Risk Factors Linked with Increased Risk for Dying from COVID-19 [COVID-19 and Physical Activity Series]

OpenSAFELY: Factors Associated with COVID-19 Death in 17 Million Patients is a cohort study of the risk factors linked with increased risk for dying from COVID-19.  Dr. Williamson and co-authors examined the health records of over 17 million adults, or about 40% of England’s population, using a secure health analytics platform called OpenSAFELY.  They found that patients older than 80 were more than 20 times more likely to die from COVID-19 than people in their 50s (fully adjusted HR 20.61; 95% CI 18.72-22.70) and that men were more likely to die than women of the same age (fully adjusted HR 1.59, 1.53-1.65).  Dr. Williamson and co-authors also found that people with underlying medical conditions like obesity (obesity class I fully adjusted HR 1.05, 95% CI 1.00-1.11, obesity class II fully adjusted HR 1.40, 95% CI 1.30-1.52, obesity class III fully adjusted HR 1.92, 95% CI 1.72-2.13), diabetes, severe asthma, and cardiovascular disease were at higher risk. They found that Black and South Asian people, as well as those from other ethnic minority groups, were more likely to die than white patients (fully adjusted HR 1.43-1.48).  Evaluating the association between pre-existing medical conditions (e.g., obesity, diabetes, severe asthma, and cardiovascular disease) and death from COVID-19, we confirmed increased mortality risks, supporting the targeted use of additional protection measures for people in these groups. 

Williamson, E. J., Walker, A. J., Bhaskaran, K., Bacon, S., Bates, C., Morton, C. E., ... & Cockburn, J. (2020). OpenSAFELY: factors associated with COVID-19 death in 17 million patients. Nature, 1-11.