Impact of age, gender and comorbidities affecting the severity of COVID-19 infection in Kashmir.

Aim: To study the impact of age, gender and comorbidities/risk factors affecting the severity of CoronaVirus Disease 2019/Severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (COVID-19/SARS-COV-2) infection in the Kashmiri community.

Materials and Methods: The present descriptive cross-sectional study was conducted in the Chest Disease Hospital. The study included 957 subjects who were diagnosed with SARS-CoV-2 infection. Descriptive statistics were calculated.

Results: In the age group <40 years, the severity of illness was found to be 30.42% and the occurrence of death was 11.54%, in the 40-60 years, the severity of the illness was found to be 32.51% and the occurrence of death was 12.84%, in the older age >60 years, the severity of illness was found to be 35.74% and the occurrence of death was 10.49%. In males, the severity of the illness was found to be 32.39% and the occurrence of death was 11.27%. In females, the severity of the illness was found to be 33.96% and the occurrence of death was 12.58%. In patients suffering from chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD), asthma, diabetes mellitus, coronary artery disease (CAD), chronic kidney disease (CKD), cancer, hypertension, chronic liver disease (CLD), cerebrovascular disease, thyroid disease, steroid use, obstructive sleep apnoea (OSA) and smokers, the severity of the illness was 29.27, 41.67, 37.73, 20, 23.53, 11.11, 36.30, 40, 20, 36.37, 50, 54.54 and 36% and the occurrence of death was 14.63, 0, 10.69, 10, 11.76, 5.55, 10.67, 0, 0, 20.78, 0, 0 and 16%, respectively.

Conclusion: The age, gender and comorbidity disparities seen in the COVID-19 vulnerability emphasise the need to understand the impact of these factors on the incidence and case fatality of the disease.