Journal Article

Association of socio-economic deprivation with COVID-19 incidence and fatality during the first wave of the pandemic in Italy: lessons learned from a local register-based study

Lopalco, Pier Luigi, Fortunato, Francesca, Ascatigno, Leonardo, Casanova, Georgia, Lillini, Roberto, Martinelli, Domenico, Prato, Rosa, Iannelli, Giuseppina

2023

Overview

Background COVID-19 has been characterised by its global and rapid spread, with high infection, hospitalisation, and mortality rates worldwide. However, the course of the pandemic showed differences in chronology and intensity in different geographical areas and countries, probably due to a multitude of factors. Among these, socio-economic deprivation has been supposed to play a substantial role, although available evidence is not fully in agreement. Our study aimed to assess incidence and fatality rates of COVID-19 across the levels of socio-economic deprivation during the first epidemic wave (March–May 2020) in the Italian Province of Foggia, Apulia Region. Methods Based on the data of the regional active surveillance platform, we performed a retrospective epidemiological study among all COVID-19 confirmed cases that occurred in the Apulian District of Foggia, Italy, from March 1st to May 5th, 2020. Geocoded addresses were linked to the individual Census Tract (CT) of residence. Effects of socio-economic condition were calculated by means of the Socio-Economic and Health-related Deprivation Index (SEHDI) on COVID-19 incidence and fatality. Results Of the 1054 confirmed COVID-19 cases, 537 (50.9%) were men, 682 (64.7%) were 0–64 years old, and 338 (32.1%) had pre-existing comorbidities. COVID-19 incidence was higher in the less deprived areas (p < 0.05), independently on age. The level of socio-economic deprivation did not show a significant impact on the vital status, while a higher fatality was observed in male cases (p < 0.001), cases > 65 years (p < 0.001), cases having a connection with a nursing home (p < 0.05) or having at least 1 comorbidity (p < 0.001). On the other hand, a significant protection for healthcare workers was apparent (p < 0.001). Conclusions Our findings show that deprivation alone does not affect COVID-19 incidence and fatality burden, suggesting that the burden of disease is driven by a complexity of factors not yet fully understood. Better knowledge is needed to identify subgroups at higher risk and implement effective preventive strategies.

• Publisher: BioMed Central,BioMed Central Ltd,Springer Nature B.V,BMC
• Subject: Adolescent / Adult / Age / Care and treatment / Child / Child, Preschool / Comorbidity / Coronaviruses / COVID-19 / COVID-19 - epidemiology / Demographic aspects / Deprivation / Deprivation index / Diabetes / Diagnosis / Disease transmission / Economic aspects / Economic conditions / Economics / Epidemiology / Family structure / Fatalities / Female / Forecasts and trends / Geographic information systems / Health care disparities / Health inequalities / Health Inequities / Health Informatics / Health Promotion and Disease Prevention / Human Geography / Humans / Impact analysis / Incidence / Infant / Infant, Newborn / Infections / Italy / Italy - epidemiology / Male / Medical Geography / Medical personnel / Medicine / Medicine & Public Health / Middle Aged / Minority & ethnic groups / Mortality / Pandemics / Poverty / Prevention / Public Health / Retrospective Studies / Severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 / Social aspects / Social Class / Socio-economic status / Socioeconomic Factors / Socioeconomics / Statistical significance / Subgroups / Variables / Variance analysis / Viral diseases / Young Adult