Investigation of Some Risk Factors Associated With COVID-9 Incidence in Middle-aged and Aging

Objective: The outbreak of COVID-19 has influenced all age groups; however, the risk of mortality increases with age. There are several factors involved in the development of this disease. This study was conducted to determine the relationship between some risk factors in development of COVID-19 among community dwellers 50 years old and above. This cross-sectional study was performed in Shahroud University of Medical Sciences from 12/1/1398 to 31/3/1399 Materials and Methods: This cross-sectional study was conducted on individuals over 50 years old, including middle-aged and aging suspected of Covid - 19 referring to registration centers in Shahroud University of Medical Sciences from Feb. 20th to Jun. 20th, 2020. The basis for diagnosing COVID-19 in suspected caseswere a positive RT-PCR test based on nasopharyngeal swaporComputed tomography scan(CT Scan). The data used included demographic information, history of smoking and comorbidities. Analysis of this data was performed in SPSS software version 16 with descriptive statistics, chi-square test, comparison of the mean of two independent populations and logistic regression. Results: In the first 4 months of the outbreak, 3945 suspicious cases referred to Shahroud health centers. After removing the missing cases, out of 3119 registered cases, 1348 participants were 50 years old and above. Of all eligible participants, 602 cases were diagnosed with COVID-19, and 303 were male. Findings of this study showed that the mean and standard deviation of participants’age in this study was (66.62± 11.33)years. Diabetes (p = 0.014) and other comorbiditiessuch as asthma, acute respiratory, hepatic and kidney diseases and cancer in borderline significantly increased the incidence of COVID-19 by 38% and 32%, respectively. An increase of one unit in body mass index (BMI) (p=0.002) increased the chance of infection by 4%. Conclusion: Based on the results of themultivariate logistic regression obtained in this study, high BMI and diabetes were significant risk factors in the development of COVID-19 among aged subjects. This conclusion emphasizes on the importance of BMI and Diabetes in assessment of patients in middle-aged and aging.