Objective: The aim of this study is to characterize the cardiometabolic risk of individuals who were infected with the SARS-CoV-2 virus and subsequently admitted to a hospital in a major city in mainland Portugal.
Methods: This is a retrospective exploratory study using a sample of 102 patients, with data analysis including descriptive statistics, nonparametric measures of association between variables based on Spearman's rank-order correlation, a logistic regression model for predicting the likelihood that an individual might eventually pass away, and a multiple linear regression model to predict a likely increase in the number of days an infected patient remained in the hospital.
Results: About 62.7% of the individuals required intensive care on the second day of hospitalization, remaining 14.2 days in the intensive care unit (ICU) on average. The likelihood that an individual might eventually pass away due to SARS-CoV-2 virus infection increases for the older than younger ones and increases even more if he/she suffers from cardiometabolic disorders such as obesity, especially cardiovascular disease. Older individuals and those with obesity and hypertension remained more days in the ICU.
Conclusions: A later age and the prevalence of cardiometabolic disorders severely affect the care pathway of individuals infected with the SARS-CoV-2 virus.
Keywords: SARS-CoV-2 infection; cardiometabolic risk; intensive care unit.