The objective to explore the common factors of COVID-19 cases and deaths among the 50 most-affected countries.
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A total of 14 indicators are used to explain the COVID-19 cases and deaths.
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Ordinary least square statistics are used to find the significant factors affecting the number of cases and deaths.
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Obesity is found to be a common factor for the number of COVID-19 cases and consequent deaths.
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Our findings call for global awareness about obesity and investment in health infrastructure for a pandemic adaptive future.
Abstract
Aims
The Coronavirus (COVID-19) is a global pandemic requiring global responses. The objective of this paper is to identify the common factors of COVID-19 cases and deaths among the 50 most affected countries.
Methods
We performed Ordinary least squares among a wide range of socio-economic, environmental, climatic and health indicators to explain the number of cases and deaths.
Results
The findings are: (i) obesity is the only significant global denominator for the number of COVID-19 cases and deaths; (ii) the percentage of the population over the age of 65 and number of hospital beds per 1000 population inversely correlated to mortality from COVID-19.
Conclusions
Obesity increases vulnerability to COVID-19 infections and mortality. Global awareness of obesity and social investment in health infrastructure are pre-requisite for a pandemic adaptive future. However, the study is limited to cross-sectional data of April 17, 2020.
