Evidence map›Paper›PMID 33495884›Full record

ArticleInfection2021

Worldwide inverse correlation between Bacille Calmette-Guérin (BCG) immunization and COVID-19 mortality.

Willis X Li

Abstract read
In one paragraph

Article in Infection, 2021. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 20 papers, 2 of them syntheses that pooled it.

0numbers the graph read from it
0cells of the map it votes in
20citing papers in PubMed, 2 pooled it
–field-weighted citation impact
1 · What the graph read from it

What it found

Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.

The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.

2 · The registry

The trial behind it

Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.

Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.

3 · Its place in the literature

Who cites it

20 citing papers in PubMed, 2 syntheses or guidelines pooled it.

  1. Pooled it
  2. Low vitamin D status is associated with coronavirus disease 2019 outcomes: a systematic review and meta-analysis.International journal of infectious diseases : IJID : official publication of the International Society for Infectious Diseases · 2021
    Pooled it
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  7. Determinants of COVID-19 cases and deaths in OECD countries.Zeitschrift fur Gesundheitswissenschaften = Journal of public health · 2023
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  17. COVID-19 Severity and Neonatal BCG Vaccination among Young Population in Taiwan.International journal of environmental research and public health · 2021
    Article
  18. Review
  19. Does Bacille Calmette-Guérin Vaccination Provides Protection against COVID-19: A Systematic Review and Meta-analysis.Indian journal of community medicine : official publication of Indian Association of Preventive & Social Medicine
    Review
  20. Article
4 · The record

Corrections and comments

5 · Who and what money

Authors and funding

1 author.

Willis X LiDepartment of Medicine, University of California San Diego, La Jolla, CA, 92093, USA. wxli@health.ucsd.edu.ORCID http://orcid.org/0000-0001-9041-7341

Funding

Mechanism of heterochromatin regulation by STATR01GM131044 · NIGMS · UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA, SAN DIEGO · PI LI, WILLIS X · 2018 to 2021
$1.3M
NIGMS NIH HHS R01 GM131044NIGMS NIH HHS R01GM131044
6 · The paper itself

Abstract

purposeThe coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic has spread to all countries in the world, and different countries have been impacted differently. The study aims to understand what factors contribute to different COVID-19 impacts at the country level.

methodsMultivariate statistical analyses were used to evaluate COVID-19 deaths and cases relative to nine other demographic and socioeconomic factors in all countries and regions of the world using data as of August 1, 2020. The factors analyzed in the study include a country's total COVID-19 deaths and cases per million population, per capita gross domestic product (GDP), population density, virus tests per million population, median age, government response stringency index, hospital beds availability per thousand population, extreme poverty rate, Bacille Calmette-Guérin (BCG) vaccination rate, and diphtheria-tetanus-pertussis (DTP3) immunization rate.

resultsThe study reveals that COVID-19 deaths per million population in a country most significantly correlates, inversely, with the country's BCG vaccination rate (r =  - 0.50, p = 5.3e-5), and also significantly correlates a country's per capita GDP (r = 0.39, p = 7.4e-3) and median age (r = 0.30, p = 0.042), while COVID-19 cases per million population significantly correlate with per capita GDP and tests per thousand population. To control for possible confounding effects of age, the correlation was assessed in countries propensity score matched for age. The inverse correlation between BCG vaccination rates and COVID-19 case (r =  - 0.30, p = 0.02) and death (r =  - 0.42, p = 0.0007) remained significant among the top 61 countries with the highest median age.

conclusionThis study contributes to a growing body of evidence supporting the notion that BCG vaccination may be protective against COVID-19 mortality.

Indexed as

Age FactorsBCG VaccineCOVID-19Diphtheria-Tetanus-Pertussis VaccineGlobal HealthGross Domestic ProductHumansImmunizationMultivariate AnalysisSARS-CoV-2BCG VaccineDiphtheria-Tetanus-Pertussis VaccineBacille Calmette–Guérin (BCG)COVID-19Diphtheria–tetanus–pertussis (DTP3)SARS-CoV-2

Identifiers

PMID33495884
PMCPMC7831629

What OpenQuestion holds

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Registered trials

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Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.