Abstract
Most of the studies investigating the relationship between socioeconomic status and the occurrence of COVID-19 have limitations due to their ecological design. To investigate the relationship between socioeconomic status and individual-level risk of developing COVID-19, we conducted a population-based, age and gender matched, case-control study in a district of Istanbul. The case group was defined as all confirmed COVID-19 cases (n=232) in the district in a week of August 2020. The control group was matched with cases in terms of age and gender and selected randomly from the directory of the same primary care provider in the district in a 1:1 ratio. The socioeconomic status was measured by the Turkish Socioeconomic Status Index which considers its three dimensions: education, occupation, and income. 168 cases (72.4% response) and 168 controls are included in the study. The mean socioeconomic status score is 70.28±7.09 for cases and 69.25±7.46 for controls (p=0.201). 15.2% (n=25) of cases and 22.4% (n=37) of controls is in lower socioeconomic status group (p=0.091). The analysis did not reveal a statistically significant difference between study groups. Socioeconomic status may not a significant predictor of COVID-19 occurrence at the individual-level. The disease seems to be a common threat to all individuals.
A Population-Based Case-Control Study of Drinking-Water Nitrate and Congenital Anomalies Using Geographic Information Systems (GIS) to Develop Individual-Level Exposure Estimates
