Comorbidities And Complications Associated With Covid-19 Infection

Severe acute respiratory syndrome (SARS) coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) is a coronavirus with human infection designated as COVID-19 by the World Health Organization. Bats and birds serve as the typical coronavirus hosts, with zoonotic spread and a long-documented history of animal-animal-human transmission.

Since November 2019, the rapid outbreak of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19), which arose from severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) infection, has recently become a public health emergency of international concern. COVID-19 has contributed to an enormous adverse impact globally.

As of 10 March 2020 there have been 113702 laboratory confirmed cases and 4012 deaths globally.

According to the latest reports, the clinical manifestations of COVID-19 are heterogeneous. On admission, 20-51% of patients were reported as having at least one comorbidity, with diabetes (10-20%), hypertension (10-15%) and other cardiovascular and cerebrovascular diseases (7-40%) being most common. Previous studies have demonstrated that the presence of any comorbidity has been associated with a 3.4-fold increased risk of developing acute respiratory distress syndrome in patients with H7N9 infection. As with influenza, SARS-CoV and Middle East Respiratory Syndrome coronavirus (MERS-CoV), COVID-19 is more readily predisposed to respiratory failure and death in susceptible patients.

Although it is well documented that COVID-19 is primarily manifested as a respiratory tract infection, emerging data indicate that it should be regarded as a systemic disease involving multiple systems, including cardiovascular, respiratory, gastrointestinal, neurological, hematopoietic and immune system. Mortality rates of COVID-19 are lower than SARS and Middle East Respiratory Syndrome (MERS); however, COVID-19 is more lethal than seasonal flu.