Hypertension, Gender, Older Age, and Their Relationships with COVID-19 Mortality: Meta-Analysis

Annissa Devi Permata (Masters Program in Public Health, Universitas Sebelas Maret)
Bhisma Murti (Masters Program in Public Health, Universitas Sebelas Maret)
Didik Gunawan Tamtomo (Faculty of Medicine, Universitas Sebelas Maret)

Journal of Epidemiology and Public Health
Vol. 6 No. 1 (2021)

Background: Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19) is an infectious disease caused by Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome Coronavirus 2 (SARSCoV-2). SARS-CoV-2 is a new type of coronavirus that has never been previously identified in humans. Globally, 213 countries (as of August 11, 2020) are facing serious consequences from the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic. This study aimed to analyze the magnitude of the relationship of hypertension, gender, and older age to COVID-19 mortality with a meta-analysis study.
Subjects and Method: This was a systematic review and meta-analysis conducted by following the PRISMA flow diagram. The article search process is carried out through a journal database which includes: PubMed, Science Direct, Springer Link, and PMC Europe by selecting articles published in 2020-2021. The keywords used included: “sex” OR “gender” AND “older age” AND “hypertension” AND “mortality” OR “death” OR “fatal outcome” OR “Predictors outcome” OR “Impact” AND “coronavirus” OR “Covid-19” OR “SARS-COV-2” OR “2019 n-Cov” OR “severe acute respiratory syndrome related coronavirus”. The inclusion criteria were full text articles with a retrospective cohort study design. The article is in English, and the analysis used is multivariate with adjusted Odds Ratio. Eligible articles were analyzed using the Revman 5.3 app.
Results: A total of 20 articles were reviewed in this study. A meta-analysis of 10 retrospective cohort studies showed that hypertension increased COVID-19 mortality by 1.40 times compared with no hypertension (aOR= 1.40; 95% CI= 1.04 to 1.89; p = 0.030). A meta-analysis of 10 retrospective cohort studies showed that males had a 1.42 times increased risk of COVID-19 mortality compared to females (aOR= 1.42; 95% CI= 1.20 to 1.67; p<0.001). Meta-analysis of 7 retrospective cohort studies showed that old age has a 3.42 times increased risk of COVID-19 death compared to younger age (aOR=4.15; 95% CI= 2.35 to 7.32; p <0.001).
Conclusion: Hypertension, gender, and old age increase the risk of dying from COVID-19.