COVID-19 Clinical Outcomes and Nationality: Results from a Nationwide Registry in Kuwait

    June 2020 in “ Research Square (Research Square) ”
    Hala Hamadah, Barrak Alahmad, Mohammad Behbehani, Sarah Al Youha, Sulaiman Almazeedi, Mohannad Al‐Haddad, Mohammad H. Jamal, Suleiman Al-Sabah
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    TLDR Non-Kuwaitis with COVID-19 had higher chances of severe outcomes than Kuwaitis.
    Three years ago, a study was conducted in Kuwait to explore the difference in health outcomes between non-Kuwaiti and Kuwaiti patients diagnosed with COVID-19. The study used a registry of 1,123 COVID-19 positive patients, 26% of whom were Kuwaitis and 73% were non-Kuwaiti. After adjusting for age, gender, smoking, and selected co-morbidities, it was found that non-Kuwaitis had a two-fold increase in the odds of death or being admitted to the intensive care unit compared to Kuwaitis (OR: 2.14, 95% CI 1.12-4.32). Non-Kuwaitis also had higher odds of acute respiratory distress syndrome (OR:2.44, 95% CI 1.23-5.09) and pneumonia (OR: 2.24, 95% CI 1.27-4.12). The study concluded that the pandemic may have amplified health outcome differences among marginalized subpopulations, possibly due to socioeconomic and environmental factors. Further research was recommended to inform public health interventions.
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