 to May 31, 2021. RESULTS: There was a 27.0% (95.0%CI: -29.0; -25.0%) decrease in hospital admissions for NCDs after the onset of the pandemic compared to that during the pre-pandemic period. Decreases were found for all types of NCDs-cancer (-23.0%; 95.0%CI: -26.0; -21.0%), diabetes mellitus (-24.0%; 95.0%CI: -25.0%; -22.0%), cardiovascular diseases (-30.0%; 95.0%CI: -31.0%; -28.0%), and chronic respiratory diseases (-29.0%; 95.0%CI: -30.0%; -27.0%). In addition, there was a decrease in the number of admissions, regardless of the age group, sex, and region of Brazil. The Northern and Southern regions demonstrated the largest decrease in the percentage of hospital admissions during the pandemic period. CONCLUSIONS: There was a decrease in the hospitalization rate for NCDs in Brazil during the COVID-19 pandemic in a scenario of social distancing measures and overload of health services.