Study of demographic factors related to COVID-19 disease in southern Iran

Recognition of the factors influencing the severity of the COVID-19 disease is gradually evolving. This study was aimed to investigate the demographic factors associated with patients who suffered from COVID-19.

In the present cross-sectional study, 3100 patients with COVID-19 in the city of Shiraz completed an online questionnaire from December to March 2021. The sampling method in this study was simple random. The data collection tool included a researcher-made questionnaire containing demographic and clinical information of the patients, which its validity and reliability were confirmed. Descriptive analyzes were used for qualitative and quantitative data. The Chi-square test was used to examine the relationship between independent and dependent variables. The normality of quantitative variables was assessed using the Shapiro-Wilk test and statistical graphs (Histogram and box-plot).

The average age of the participants in the present study was 38.28±12.83 years. There was a significant relationship between age, marital status, level of education, job status, and history of chronic disease with hospitalization (P-Value≤0.001). There was no statistically significant relationship between gender (P-Value=0.419), smoking (P-Value=0.653), social distancing (P-Value=0.054) with hospitalization. In addition, there was also a significant relationship between age, gender, job status, and mask usage with home treatment of COVID-19 (P-Value ≤0.001).

Age, marital status, level of education, employment status, and history of chronic diseases are among the influential factors on COVID-19 disease. Identifying the factors influencing COVID-19 disease can help to prevent and control the disease.