Ethnicity-Specific Features of COVID-19 Among Arabs, Africans, South Asians, East Asians, and Caucasians in the United Arab Emirates
BackgroundDubai (United Arab Emirates; UAE) has a multi-national population which makes it exceptionally interesting study sample because of its unique demographic factors.ObjectiveTo stratify the risk factors for the multinational society of the UAE.MethodsA retrospective chart review of 560 patien...
| Main Authors: | , , , , , , , , , , , , , , |
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
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Frontiers Media S.A.
2022-03-01
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| Series: | Frontiers in Cellular and Infection Microbiology |
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| Online Access: | https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fcimb.2021.773141/full |
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| author | Fatmah Al Zahmi Fatmah Al Zahmi Tetiana Habuza Tetiana Habuza Rasha Awawdeh Hossam Elshekhali Martin Lee Nassim Salamin Ruhina Sajid Dhanya Kiran Sanjay Nihalani Darya Smetanina Tatsiana Talako Tatsiana Talako Klaus Neidl-Van Gorkom Nazar Zaki Nazar Zaki Tom Loney Yauhen Statsenko Yauhen Statsenko |
| author_facet | Fatmah Al Zahmi Fatmah Al Zahmi Tetiana Habuza Tetiana Habuza Rasha Awawdeh Hossam Elshekhali Martin Lee Nassim Salamin Ruhina Sajid Dhanya Kiran Sanjay Nihalani Darya Smetanina Tatsiana Talako Tatsiana Talako Klaus Neidl-Van Gorkom Nazar Zaki Nazar Zaki Tom Loney Yauhen Statsenko Yauhen Statsenko |
| author_sort | Fatmah Al Zahmi |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | BackgroundDubai (United Arab Emirates; UAE) has a multi-national population which makes it exceptionally interesting study sample because of its unique demographic factors.ObjectiveTo stratify the risk factors for the multinational society of the UAE.MethodsA retrospective chart review of 560 patients sequentially admitted to inpatient care with laboratory confirmed COVID-19 was conducted. We studied patients’ demographics, clinical features, laboratory results, disease severity, and outcomes. The parameters were compared across different ethnic groups using tree-based estimators to rank the ethnicity-specific disease features. We trained ML classification algorithms to build a model of ethnic specificity of COVID-19 based on clinical presentation and laboratory findings on admission.ResultsOut of 560 patients, 43.6% were South Asians, 26.4% Middle Easterns, 16.8% East Asians, 10.7% Caucasians, and 2.5% are under others. UAE nationals represented half of the Middle Eastern patients, and 13% of the entire cohort. Hypertension was the most common comorbidity in COVID-19 patients. Subjective complaint of fever and cough were the chief presenting symptoms. Two-thirds of the patients had either a mild disease or were asymptomatic. Only 20% of the entire cohort needed oxygen therapy, and 12% needed ICU admission. Forty patients (~7%) needed invasive ventilation and fifteen patients died (2.7%). We observed differences in disease severity among different ethnic groups. Caucasian or East-Asian COVID-19 patients tended to have a more severe disease despite a lower risk profile. In contrast to this, Middle Eastern COVID-19 patients had a higher risk factor profile, but they did not differ markedly in disease severity from the other ethnic groups. There was no noticeable difference between the Middle Eastern subethnicities—Arabs and Africans—in disease severity (p = 0.81). However, there were disparities in the SOFA score, D-dimer (p = 0.015), fibrinogen (p = 0.007), and background diseases (hypertension, p = 0.003; diabetes and smoking, p = 0.045) between the subethnicities.ConclusionWe observed variations in disease severity among different ethnic groups. The high accuracy (average AUC = 0.9586) of the ethnicity classification model based on the laboratory and clinical findings suggests the presence of ethnic-specific disease features. Larger studies are needed to explore the role of ethnicity in COVID-19 disease features. |
| first_indexed | 2024-12-11T15:10:46Z |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj.art-fb02f1139f3c46fa9dcfaa2d053c531d |
| institution | Directory Open Access Journal |
| issn | 2235-2988 |
| language | English |
| last_indexed | 2024-12-11T15:10:46Z |
| publishDate | 2022-03-01 |
| publisher | Frontiers Media S.A. |
| record_format | Article |
| series | Frontiers in Cellular and Infection Microbiology |
| spelling | doaj.art-fb02f1139f3c46fa9dcfaa2d053c531d2022-12-22T01:00:46ZengFrontiers Media S.A.Frontiers in Cellular and Infection Microbiology2235-29882022-03-011110.3389/fcimb.2021.773141773141Ethnicity-Specific Features of COVID-19 Among Arabs, Africans, South Asians, East Asians, and Caucasians in the United Arab EmiratesFatmah Al Zahmi0Fatmah Al Zahmi1Tetiana Habuza2Tetiana Habuza3Rasha Awawdeh4Hossam Elshekhali5Martin Lee6Nassim Salamin7Ruhina Sajid8Dhanya Kiran9Sanjay Nihalani10Darya Smetanina11Tatsiana Talako12Tatsiana Talako13Klaus Neidl-Van Gorkom14Nazar Zaki15Nazar Zaki16Tom Loney17Yauhen Statsenko18Yauhen Statsenko19Mediclinic Parkview Hospital, Dubai, United Arab EmiratesCollege of Medicine, Mohammed Bin Rashid University of Medicine and Health Sciences, Dubai, United Arab EmiratesCollege of Information Technology, United Arab Emirates University, Al Ain, United Arab EmiratesBig Data Analytics Center, United Arab Emirates University, Al Ain, United Arab EmiratesMediclinic Parkview Hospital, Dubai, United Arab EmiratesMediclinic Parkview Hospital, Dubai, United Arab EmiratesMediclinic Parkview Hospital, Dubai, United Arab EmiratesMediclinic Parkview Hospital, Dubai, United Arab EmiratesMediclinic Parkview Hospital, Dubai, United Arab EmiratesMediclinic Parkview Hospital, Dubai, United Arab EmiratesMediclinic Parkview Hospital, Dubai, United Arab EmiratesCollege of Medicine and Health Sciences, United Arab Emirates University, Al Ain, United Arab EmiratesBelarusian Medical Academy of Postgraduate Education, Minsk, BelarusMinsk Scientific and Practical Center for Surgery, Transplantology and Hematology, Minsk, BelarusCollege of Medicine and Health Sciences, United Arab Emirates University, Al Ain, United Arab EmiratesCollege of Information Technology, United Arab Emirates University, Al Ain, United Arab EmiratesBig Data Analytics Center, United Arab Emirates University, Al Ain, United Arab EmiratesCollege of Medicine, Mohammed Bin Rashid University of Medicine and Health Sciences, Dubai, United Arab EmiratesBig Data Analytics Center, United Arab Emirates University, Al Ain, United Arab EmiratesCollege of Medicine and Health Sciences, United Arab Emirates University, Al Ain, United Arab EmiratesBackgroundDubai (United Arab Emirates; UAE) has a multi-national population which makes it exceptionally interesting study sample because of its unique demographic factors.ObjectiveTo stratify the risk factors for the multinational society of the UAE.MethodsA retrospective chart review of 560 patients sequentially admitted to inpatient care with laboratory confirmed COVID-19 was conducted. We studied patients’ demographics, clinical features, laboratory results, disease severity, and outcomes. The parameters were compared across different ethnic groups using tree-based estimators to rank the ethnicity-specific disease features. We trained ML classification algorithms to build a model of ethnic specificity of COVID-19 based on clinical presentation and laboratory findings on admission.ResultsOut of 560 patients, 43.6% were South Asians, 26.4% Middle Easterns, 16.8% East Asians, 10.7% Caucasians, and 2.5% are under others. UAE nationals represented half of the Middle Eastern patients, and 13% of the entire cohort. Hypertension was the most common comorbidity in COVID-19 patients. Subjective complaint of fever and cough were the chief presenting symptoms. Two-thirds of the patients had either a mild disease or were asymptomatic. Only 20% of the entire cohort needed oxygen therapy, and 12% needed ICU admission. Forty patients (~7%) needed invasive ventilation and fifteen patients died (2.7%). We observed differences in disease severity among different ethnic groups. Caucasian or East-Asian COVID-19 patients tended to have a more severe disease despite a lower risk profile. In contrast to this, Middle Eastern COVID-19 patients had a higher risk factor profile, but they did not differ markedly in disease severity from the other ethnic groups. There was no noticeable difference between the Middle Eastern subethnicities—Arabs and Africans—in disease severity (p = 0.81). However, there were disparities in the SOFA score, D-dimer (p = 0.015), fibrinogen (p = 0.007), and background diseases (hypertension, p = 0.003; diabetes and smoking, p = 0.045) between the subethnicities.ConclusionWe observed variations in disease severity among different ethnic groups. The high accuracy (average AUC = 0.9586) of the ethnicity classification model based on the laboratory and clinical findings suggests the presence of ethnic-specific disease features. Larger studies are needed to explore the role of ethnicity in COVID-19 disease features.https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fcimb.2021.773141/fullCOVID-19ethnicityMiddle EastGulf regionUAEmachine learning |
| spellingShingle | Fatmah Al Zahmi Fatmah Al Zahmi Tetiana Habuza Tetiana Habuza Rasha Awawdeh Hossam Elshekhali Martin Lee Nassim Salamin Ruhina Sajid Dhanya Kiran Sanjay Nihalani Darya Smetanina Tatsiana Talako Tatsiana Talako Klaus Neidl-Van Gorkom Nazar Zaki Nazar Zaki Tom Loney Yauhen Statsenko Yauhen Statsenko Ethnicity-Specific Features of COVID-19 Among Arabs, Africans, South Asians, East Asians, and Caucasians in the United Arab Emirates Frontiers in Cellular and Infection Microbiology COVID-19 ethnicity Middle East Gulf region UAE machine learning |
| title | Ethnicity-Specific Features of COVID-19 Among Arabs, Africans, South Asians, East Asians, and Caucasians in the United Arab Emirates |
| title_full | Ethnicity-Specific Features of COVID-19 Among Arabs, Africans, South Asians, East Asians, and Caucasians in the United Arab Emirates |
| title_fullStr | Ethnicity-Specific Features of COVID-19 Among Arabs, Africans, South Asians, East Asians, and Caucasians in the United Arab Emirates |
| title_full_unstemmed | Ethnicity-Specific Features of COVID-19 Among Arabs, Africans, South Asians, East Asians, and Caucasians in the United Arab Emirates |
| title_short | Ethnicity-Specific Features of COVID-19 Among Arabs, Africans, South Asians, East Asians, and Caucasians in the United Arab Emirates |
| title_sort | ethnicity specific features of covid 19 among arabs africans south asians east asians and caucasians in the united arab emirates |
| topic | COVID-19 ethnicity Middle East Gulf region UAE machine learning |
| url | https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fcimb.2021.773141/full |
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