Association between multimorbidity, intensive care unit admission, and death in patients with COVID-19 in Brazil: a cross-section study, 2020

BACKGROUND: Multimorbidity can influence intensive care unit (ICU) admissions and deaths due to coronavirus disease (COVID-19). OBJECTIVE: To analyze the association between multimorbidity, ICU admissions, and deaths due to COVID-19 in Brazil. DESIGN AND SETTING: This cross-sectional study was conducted using data from patients with severe acute respiratory syndrome (SARS) due to COVID-19 recorded in the Influenza Epidemiological Surveillance Information System (SIVEP-Gripe) in 2020. METHODS: Descriptive and stratified analyses of multimorbidity were performed based on sociodemographic, ventilatory support, and diagnostic variables. Poisson regression was used to estimate the prevalence ratios. RESULTS: We identified 671,593 cases of SARS caused by COVID-19, of which 62.4% had at least one morbidity. Multimorbidity was associated with male sex, age 60–70 and ≥ 80 years, brown and black skin color, elementary education and high school, ventilatory support, and altered radiologic exams. Moreover, all regions of the country and altered computed tomography due to COVID-19 or other diseases were associated with death; only the northeast region and higher education were associated with ICU admission. CONCLUSION: Our results showed an association between multimorbidity, ICU admission, and death in COVID-19 patients in Brazil.