Risk factors for death from COVID-19

To identify risk factors for hospital deaths from COVID-19, the OpenSAFELY platform examined electronic health records from 17.4 million UK adults. The authors used multivariable Cox proportional hazards model to identify the association of risk of death with older age, lower socio-economic status, being male, non-white ethnic background and certain clinical conditions (diabetes, obesity, cancer, respiratory diseases, heart, kidney, liver, neurological and autoimmune conditions). Notably, asthma was identified as a risk factor, despite prior suggestion of a potential protective role. Interestingly, higher risks due to ethnicity or lower socio-economic status could not be completely attributed to pre-existing health conditions.