Spatial Analysis of Global Variability in Covid-19 Burden.

BACKGROUND: Since the first occurrence of coronavirus disease 2019 (Covid-19), a number of online tools have become available to assist with tracking Covid-19 prevalence. Yet we are unaware of resources that provide country-specific Covid-19 incidence data. METHODS: We undertook a descriptive analysis of the global impact of Covid-19 using data reported on March 17, 2020. The prevalence of Covid-19 cases, fatalities attributed to Covid-19, and the case fatality rate for each of the 238 countries were accessed from the World Health Organization global Covid-19 tracking site, and we additionally calculated Covid-19 incidence based on country-specific population data. We determined the country-specific point prevalence and incidence of Covid-19 and associated deaths while using geocoded data to display their spatial distribution with geographic heat maps. RESULTS: The analysis included 193,197 Covid-19 cases and 7859 associated deaths. The point prevalence was highest in China (80,881), Italy (31,506), Iran (16,169), and Spain (11,312); no other country reported more than 10,000 cases. The incidence (per million population) was highest in San Marino (3389) followed by Iceland (645) and Italy (521); no other country had an incidence above 400 per million population. CONCLUSION: Countries with a high Covid-19 prevalence may not have a high incidence, and vice versa. Public health agencies that provide real-time infection tracking tools should report country-specific Covid-19 incidence metrics, in addition to prevalence data.

Diabetes mellitus increases the risk of hospital mortality in patients with Covid-19: Systematic review with meta-analysis.

BACKGROUND: The mortality rate associated with Covid-19 varies considerably among studies and determinants of this variability are not well characterized. METHODS: A systematic review of peer-reviewed literature published through March 31, 2020 was performed to estimate the mortality rate among hospitalized patients in China with a confirmed diagnosis of Covid-19. Hospital mortality rates were estimated using an inverse variance-weighted random-effects meta-analysis model. Funnel plot symmetry was evaluated for small-study effects, a one-study removed sensitivity analysis assessed the influence of individual studies on the pooled mortality rate, and metaregression assessed the association of potential confounding variables with mortality rates. RESULTS: The review included 16 observational studies involving 1832 hospitalized patients with a diagnosis of Covid-19. The surveillance period among studies ranged from December 16, 2019 to February 23, 2020. The median patient age was 53 years and 53% were males. A total of 38.5% of patients presented with at least 1 comorbidity, most commonly hypertension (24.0%), cardiac disease (15.1%), and diabetes mellitus (14.4%). Fever and cough, reported in 84.8% and 61.7% of patients respectively, were the most common patient symptoms. The pooled mortality rate was 9.9% (95% confidence interval 6.1% to 14.5%). Funnel plot asymmetry was not observed and the meta-analysis results were not substantially influenced by any single study since the pooled mortality rate ranged from 8.9% to 11.1% following iterative removal of one study at a time. Substantial heterogeneity in the mortality rate was identified among studies (I = 87%; P < .001). In a metaregression that included demographics, patient risk factors, and presenting symptoms, only a higher prevalence of diabetes mellitus was associated with a higher mortality rate (P = .03). CONCLUSIONS: In a meta-analysis of hospitalized patients in China with a diagnosis of Covid-19, the mortality rate was 9.9% and a higher diabetes mellitus prevalence was independently associated with a worse prognosis. The independent influence of diabetes mellitus with Covid-19 mortality should be viewed as hypothesis-generating and warrants further study.

Data regarding country-specific variability in Covid-19 prevalence, incidence, and case fatality rate.

This article contains data on country-specific variability in Covid-19 prevalence, incidence, and case fatality rate among the 238 countries globally. We used the World Health Organization worldwide Covid-19 tracking site to determine the number of confirmed Covid-19 cases, the number of fatalities attributed to Covid-19, and the case fatality rate for each of 238 countries. Using data from the United Nations Department of Economic and Social Affairs, we extracted key country-specific metrics with potential associations with Covid-19 including total population, land area, population density, percentage of residents living in urban areas, and median age. We extracted country-specific economic indicators from The World Bank Group Open Data database. All data were extracted on August 15, 2020. We developed consolidated data sets and calculated the country-specific point prevalence and incidence of Covid-19 and associated deaths. These data are associated with the article "Spatial Analysis of Global Variability in Covid-19 Burden". Data are stored in a comma separated value format and can be downloaded from the Data in Brief website.