COVID-19 and Comorbidities in Douala, Cameroon

Aims: Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome Coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) still negatively impacting the world. This study aimed at determining the prevalence of COVID-19 and comorbidities, associated factors, and evaluating the impact of these comorbidities on COVID-19 patients.

Study Design: Cross-sectional hospital-based study.

Place and Duration of Study: From January to March 2022, the present study was conducted at four health facilities in Douala town (Littoral Region, Cameroon).

Methodology: Anthropometric, bioimpedance, physiological, blood and nasopharyngeal samples were used for diagnosing COVID-19, hepatitis B virus, diabetes, obesity and hypertension. SARS-CoV-2 genome were detected by retrotranscriptase quantitative polymerase chain reaction. Data were analyzed with StatView v5 and GraphPad v5.03 software, and statistical significance was set at p < 0.05.

Results: A total of 178 patients, 139 Cameroonian and 39 foreigners, were finally included in the study. Lower COVID-19 vaccination coverage was seen in Cameroonians compared to foreigners (25.2% vs 43.6%, P = .02). No COVID-19 infection cases were found. The overall prevalence of diabetes, hypertension, obesity and HBV was 11.2%, 17.9%, 28.1% and 36.5%, respectively. Nearly 35% of patients were diagnosed with at least two of these comorbidities that significantly impacted on anthropometric, bioimpedance and physiological parameters. The risk of past COVID-infection was increased by 1.06 (95%CI 1.00 – 1.10, P = .03) and 2.81 (95%CI 1.65 – 5.77, P = .04) with one-unit increase in age and BMI, respectively. In contrast, risk of past COVID-19 infection was decreased by 94% (AOR = 0.06, 95%CI 0.01 – 0.76, P = .03) in foreigners compared to Cameroonians.

Conclusion: This study outlines the importance to manage comorbidities in context of COVID-19 in Cameroon. Further studies should be conducted with more documented investigations about their epidemiology and impact on the natural history of COVID-19 in the country.