Influence of the social deprivation index on outcomes during the COVID-19 pandemic

Objective: To see the relationship between the population deprivation index and the use of the health services, adverse evolution and mortality during the COVID-19 pandemic.Method: Retrospective cohort study of patients with SARS-CoV-2 infection from March 1, 2020 to January 9, 2022. The data collected included sociodemographic data, comorbidities and prescribed baseline treatments, other baseline data and the deprivation index, estimated by census section. Multivariable multilevel logistic regression models were performed for each outcome variable: death, poor outcome (defined as death or intensive care unit), hospital admission, and emergency room visits.Results: The cohort consists of 371,237 people with SARS-CoV-2 infection. In the multivariable models, a higher risk of death or poor evolution or hospital admission or emergency room visit was observed within the quintiles with the greatest deprivation compared to the quintile with the least. For the risk of being hospitalized or going to the emergency room, there were differences between most quintiles. It has also been observed that these differences occurred in the first and third periods of the pandemic for mortality and poor outcome, and in all due for the risk of being admitted or going to the emergency room.Conclusions: The groups with the highest level of deprivation have had worse outcomes compared to the groups with lower deprivation rates. It is necessary to carry out interventions that minimize these inequalities. (c) 2023 SESPAS. Published by Elsevier Espana, S.L.U. This is an open access article under the CC BY-NC-ND license (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/).

Automated summary

The study aimed to examine the relationship between the population deprivation index and the utilization of health services, adverse outcomes, and mortality during the COVID-19 pandemic. A retrospective cohort study was conducted on patients with SARS-CoV-2 infection from March 1, 2020 to January 9, 2022. The results showed that individuals in the most deprived quintiles had a higher risk of death, poor outcome, hospital admission, and emergency room visits compared to those in the least deprived quintile. These differences were observed in different stages of the pandemic. Therefore, interventions are needed to minimize these inequalities.