Epidemiological analysis over two years of SARS-CoV-2 circulation in southern Brazil: old and novel predictors of COVID-19 outcome.

The overwhelming majority of SARS-CoV-2 epidemiological studies cover a narrow time period, making general knowledge about the COVID-19 pandemic difficult. To assess COVID-19-related host aspects in the overall pandemic, we analyzed COVID-19 cases during the first two years of SARS-CoV-2 circulation in southern Brazil. Herein, 390 patients admitted in 2020-2022 to a Brazilian public referral hospital were allocated into two groups according to the COVID-19 outcome: hospital discharge (n=237) or death (n=153). In the univariate analysis, several variables, including sociodemographic, clinical and laboratory aspects (primary data), were significantly different between the analyzed groups. In multivariate logistic regression, eight of these factors remained associated with the COVID-19 outcome. In particular, we report oxygen supplementation and the need for hemodialysis as predictors of hospital discharge and death from COVID-19, respectively. To the best of our knowledge, none of these findings have been previously reported in the Brazilian or world population. In conclusion, our results contribute to current knowledge by demonstrating that factors described at different times may remain associated with COVID-19 over the pandemic and by identifying novel predictors of COVID-19 outcome.

Association of the rs7903146 and rs12255372 polymorphisms in the TCF7L2 gene with type 2 diabetes in a population from northeastern Brazil.

Approximately 200 million people suffer from type 2 diabetes (T2D) worldwide, and the rapid increase in the prevalence of this disease is likely a result of multiple environmental factors, such as increased food intake and decreased physical activity in genetically predisposed individuals. Different population studies have demonstrated a strong association of two polymorphic variations in the TCF7L2 gene, the noncoding single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) rs7903146 (C/T) and rs12255372 (G/T), with T2D. Herein, we analyzed the association of these SNPs with T2D in a population from northeastern Brazil. Our results showed that the genotype and allele frequencies in TCF7L2 rs7903146 and rs12255372 were similar in the patient and control groups (P > 0.05). In addition, the allele frequencies were not significantly associated with T2D risk [rs7903146: odds ratio (OR) = 0.95, 95% confidence interval (CI) = 0.52-1.76, P = 1.00, and rs12255372: OR = 1.38, 95%CI = 0.72-2.62, P = 0.41]. These data suggest that the TCF7L2 SNPs rs7903146 and rs12255372 may not significantly contribute to T2D susceptibility in this population. However, our results may reflect the small number of subjects. Alternatively, these results may be attributable to specific ethnic effects, as most of the previously reported associations were demonstrated with predominantly European populations. To reach a definitive conclusion on the role of such gene variants for T2D in mixed populations, additional efforts are necessary to replicate this study with larger populations from areas with more ethnic heterogeneity.