TY - JOUR
T1 - Beyond comorbidities, sex and age have no effect on COVID-19 health care demand
AU - Mendes, Jorge M.
AU - Baptista, Helena
AU - Oliveira, André
AU - Jardim, Bruno
AU - Neto, Miguel de Castro
N1 - Mendes, J. M., Baptista, H., Oliveira, A., Jardim, B., & De Castro Neto, M. (2022). Beyond comorbidities, sex and age have no effect on COVID-19 health care demand. Scientific Reports, 12(1), 1-12. [7356]. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-022-11376-5 -------------------------------- This research was supported by project Data4Covid19 (project ID: 62821), funded by the European Regional Development Fund, through the Operational Competitiveness Programme—COMPETE 2020, in the framework of 15/SI/2020—R&D Companies and Testing and Optimization Infrastructures (COVID-19). The authors acknowledge the editors and reviewers, whose comments and suggestions helped to improve the presentation of the paper.
PY - 2022/12/1
Y1 - 2022/12/1
N2 - This paper explores the associations between sex, age and hospital health care pressure in the context of the COVID-19 pandemic in Portuguese mainland municipalities. To represent the impact of sex and age, we calculated COVID-19 standardised incidence ratios (SIR) in Portuguese mainland municipalities over fourteen months daily, especially focusing on the Porto metropolitan area. A daily novel indicator was devised for hospital health care pressure, consisting of an approximation to the ratio of hospitalisations per available hospital medical doctor (HPI). In addition, 14-day incidence rates were also calculated daily (DIR14), both as an approach and an alternative to the current national pandemic surveillance indicator (which is not calculated with such regularity). Daily maps were first visualised to evaluate spatial patterns. Pearson's correlation coefficients were then calculated between each proposed surveillance indicator (SIR and DIR14) and the HPI. Our results suggest that hospital pressure is not strongly associated with SIR (r = 0.34, p value = 0.08). However, DIR14 bears a stronger correlation with hospital pressure (r = 0.84, p value < 0.001). By establishing the importance of tackling sex and age through the inclusion of these factors explicitly in an epidemiological monitoring indicator, and assessing its relationship with a hospital pressure indicator, our findings have public policy implications that could improve COVID-19 incidence surveillance in Portugal and elsewhere, contributing to advancing the management of potential pandemics in the near future, with a particular focus on local and regional territorial scales.
AB - This paper explores the associations between sex, age and hospital health care pressure in the context of the COVID-19 pandemic in Portuguese mainland municipalities. To represent the impact of sex and age, we calculated COVID-19 standardised incidence ratios (SIR) in Portuguese mainland municipalities over fourteen months daily, especially focusing on the Porto metropolitan area. A daily novel indicator was devised for hospital health care pressure, consisting of an approximation to the ratio of hospitalisations per available hospital medical doctor (HPI). In addition, 14-day incidence rates were also calculated daily (DIR14), both as an approach and an alternative to the current national pandemic surveillance indicator (which is not calculated with such regularity). Daily maps were first visualised to evaluate spatial patterns. Pearson's correlation coefficients were then calculated between each proposed surveillance indicator (SIR and DIR14) and the HPI. Our results suggest that hospital pressure is not strongly associated with SIR (r = 0.34, p value = 0.08). However, DIR14 bears a stronger correlation with hospital pressure (r = 0.84, p value < 0.001). By establishing the importance of tackling sex and age through the inclusion of these factors explicitly in an epidemiological monitoring indicator, and assessing its relationship with a hospital pressure indicator, our findings have public policy implications that could improve COVID-19 incidence surveillance in Portugal and elsewhere, contributing to advancing the management of potential pandemics in the near future, with a particular focus on local and regional territorial scales.
KW - Comorbidity
KW - Delivery of Health Care
KW - Hospitalization
KW - Humans
KW - Infant
KW - Pandemics
KW - COVID-19
KW - Epidemiology
UR - https://static-content.springer.com/esm/art%3A10.1038%2Fs41598-022-11376-5/MediaObjects/41598_2022_11376_MOESM1_ESM.docx
UR - https://static-content.springer.com/esm/art%3A10.1038%2Fs41598-022-11376-5/MediaObjects/41598_2022_11376_MOESM2_ESM.zip
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=85129396788&partnerID=8YFLogxK
UR - https://www.webofscience.com/wos/woscc/full-record/WOS:000791506100011
U2 - 10.1038/s41598-022-11376-5
DO - 10.1038/s41598-022-11376-5
M3 - Article
C2 - 35513438
SN - 2045-2322
VL - 12
SP - 1
EP - 12
JO - Scientific Reports
JF - Scientific Reports
IS - 1
M1 - 7356
ER -