Potential risk factors for mortality in patients with COVID-19: A retrospective study
Although severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) infection caused more
than five million deaths throughout the world and more than five thousand deaths in Libya, a little is known
about the mortality rate and the risk factors for death from this serious infectious disease in Libya. Thus, it is
aimed in this study to identify the potential risk factors for mortality from SARS-CoV-2 infections among 176
Libyan COVID-19 patients in Zawia city. This research is a retrospective cohort study that was conducted on
176 randomly selected volunteers who had been infected with SARS-CoV-2 during a period of December
2020 to February 2021 in Zawia city, Libya. Following filling the prepared validated questionnaire by
COVID-19 patients, the data was analyzed to determine the previously mentioned risk factors. The mean age
(SD) of the total 176 participated COVID-19 patients was 45.06 (± 17.7) and the mortality rate among these
total involved cases (mild to severe cases) was 10.8%. It is found that the mortality among the severe COVID-
19 cases was 41.3% and the mean age (SD) of COVID-19 deaths was 69.1 years (13.8) and 73.7% of them
were 60 years old or older. In addition, it is found that 63.2% of the SARS-CoV-2 deaths were females and
78.9% of them had a positive history of chronic diseases. Moreover, it was found that the most common
chronic diseases among COVID-19 deaths are diabetes mellitus and hypertension (73.3% and 53.3%,
respectively). Collectively, it is concluded that COVID-19 elderly female patients aging 60 years or older with
a positive history of chronic disease are more likely at high risk for death from SARS-CoV-2 infection among
the participated COVID cases.
