What demographic factors are associated with severe COVID-19?
Data on the characteristics of severe COVID-19 patients are uniformly showing a correlation with age. According to the CDC National Vital Statistic System on COVID-19 fatal outcomes, death rate doubles with each decade after 45 years (National Vital Statistics System). Comorbidities have also been associated with more severe disease14. In Italy223 and China224 hypertension (OR 2.36), chronic respiratory disease (OR 2.46), cardiovascular disease (OR 3.42) and diabetes (OR 2.05) show a positive correlation with severity. Gender and ethnicity have also been shown to impact COVID-19 severity (see questions below ).