Skip to main page content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Dot gov

The .gov means it’s official.
Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. Before sharing sensitive information, make sure you’re on a federal government site.

Https

The site is secure.
The https:// ensures that you are connecting to the official website and that any information you provide is encrypted and transmitted securely.

Access keys NCBI Homepage MyNCBI Homepage Main Content Main Navigation
Meta-Analysis
. 2025 Mar;35(2):e70024.
doi: 10.1002/rmv.70024.

Effect of Comorbidities on the Mortality of Patients With COVID-19: A Systematic Review of Reviews and Meta-Analyses

Karla Larissa Trassi Ganaza-Domingues  1 , Áquila Carolina Fernandes Herculano Ramos-Milaré  1 , Daniele Stéfanie Sara Lopes Lera-Nonose  1 , Aline Ávila Brustolin  1 , Larissa Ferreira de Oliveira  1 , Jonathan Sanches Rosa  1 , Allyson Yuiti Otofuji Inada  1 , Amanda Larissa Dias Leme  1 , Beatriz Ignácio Pinel  1 , Brenda Serenini Perina  1 , Mariana de Souza Terron  1 , Thaís da Silva Santos  1 , Izabel Galhardo Demarchi  2 , Maria Valdrinez Campana Lonardoni  1 , Jorge Juarez Vieira Teixeira  1
Affiliations
Meta-Analysis

Effect of Comorbidities on the Mortality of Patients With COVID-19: A Systematic Review of Reviews and Meta-Analyses

Karla Larissa Trassi Ganaza-Domingues et al. Rev Med Virol. 2025 Mar.

Abstract

Studies with strong scientific evidence have demonstrated that comorbidities are associated with fatal outcomes in patients with SARS-CoV-2 infection. To aggregate the findings of these studies and assess the magnitude of the effect of different chronic diseases on COVID-19 mortality, we conducted a systematic review of reviews and meta-analysis. Six databases were searched to retrieve systematic reviews with meta-analysis published during the early years of the pandemic. Statistical analysis was performed using Stata v.12.0 software, and the risk ratio (RR) and odds ratio (OR), with a confidence interval of 95% (95% CI), were calculated. We selected 15 publications with 476 original articles and 2,135,888 patients. Our results indicated the following risk factors for COVID-19 mortality: diabetes mellitus (RR = 1.95; 95% CI:1.41-2.49); hypertension (RR = 1.88; 95% CI:1.51-2.26); cancer (RR = 1.84; 95% CI:1.24-2.43); cardiovascular (RR = 2.14; 95% CI:1.66-2.63), cerebrovascular (RR = 2.43; 95% CI:2.15-2.72), kidney (RR = 2.39; 95% CI:1.36-3.42), pulmonary (RR = 1.98; 95% CI:1.48-2.47) and liver diseases (OR = 1.56; 95% CI:1.18-1.94); obesity (OR = 1.15; 95% CI:1.04-1.26); smoking habits (OR = 1.18; 95% CI:1.13-1.22); and the male sex (OR = 1.69; 95% CI:1.65-1.73). Evidence has confirmed that underlying chronic conditions, which involve an imbalance in the immune response, significantly increase the risk of COVID-19 deaths.

Keywords: COVID‐19; SARS‐CoV‐2; comorbidity; mortality; pandemics; risk factors.

PubMed Disclaimer

References

    1. B. Hu, H. Guo, P. Zhou, and Z. L. Shi, “Characteristics of SARS‐CoV‐2 and COVID‐19,” Nature Reviews Microbiology 19, no. 3 (2021): 141–154, https://doi.org/10.1038/s41579‐020‐00459‐7.
    1. B. Corica, A. M. Marra, S. Basili, et al., “Prevalence of Right Ventricular Dysfunction and Impact on All‐cause Death in Hospitalized Patients With COVID‐19: A Systematic Review and Meta‐analysis,” Scientific Reports 11, no. 1 (2021): 17774, https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598‐021‐96955‐8.
    1. World Health Organization. WHO COVID‐19 Dashboard, https://covid19.who.int/. Accessed, May 14, 2024.
    1. B. B. Basnet, R. Basnet, and R. Panday, “Prospects for Controlling Future Pandemics of SARS in Highlights of SARS‐CoV‐2,” Virus (Tokyo) 32, no. 4 (2021): 770–773, https://doi.org/10.1007/s13337‐021‐00715‐1.
    1. P. T. Katzmarzyk, J. M. Salbaum, and S. B. Heymsfield, “Obesity, Noncommunicable Diseases, and COVID‐19: A Perfect Storm,” American Journal of Human Biology 32, no. 5 (2020): e23484, https://doi.org/10.1002/ajhb.23484.

LinkOut - more resources