Perceived risks of infection, hospitalization, and death from COVID-19 at the equator: Ecuador and Kenya

Boonsaeng, T. ; Carpio, C. E. ; Guerrero, P. (Universidad de Zaragoza) ; Sarasty, O. ; Borja, I. ; Hudson, D. ; Macharia, A. ; Shibia, M.

Resumen: Objectives: This study''s goal was to determine the perceived risks of infection as well as the perceived risks of hospitalization and death from COVID-19 in Ecuador and Kenya. It also assessed the factors associated with the risk-related perceptions. Methods: Cross-sectional studies with samples from the adult populations in both countries were conducted to assess the perceived risks of contracting COVID-19. Data were collected online using the Qualtrics platform from samples of 1, 050 heads of households ages 18 years or older in each country. Three statistical analyses were conducted: summary statistics, correlation, and linear regression. Results: The average perceived risks of COVID-19 infection, hospitalization, and death in the Kenyan sample were 27.1%, 43.2%, and 17.2%, respectively, and the values for the Ecuadorian sample were 34%, 32.8%, and 23.3%, respectively. The Pearson''s correlation coefficients between the risk measures in each country were less than 0.38. Risk measures were associated with several sociodemographic variables (e.g., income, gender, location) but not age. Conclusions: The perceived risks of COVID-19 infection, hospitalization, and death in Kenya and Ecuador were significantly higher relative to the statistics reported; however, no strong association existed between perceived risk and age, which is a key factor in adverse health outcomes, including death, among COVID-19 infected individuals.

Idioma: Inglés

DOI: 10.1017/dmp.2021.268

Año: 2021

Publicado en: Disaster Medicine and Public Health Preparedness 17, e34 (2021), 1-6
ISSN: 1935-7893

Factor impacto JCR: 5.556 (2021)

Categ. JCR: PUBLIC, ENVIRONMENTAL & OCCUPATIONAL HEALTH rank: 51 / 210 = 0.243 (2021) - Q1 - T1
Categ. JCR: PUBLIC, ENVIRONMENTAL & OCCUPATIONAL HEALTH rank: 28 / 183 = 0.153 (2021) - Q1 - T1

Factor impacto CITESCORE: 3.8 - Medicine (Q2)

Factor impacto SCIMAGO: 0.723 - Public Health, Environmental and Occupational Health (Q2)

Tipo y forma: Article (Published version)

Área (Departamento): Área Bioquímica y Biolog.Mole. (Dpto. Bioq.Biolog.Mol. Celular)