Assessment of Hypertension and Other Factors Associated With the Severity of Disease in COVID-19 Pneumonia, Addis Ababa, Ethiopia: A Case-Control Study

Authors

Andargew Yohannes Ashamo, Department of Internal Medicine, Division of Pulmonary and Critical Care, Addis Ababa University, Addis Ababa, Ethiopia.
Abebaw Bekele, Department of Internal Medicine, Eka Kotebe General Hospital, Addis Ababa, Ethiopia.
Adane Petrose, Department of Internal Medicine, Division of Pulmonary and Critical Care, Addis Ababa University, Addis Ababa, Ethiopia.
Tsegaye Gebreyes, Department of Internal Medicine, Eka Kotebe General Hospital, Addis Ababa, Ethiopia.
Eyob Kebede Etissa, East African Training Initiative, Addis Ababa, Ethiopia.
Amsalu Bekele, Department of Internal Medicine, Division of Pulmonary and Critical Care, Addis Ababa University, Addis Ababa, Ethiopia.
Deborah Haisch, Department of Internal Medicine, Weill Cornell Medical College, New York City, New York, United States of America.
Neil W. Schluger, Department of Internal Medicine, Westchester Medical Center, New York Medical College, New York City, New York, United States of America.Follow
Hanan Yusuf, Department of Internal Medicine, Division of Pulmonary and Critical Care, Addis Ababa University, Addis Ababa, Ethiopia.
Tewodros Haile, Department of Internal Medicine, Division of Pulmonary and Critical Care, Addis Ababa University, Addis Ababa, Ethiopia.
Negussie Deyessa, Department of Preventive Medicine, School of Public Health, Addis Ababa University, Addis Ababa, Ethiopia.
Dawit Kebede, Department of Internal Medicine, Division of Pulmonary and Critical Care, Addis Ababa University, Addis Ababa, Ethiopia.

Author Type(s)

Faculty

DOI

10.1371/journal.pone.0273012

Journal Title

PLOS One

First Page

e0273012

Document Type

Article

Publication Date

1-1-2022

Department

Medicine

Abstract

BACKGROUND: Various reports suggested that pre-existing medical illnesses, including hypertension and other demographic, clinical, and laboratory factors, could pose an increased risk of disease severity and mortality among COVID-19 patients. This study aimed to assess the relation of hypertension and other factors to the severity of COVID-19 pneumonia in patients discharged from Eka Kotebe Hospital in June-September, 2020. METHODS: This is a single-center case-control study of 265 adult patients discharged alive or dead, 75 with a course of severe COVID-19 for the cases arm and 190 with the non-severe disease for the control arm. Three age and sex-matched controls were selected randomly for each patient on the case arm. Chi-square, multivariable binary logistic regression, and odds ratio (OR) with a 95% confidence interval was used to assess the association between the various factors and the severity of the disease. A p-value of <0.05 is considered statistically significant. RESULTS: Of the 265 study participants, 80% were male. The median age was 43 IQR(36-60) years. Both arms had similar demographic characteristics. Hypertension was strongly associated with the severity of COVID-19 pneumonia based on effect outcome adjustment (AOR = 2.93, 95% CI 1.489, 5.783, p-value = 0.002), similarly, having diabetes mellitus (AOR = 3.17, 95% CI 1.374, 7.313, p-value<0.007), chronic cardiac disease (AOR = 4.803, 95% CI 1.238-18.636, p<0.023), and an increase in a pulse rate (AOR = 1.041, 95% CI 1.017, 1.066, p-value = 0.001) were found to have a significant association with the severity of COVID-19 pneumonia. CONCLUSIONS: Hypertension was associated with the severity of COVID-19 pneumonia, and so were diabetes mellitus, chronic cardiac disease, and an increase in pulse rate.

Recommended Citation

Ashamo, A. Y., Bekele, A., Petrose, A., Gebreyes, T., Etissa, E. K., Bekele, A., Haisch, D., Schluger, N. W., Yusuf, H., Haile, T., Deyessa, N., & Kebede, D. (2022). Assessment of Hypertension and Other Factors Associated With the Severity of Disease in COVID-19 Pneumonia, Addis Ababa, Ethiopia: A Case-Control Study. PLOS One, 17 (8), e0273012. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0273012