Predictors for cause-specific and timing of deaths in patients with COVID-19: a cohort study in Taiwan

• Published in: BMC infectious diseases Vol. 24; no. 1; pp. 1 - 11
• Main Authors: Yen, Yung-Feng, Chan, Shang-Yih, Lai, Yun-Ju, Yen, Muh-Yong, Chen, Chu-Chieh, Chen, Mei-Ju
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: London BioMed Central Ltd 20.08.2024; BioMed Central; BMC
• Subjects: Age groups; Analysis; Cancer; Care and treatment; Chronic obstructive pulmonary disease; Cohort analysis; Cohort study; Comorbidity; COVID-19; COVID-19 diagnostic tests; COVID-19 vaccines; Death; Diabetes; Fatalities; Hazards; Health aspects; Hospital patients; Hospitalization; Hospitals; Immunization; Intensive care; Kidney diseases; Lung diseases; Lung diseases, Obstructive; Mortality; Oxygen therapy; Pandemics; Patients; Pneumonia; Regression analysis; Respiratory distress syndrome; Review boards; Sepsis; Severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2; Sociodemographics; Statistical analysis; Taiwan; Vaccination; Variance analysis; Ventilators; Taiwan; United States > US
• ISSN: 1471-2334; 1471-2334
• DOI: 10.1186/s12879-024-09654-w

This cohort study determines the predictors for cause-specific and timing of deaths in patients with COVID-19 in Taiwan. Of the 195 (8.0%) patients who died during hospitalization, 147 (84.0%) had COVID-19-specific deaths. Moreover, 54.9% of the deceased patients had early death. After controlling for other covariates, patients aged [greater than or equal to] 65 years had a higher risk of COVID-19-specific, non-COVID-19-specific, early, and late deaths [adjusted hazards ratio (AHR): 3.85, 6.45, 3.33, and 6.57; 95% confidence interval (CI): 1.91-7.78, 1.17-35.68, 1.51-7.36, and 2.18-19.76, respectively]. Fully vaccinated patients had a lower risk of COVID-19-specific (AHR: 0.68; 95% CI: 0.47-0.98) and early deaths (AHR: 0.54; 95% CI: 0.35-0.84), whereas comorbid patients with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease had a higher risk of non-COVID-19-specific deaths (AHR: 5.43; 95% CI: 1.73-17.03). This study suggests that prioritizing COVID-19 vaccination and carefully monitoring comorbid patients during hospitalization can reduce the risk of COVID-19-specific and early deaths and non-COVID-19-specific mortalities, respectively.