Multimorbidity raises the odds of decease in COVID-19 patients: An Iranian prospective study

Abstract

Introduction: The prevalence of noncommunicable diseases is high in Iran. We postulated that multimorbidity may affect the rate of mortality from COVID-19. So, we investigated the relationship between multimorbidity and COVID-19 mortality. Methods: We used medical reports for collecting clinical laboratory data of patients with COVID-19 in this prospective investigation. Moreover, we documented whether the patient had a known diagnosis of different comorbidities. The patients with more than one comorbidity were considered multimorbidity. The length of follow-up was till participants were discharged from the hospital or deceased. The main outcome was to evaluate the relationship between multimorbidity and death in COVID-19 hospitalized patients. Results: The present prospective study included 1842 patients with COVID-19 with a multimorbidity rate of 37.40%. About 24.6% of participants with more than four comorbidities died. However, this value was about 17% in participants with less than four comorbidities. The odds of mortality from COVID-19 were 53% greater in patients with diabetes. Also, the odds of death were 2.05 (1.21, 3.45) times greater in patients with comorbidities≥4. Conclusion: The results indicated a high rate of multimorbidity in patients with COVID-19 which is related to a higher death rate. So, in countries with higher multimorbidity rates such as Iran, it is necessary to design efficient approaches to alleviate the spread of COVID-19.