Risk Factors for COVID-19 Mortality in Malaysia

BACKGROUND: Understanding the risks of COVID-19 mortality helps in the planning and prevention of the disease. This study aimed to determine the risk factors for COVID-19 mortality in Malaysia. METHODS: Secondary online data provided by the Ministry of Health, Malaysia and Malaysia’s national COVID-19 immunisation programme were used: i) COVID-19 deaths data; ii) vaccination coverage data and iii) population estimate data. Quasi-Poisson regression was performed to determine the risk factors for COVID-19 mortality. RESULTS: Four risk factors were identified: i) vaccination status (partial versus unvaccinated, incidence rate ratio [IRR]: 0.59; 95% CI: 0.54, 0.64; complete versus unvaccinated, IRR: 0.50; 95% CI: 0.45, 0.56; booster versus unvaccinated, IRR: 0.13; 95% CI: 0.05, 0.26); ii) age group (19 years old–59 years old versus above 60 years old, IRR: 0.90; 95% CI: 0.84, 0.97; 13 years old–18 years old versus above 60 years old, IRR: 0.09; 95% CI: 0.04, 0.19; 6 years old–12 years old versus above 60 years old, IRR: 0.09; 95% CI: 0.03, 0.22; below 5 years old versus above 60 years old, IRR: 0.11; 95% CI: 0.04, 0.23); iii) gender (male versus female, IRR: 1.23; 95% CI: 1.14, 1.32) and iv) comorbidity (yes versus no, IRR: 2.13; 95% CI: 1.96, 2.32). CONCLUSION: This study highlighted the risk factors for COVID-19 mortality and the benefit of COVID-19 vaccination, especially of booster vaccination, in reducing the risk of COVID-19 mortality in Malaysia.