[Modifed and Redesigned] Image by Clker-Free-Vector-Images from Pixabay

Meta-Analyses Reveal Who Should Be More Cautious of COVID-19

Why chronic obstructive pulmonary disease — or smoking — and COVID-19 are the worst possible duo

In April 2020, Chinese researchers at Weifang Medical University published the first peer-reviewed meta-analysis about medical comorbidities and COVID-19 disease severity. They screened several literature databases and retrieved 6 studies for analysis. All studies are of high quality with a Newcastle-Ottawa Scale (NOS) score of at least 6 points (see table below).

• 6 studies researched hypertension, diabetes, and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD).
• 5 studies examined liver disease.
• 4 covered malignancy, renal disease, and cardiovascular disease.
• 3 evaluated cerebrovascular [blood vessels] diseases.

Source: Open-access publication. Wang B, Li R, Lu Z, Huang Y. Does comorbidity increase the risk of patients with COVID-19: evidence from meta-analysis. Aging (Albany NY). 2020; https://doi.org/10.18632/aging.103000 [Epub ahead of print]

Meta-Analysis Outcomes

COVID-19 patients with cerebrovascular diseases (OR: 3.89), cardiovascular diseases (OR: 2.93), hypertension (OR: 2.29), diabetes (OR: 2.47), and COPD (OR: 5.97) had an increased risk of disease exacerbation/progression, the…