Age but not sex may explain the negative effect of arterial hypertension and diabetes on COVID-19 prognosis

Abstract

We found that the negative effect of underlying arterial hypertension on COVID-19 critical illness significantly and positively correlated with the age difference between critical/mortal and non-critical patients (slope±SE: 0.0718±0.021, p=0.00066 ) but not with the difference in male sex proportion (slope:-0.010±0.023, p=0.66). Likewise, the negative effect oftype 2 diabetes on severe COVID-19 infection significantly and positively correlated with the age difference between the two groups (slope: 0.079±0.025, p=0.00185) but not with thedifference in male proportion (slope: -0.040±0.027, p=0.133). On the contrary, by meta-regression analysis, we found that the negative effect of preexisting respiratory disease on COVID-19 critical illness significantly and positively correlated with the difference in male proportion (slope: 0.118±0.056, p= 0.034) but not with the age difference (slope: -0.030±0.048, p= 0.520). Finally, we observed that the negative effect of pre-existing cardiovascular disease on severe COVID-19 clinical course is not influenced either by sex (slope: 0.0343±0.033, p= 0.300) or by age (slope: 0.048±0.033, p= 0.143).