Advanced age and comorbidities as risk factors for mortality in COVID-19 patients treated with Home Oxygen Therapy (HOT) in a Northern Italy Local Health Authority.

Abstract

COVID-19, which stands for Coronavirus Disease 2019, is a highly transmissible viral infection, caused by the Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome Coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) [1]. Its rapid dissemination prompted the World Health Organization (WHO) to officially declare it a global pandemic on March 11, 2020 [2]. It was later recognized as one of the most significant global health and socioeconomic crisis of modern times, leading to 776.8 million confirmed cases and over 7 million confirmed deaths [2, 3].