Mortality by COVID-19 in a municipality in Western Bahia: incidence and risk factors

Objective: the objective of this study was to describe and analyze the risk factors associated with deaths from COVID-19 in the city of Barreiras-BA. Methods: a cohort study in which notifications of positive cases of the disease were analyzed from March 2020 to December 2022. The variables included were sex, age, race/color, presented symptoms, and health conditions. Poisson Regression was used to verify the association between variables with relative risk estimation. Results: There were 348 deaths in the period analyzed, these being more frequent in men (60.6%), elderly people (58.9%), black/brown people (88.1%). The main symptoms presented by the individuals who died were cough (67.8%), dyspnea (62.9%) and fever (53.4%), and the main comorbidities were heart disease (39.1%) and diabetes (21.8%). Risk factors associated with the occurrence of death were found to be male and elderly and having symptoms such as dyspnea and fever, in addition to presenting comorbidities such as respiratory, cardiac, diabetes, kidney diseases, immunosuppression, chromosomal diseases and obesity (p < 0 .05). Having had symptoms such as sore throat, headache, runny nose and olfactory disorders demonstrated a lower risk of death (p < 0.05). Conclusion: The number of deaths caused by COVID-19 was considered low, with a higher risk for men and the elderly and individuals with other previous illnesses. Presentation of more serious symptoms, such as fever and dyspnea, also increases the risk of death.