COVID-19 among African Americans and Hispanics: Does gastrointestinal symptoms impact the outcome?

Table 2 Association between clinical laboratory markers and death as an outcome

	Alive, n (%)	Dead, n (%)	OR1 (95%CI)	OR2 (95%CI)	OR3 (95%CI)	OR4 (95%CI)
Age (n = 384), yr
< 35 (n = 66)	63 (95.5)	3 (4.5)	-	-	-	-
35-44 (n = 50)	48 (96)	2 (4)	0.87 (0.14-5.44)	0.65 (0.10-4.19)	0.71 (0.094-5.50)	0.27 (0.39-1.90)
45-54 (n = 45)	41 (91.1)	4 (8.9)	2.04 (0.43-9.63)	1.64 (0.33-7.96)	1.85 (0.31-11.07)	0.69 (0.13-3.64)
55-64 (n = 95)	85 (89.5)	10 (10.5)	2.47 (0.65-9.34)	1.63 (0.39-6.66)	1.54 (0.30-7.93)	0.70 (0.15-3.20)
65-74 (n = 63)	37 (58.7)	26 (41.3)	14.7 (4.17-52.13)	9.88 (2.62-37.17)	9.91 (2.09-46.81)	3.08 (0.73-13.01)
≥ 75 (n = 65)	47 (72.3)	18 (27.7)	8.04 (2.23-28.90)	5.80 (1.52-22.1)	5.95 (1.23-28.80)	2.10 (0.49-8.98)
Sex (n = 385)
Female (n = 191)	165 (86.4)	26 (13.6)	-	-	-	-
Male (n = 194)	157 (80.9)	37 (19.1)	1.49 (0.86-2.58)	1.44 (0.78-2.65)	1.43 (0.75-2.70)	1.17 (0.58-2.36)
Ethnicity (n = 385)
African American (n = 257)	204 (79.4)	53 (20.6)	-	-	-	-
European American (n = 26)	23 (88.5)	3 (11.5)	0.50 (0.14-1.73)	0.54 (0.14-1.96)	0.38 (0.08-1.83)	1.00 (0.22-4.50)
LatinX (n = 102)	95 (93.1)	7 (6.9))	0.28 (0.12-0.64)	0.52 (0.21-1.30)	0.55 (0.21-1.47)	0.64 (0.23-1.76)
BMI (n = 332)
Normal (n = 127)	108 (85)	19 (15)	-	-	-
Overweight (n = 94)	76 (80.9)	18 (19.1)	1.34 (0.66-2.73)	1.02 (0.47-2.23)	1.00 (0.46-2.19)
Obese (n = 111)	89 (80.2)	22 (19.8)	1.40 (0.71-2.75)	1.22 (0.58-2.56)	1.18 (0.56-2.49)
Baseline comorbidities (no, always as reference)
Cardiac disease (n = 375)
No (n = 302)	257 (85.1)	45 (14.9)	-	-
Yes (n = 73)	55 (75.3)	18 (24.7)	1.86 (1.00-3.47)	0.96 (0.47-1.95)
Diabetes mellitus (n = 377)
No (n = 236)	202 (85.6)	34 (14.4)	-	-
Yes (n = 141)	112 (79.4)	29 (20.6)	1.53 (0.89-2.65)	1.15 (0.63-2.11)
Hypertension (n = 373)
No (n = 183)	156 (85.2)	27 (14.8)	-	-
Yes (n = 190)	155 (81.6)	35 (18.4)	1.30 (0.75-2.25)	0.79 (0.42-1.51)
Immune suppression (n =369)
No (n = 355)	282 (84.2)	53 (15.8)	-	-
Yes (n = 34)	25 (73.5)	9 (26.5)	1.91 (0.84-4.33)	2.19 (0.87-5.53)
Presenting symptoms
Fever (n = 383)
No (n = 174)	149 (85.6)	25 (14.4)	-	-
Yes (n = 209)	171 (81.8)	38 (18.2)	1.32 (0.76-2.29)	1.07 (0.58-1.96)
Cough (n = 380)
No (n = 151)	125 (82.8)	26 (17.2)	-	-
Yes (n = 229)	193 (84.3)	36 (15.7)	0.89 (0.51-1.55)	0.87 (0.46-1.63)
Shortness of breath (n = 381)
No (n = 144)	133 (92.4)	11 (7.6)	-	-	-	-
Yes (n = 237)	185 (78.1)	52 (21.9)	3.39 (1.70-6.75)	3.64 (1.73-7.65)	3.60 (1.71-7.56)	2.38 (1.07-4.09)
Fatigue (n = 236)
No (n = 143)	125 (87.4)	18 (12.6)	-	-
Yes (n = 93)	80 (86)	13 (14)	1.12 (0.52-2.42)	0.71 (0.30-1.67)
Nausea (n = 362)
No (n = 315)	264 (83.8)	51 (16.2)	-	-
Yes (n = 47)	42 (89.4)	5 (10.6)	0.61 (0.23-1.63)	0.86 (0.30-2.50)
Vomiting (n = 375)
No (n = 332)	277 (83.4)	55 (16.6)	-	-
Yes (n = 43)	39 (90.7)	4 (9.3)	0.51 (0.17-1.50)	0.631 (0.20-1.99)
Abdominal pain (n = 343)
No (n = 296)	248 (83.8)	48 (16.2)	-	-
Yes (n = 47)	44 (93.6)	3 (6.4)	0.35 (0.10-1.18)	0.50 (0.14-1.82)
Diarrhea (n =377)
No (n = 317)	264 (83.3)	53 (16.7)	-	-
Yes (n = 60)	52 (86.7)	8 (13.3)	0.76 (0.34-1.70)	0.74 (0.31-1.78)
Anorexia (n = 325)
No (n = 238)	208 (87.4)	30 (12.6)	-	-
Yes (n = 87)	69 (79.3)	18 (20.7)	1.80 (0.94-3.44)	1.30 (0.63-2.68)
Laboratory results (quartiles determined based on the entire study population; q1 always as reference)
Lymphocyte count (n = 380)
Normal (n = 193)	177 (91.7)	16 (8.3)	-	-
Low (n = 163)	121 (74.2)	42 (25.8)	3.84 (2.06-7.14)	2.77 (1.41-5.45)
Elevated (n = 24)	19 (79.2)	5 (20.8)	2.91 (0.95-8.83)	3.27 (0.97-11.04)
CRP (n = 293)
Normal (n = 99)	91 (919)	8 (8.1)	-	-	-	-
Elevated (n = 194)	149 (76.8)	45 (23.3)	3.43 (1.55-7.61)	3.19 (1.39-7.29)	3.11 (1.38-7.04)	2.77 (1.21-6.34)
D-Dimer (n = 309)
Normal (n = 39)	39 (100)	0 (0)	L. Reg. N/A: No death for normal D-dimer; Chi-square P = 0.001 highly significant
Elevated (n = 270)	212 (78.5)	58 (21.5)
Procalcitonin (n = 276)
Normal (n = 163)	151 (92.6)	12 (7.4)	-	-
Elevated (n = 113)	67 (59.3)	46 (40.7)	8.63 (4.30-17.3)	8.27 (3.95-17.3)
Ferritin (n = 273)
Normal (n = 98)	88 (89.8)	10 (10.2)	-	-
Elevated (n = 175)	131 (74.9)	44 (25.1)	2.95 (1.41-6.18)	2.69 (1.24-5.82)
Hydroxychloroquine (n = 371)
No (n = 291)	249 (80.8)	42 (66.7)	-	-
Yes (n = 80)	59 (19.2)	21 (33.3)	2.11 (1.16, 3.83)	1.93 (0.98 - 3.79)
ALP (n = 317)
Normal (n = 260)	221 (85)	39 (68.4)	-	-
Elevated (n = 57)	39 (15)	18 (31.6)	2.61 (1.36 – 5.03)	3.52 (1.65-7.51)
AST (n = 332)
Normal (n = 185)	174 (94.1)	11 (5.9)	-	-
Elevated (n = 147)	98 (66.7)	49 (33.3)	7.90 (3.93-15.9)	8.01 (3.79-16.9)
ALT (n = 329)
Normal (n = 231)	197 (85.3)	34 (14.7)	-	-
Elevated (n = 98)	72 (73.5)	26 (26.5)	2.09 (1.17-3.73)	2.64 (1.36-5.01)
Interventions (no as reference)
Glucocorticoids (n = 371)
No (n = 303)	267 (88.1)	36 (11.9)	-	-
Yes (n = 68)	41 (60.3)	27 (39.7)	4.88 (2.68-8.87)	5.40 (2.72-10.7)
Mechanical ventilation (n = 376)
No (n = 320)	303 (94.7)	17 (5.3)	-	-
Yes (n = 56)	17 (30.4)	39 (69.6)	40.8 (19.3-86.5)	35.2 (15.3-81.1)

OR1 = Crude, without any adjustment; OR2 = Adjusted for age, sex, ethnicity; OR3 = Multivariable, adjusted for age, sex, ethnicity, and other potential confounding variables (to be decided later). The final model suggest that Age, shortness of breath (SOB) and C-reactive protein (CRP) is significantly increase the risk of mortality. Baseline comorbidity, ethnicity and gender are not significant after controlling for SOB and CRP. BMI: Body mass index; CRP: C-reactive protein; ALP: Alkaline phosphatase; AST: Aspartate transaminase; ALT: Alanine transaminase.