ABSTRACT
Using COVID-19 hospital mortality data from Sistema de Informacao de Vigilancia Epidemiologica da Gripe dataset, Baqui and colleagues did a cross-sectional observational study to assess regional variations in patients with COVID-19 admitted to hospital by state and by two socioeconomically grouped regions. The prevalence of comorbidities among Pardo and Black populations in Brazil is higher than among other ethnicities, including overweight and obesity, risk factors for severity of symptoms of COVID-19. Hypovitaminosis D is also more prevalent among Pardo and Black people in Brazil than among other ethnicities. The lower the level of schooling, the higher the chances of obesity in Brazilian women. With soaring numbers of cases, cities in the northern region faced collapse of their health system, with worst cases occurring in Manaus, Fortaleza, and Natal.
