Co-infection and clinical characteristics of SARS-CoV-2 and influenza among COVID-19 cases: A-meta analysis (preprint)

ABSTRACT

The severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2), that causes coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) is a public health problem and may have co-infection with other pathogens such as influenza virus.This study aims to assess the co-infection of SARS-CoV-2 with influenza among COVID-19 cases.The all relevant studies were collected from international databases. For improving the quality of the present literature, the all studies were evaluated by two reviewers in order to confirm all of the studies have inclusion criteria. Finally, all articles with sufficient quality scores were included in meta-analysis. Assessment of heterogeneity among the studies of primary studies was performed using the statistic chi‐squared test (Cochran’s Q) and I2 index. In this results, random or fixed effect model were used for determination of heterogeneity test. All statistical analyses were performed using Comprehensive Meta-Analysis (CMA), V.2 software.This meta- analysis included 9 primary studies investigating the co-infection of SARS-CoV-2 with influenza among COVID-19 cases. Pooled prevalence (95% confidence interval) of co-infection is shown that the prevalence of influenza A is higher than influenza B. 2.3(0.5-9.3) vs 0.1 (0.4-3.3). Using the fixed effect model the frequency of fever was (80.6% [95% CI 76.1–84.40, p < 0.153]) and it is shown that fever is the most prevalent symptom in patients.Patients admitted to hospital with COVID-19 also infected with influenza virus. Thus, the current research provides a better understanding about the control and treatment of co-infection with SARS-CoV-2 and the influenza virus.