SIGNIFICANT ETHNIC DIFFERENCES IN PREVALENCE, CARDIAC MANIFESTATIONS AND MORTALITY IN PATIENTS WITH MODERATE TO SEVERE COVID-19 BETWEEN MIDDLE EASTERN ARABS AND SOUTH ASIAN ETHNICITY

Background

The middle east countries were hit like the rest of the world with outbreak of coronavirus disease COVID-19. The variation in severity of the disease between countries was attributed to many factors. We compared the prevalence, clinical characteristics and outcome among patients hospitalized with moderate to severe COVID-19 infection according to ethnicity of Middle Eastern Arabs (MEA) vs South Asians (SA)

Methods

Retrospective, multi-center study that includes adult hospitalized with laboratory-confirmed COVID-19 in three major hospitals in Oman. The Sultan Qaboos University, Royal and Al-Nahda hospital between the period of March to August 2020. Demographic, clinical presentation, and outcome was compared between Arabs and South Asians. We used univariable and multivariable logistic regression methods to explore the risk factors associated with in-hospital death

Results

541 patients were admitted during the study period. 405 (75.3%) were MEA vs 133(24.7%) SA. Compare to SA, MEA were older (52.20 vs 46.35, p<0.001), more likely to have Diabetes (48.3% 28.8%, p<0.001), Hypertension (45% vs 18.3%, p<0.001), dyslipidemia (21% vs 1.2%), and chronic renal failure (13.1% vs 3.8%, p=0.002). Cough was more prominent in SA (81.3%vs68.3%, p=0.005), while SOB was prominent in MEA (72.6%vs27.4%, p=0.003). MEA were found to have higher incidence of myocardial Infarction (25.7%vs12.3%, p=0.001), heart failure (15.6%vs6.1%, p=0.088) with significantly higher troponin (47.6%vs24%, p<0.001). In hospital mortality was significantly higher in MEA (19.8%vs8.3%, p=0.003)

Conclusion

Middle Eastern Arabs with covid-19 are more likely to have cardiac risk factors and present with cardiac manifestations with higher mortality compare to South Asian ethnicity