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e-Article

Distinct socioeconomic profile of patients hospitalised with severe COVID-19 and prepandemic respiratory infections in Brussels’s deprived areas: a case–control study
Document Type
article
Source
BMJ Open, Vol 13, Iss 7 (2023)
Subject
Medicine
Language
English
ISSN
2023-0729
2044-6055
Abstract
Objective Belgium has been hit harder by COVID-19 than other countries in Europe. While clinical risk factors are well studied, socioeconomic risk factors remained underexplored. This study’s objective was to analyse the social and clinical profile of patients hospitalised for COVID-19 during the two waves of 2020, compared with a control population in 2019 in two hospitals located in Brussels’ most deprived area.Design and methods We did a case–control study by using the minimal clinical data set in two Brussels hospitals. All patients hospitalised for COVID-19 in 2020, divided into two waves (n=3220), were compared with all patients hospitalised for viral pneumonia and respiratory diseases in 2019 (control population n=2950). Multinomial regression models were used to estimate the relative risk ratios of the association between the COVID-19 hospitalised populations (waves 1 and 2) and risk factors (social and clinical) stratified by age.Results Patients under 65 years of age and hospitalised for COVID-19 presented significantly higher rates (relative rate ratio (95% CI)), especially for the first wave, of obesity 1.6 (1.2–2.2), African nationalities 1.4 (1.0–1.8), lack of health insurance 1.6 (1.3–2.1), living in high-density population areas 1.6 (1.3–2.1) and low incomes 1.7 (1.4–2.1), compared with the control population For patients over 65 years of age, we did not observe significant excess of COVID-19 hospitalisations for any risk factors, except diabetes during for the second wave but we have a significant excess mortality rate than the control population for both waves (p