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. 2021 Sep 9:8:732518.
doi: 10.3389/fcvm.2021.732518. eCollection 2021.

Association Between Cardiovascular Risk Factors and the Severity of Coronavirus Disease 2019: Nationwide Epidemiological Study in Korea

Kyoung Ae Kong  1 , Sodam Jung  2 , Mina Yu  3 , Junbeom Park  2 , In Sook Kang  2
Affiliations

Association Between Cardiovascular Risk Factors and the Severity of Coronavirus Disease 2019: Nationwide Epidemiological Study in Korea

Kyoung Ae Kong et al. Front Cardiovasc Med. .

Erratum in

Abstract

Background: Acute respiratory viral infections can result in cardiovascular involvement, with such patients having a significantly higher mortality rate than those without cardiovascular involvement. Due to the ongoing coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic, it is important to determine whether cardiovascular risk factors are associated with the severity of COVID-19. Methods: These nationwide data were provided by the Korea Disease Control and Prevention Agency. We defined a patient as having a "critical illness" if they required more than invasive mechanical ventilation and "fatal illness" if they died. Results: Among the total 5,307 patients, 2,136 (40.8%) were male. The critical illness rate was 5.1% (males: 6.7, females: 4.0%) and the fatality rate was 4.54%. The multivariable analysis showed that age ≥60 years, male sex, diabetes mellitus, hypertension, heart failure, chronic kidney disease, cancer, and dementia were independent risk factors for critical illness. The risk scoring model showed the significance of multiple risk factors. Patients with four risk factors; old age (≥60 years), male sex, hypertension, and diabetes mellitus had a more than a 100 times higher risk for severe COVID-19 than those without these risk factors (OR; 95% confidence interval, 104; 45.6-240.6 for critical, 136.2; 52.3-3547.9 for fatal illness). Conclusions: This study demonstrated that cardiovascular risk factors are also significant risk factors for severe COVID-19. In particular, patients who have multiple cardiovascular risk factors are more likely to progress to severe COVID-19. Therefore, early and appropriate treatment of these patients is crucial.

Keywords: COVID-19; SARS-CoV-2; cardiovascular disease; mortality; risk factor.

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Conflict of interest statement

The authors declare that the research was conducted in the absence of any commercial or financial relationships that could be construed as a potential conflict of interest.

Figures

Figure 1
Figure 1
Schema of the study population. (A) From the total number of people tested for COVID-19 to the cumulative numbers of those who were released from isolation or died. (B) Flow chart of the current study candidates. KDCA, Korea Disease Control and Prevention Agency.
Figure 2
Figure 2
Proportion of critical illness according to age and sex.
Figure 3
Figure 3
Odds ratios for critical and fatal illness according to the risk score. The scores represent the number of risk factors.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

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