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Correlation between immunity from BCG and the morbidity and mortality of COVID-19

BACKGROUND: To investigate the association between parameters indicating immunity from BCG at country level (presence of BCG vaccination policy, BCG coverage, age-specific incidence of tuberculosis (TB)) and the morbidity and mortality of COVID-19. METHODS: Country-specific data for COVID-19 cases a...

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Detalles Bibliográficos
Autores principales: Wickramasinghe, Dakshitha, Wickramasinghe, Nilanka, Kamburugamuwa, Sohan Anjana, Arambepola, Carukshi, Samarasekera, Dharmabandhu N.
Formato: Online Artículo Texto
Lenguaje:English
Publicado: BioMed Central 2020
Materias:
Acceso en línea:https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC7453689/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/32868985
http://dx.doi.org/10.1186/s40794-020-00117-z
Descripción
Sumario:BACKGROUND: To investigate the association between parameters indicating immunity from BCG at country level (presence of BCG vaccination policy, BCG coverage, age-specific incidence of tuberculosis (TB)) and the morbidity and mortality of COVID-19. METHODS: Country-specific data for COVID-19 cases and deaths, demographic details, BCG coverage and policy, age-specific TB incidence and income level were obtained. The crude COVID-19 cases and deaths per 100,000 population were calculated and assessed against the parameters indicating immunity from BCG using linear regression analysis. RESULTS: Univariate analysis identified higher income level of a country to be significantly associated with COVID-19 cases (p < 0.0001) and deaths (p < 0.0001) but not with its case fatality rate. The association between COVID-19 and TB was strongest for TB incidence in patients > 65-years (Cases (r(s) = − 0.785,p = 0.0001)) and deaths (r(s) = − 0.647,p = 0.0001). Multivariate analysis identified the higher income level of a country and not having a universal BCG vaccination policy to affect the COVID-19 cases. The deaths were inversely affected by the presence of BCG vaccination policy and coverage; and positively by the TB incidence in patients > 65-years. CONCLUSION: Significant inverse correlations observed between cases and deaths of COVID-19 and BCG related parameters highlights immunity from BCG as a likely explanation for the variation in COVID-19 across countries.