COVID-19 and Comorbidities in Douala, Cameroon

Abstract

Aims: Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome Coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) still negatively impacting the world. This study aimed at determining the prevalence of COVID-19 and comorbidities, associated factors, and evaluating the impact of these comorbidities on COVID-19 patients.
 Study Design: Cross-sectional hospital-based study.
 Place and Duration of Study: From January to March 2022, the present study was conducted at four health facilities in Douala town (Littoral Region, Cameroon).
 Methodology: Anthropometric, bioimpedance, physiological, blood and nasopharyngeal samples were used for diagnosing COVID-19, hepatitis B virus, diabetes, obesity and hypertension. SARS-CoV-2 genome were detected by retrotranscriptase quantitative polymerase chain reaction. Data were analyzed with StatView v5 and GraphPad v5.03 software, and statistical significance was set at p < 0.05.
 Results: A total of 178 patients, 139 Cameroonian and 39 foreigners, were finally included in the study. Lower COVID-19 vaccination coverage was seen in Cameroonians compared to foreigners (25.2% vs 43.6%, P = .02). No COVID-19 infection cases were found. The overall prevalence of diabetes, hypertension, obesity and HBV was 11.2%, 17.9%, 28.1% and 36.5%, respectively. Nearly 35% of patients were diagnosed with at least two of these comorbidities that significantly impacted on anthropometric, bioimpedance and physiological parameters. The risk of past COVID-infection was increased by 1.06 (95%CI 1.00 – 1.10, P = .03) and 2.81 (95%CI 1.65 – 5.77, P = .04) with one-unit increase in age and BMI, respectively. In contrast, risk of past COVID-19 infection was decreased by 94% (AOR = 0.06, 95%CI 0.01 – 0.76, P = .03) in foreigners compared to Cameroonians.
 Conclusion: This study outlines the importance to manage comorbidities in context of COVID-19 in Cameroon. Further studies should be conducted with more documented investigations about their epidemiology and impact on the natural history of COVID-19 in the country.

Epidemiological situation of SARS-CoV-2 infection in Douala, the most populated and highly heterogeneous town of Cameroon: a post-vaccination update

“…First, the distribution of comorbidities in study populations is likely an important factor modulating SARS-CoV-2 infection risk. We reported that obesity, diabetes, and hypertension were predominant comorbidities, and this finding was also reported earlier ( Ebongue et al, 2022 ; Kojom Foko et al, 2021 ; Loteri et al, 2022 ). Likewise, high prevalence values of diabetes and hypertension were found in hospitalized COVID-19 patients living in Douala and Yaoundé ( Mbarga Fouda et al, 2021 ; Mekolo et al, 2021 ).…”

Prevalence, Clinical Profile and Determinants of COVID-19 Vaccination and SARS-CoV-2 Breakthrough Infection in Douala, Cameroon

“…The COVID-19 vaccination uptake was relatively low in the study, which is lower than that reported previously in Cameroon 24,25 and a global estimate of COVID-19 vaccination uptake rate reported by Zhang and colleagues 15 . Other studies reported higher vaccine uptake in specific groups such as elderly persons, college students and transborder populations [26][27][28] .…”

Exploring demographical, clinical, and dietary determinants of vitamin D deficiency among adults in Douala, Cameroon during the COVID-19 era

“…The details of study sites, eligibility criteria, and procedures have been published elsewhere [ [20] , [21] , [22] ]. Briefly, 420 patients were recruited at seven health facilities in the town of Douala from January to September 2022.…”

“…After signing an informed consent form, individual interviews lasting approximately 25 min each were performed using a structured questionnaire to collect demographical, biological, anthropometric, behavioral, and clinical characteristics. Nasopharyngeal samples were collected for molecular detection of SARS–CoV–2 based on retrotranscriptase quantitative polymerase chain reaction (RT-qPCR) analysis of the RdRp, E, et N genes using a DaAnGene® kit (DaAn Gene Co., Ltd, Guangzhou, Guangdong, China) as published earlier [ 20 , 21 ]. Briefly, the RT-qPCR was performed on an on a QuantStudio™ 7 real time thermocycler (Applied Biosystems, Massachusetts, USA).…”