TY  - JOUR
AU  - Kumar, Ashutosh
AU  - Asghar, Adil
AU  - Raza, Khursheed
AU  - Narayan, Ravi K
AU  - Jha, Rakesh K
AU  - Satyam, Abhigyan
AU  - Kumar, Gopichand
AU  - Dwivedi, Prakhar
AU  - Sahni, Chetan
AU  - Kumari, Chiman
AU  - Kulandhasamy, Maheswari
AU  - Motwani, Rohini
AU  - Kaur, Gurjot
AU  - Krishna, Hare
AU  - Kumar, Sujeet
AU  - Sesham, Kishore
AU  - Pandey, Sada N
AU  - Parashar, Rakesh
AU  - Kant, Kamla
PY  - 2024
DA  - 2024/10/8
TI  - Shift in Demographic Involvement and Clinical Characteristics of COVID-19 From Wild-Type SARS-CoV-2 to the Delta Variant in the Indian Population: In Silico Analysis
JO  - Interact J Med Res
SP  - e44492
VL  - 13
KW  - SARS-CoV-2
KW  - COVID-19
KW  - epidemiology
KW  - demographic shift
KW  - severity of illness
KW  - variant
KW  - virus
KW  - pandemic
KW  - population studies
KW  - genomic analysis
AB  - Background: The Delta variant (B.1.617.2) was considered the most dangerous SARS-CoV-2 strain; however, in-depth studies on its impact based on demographic and clinical characteristics of COVID-19 are scarce. Objective: We aimed to investigate the shift in demographic and clinical characteristics of the COVID-19 pandemic with the emergence of the SARS-CoV-2 Delta variant compared with the wild-type (WT) strain (B.1). Methods: A cross-sectional study of COVID-19 cases in the Indian population caused by the WT strain (B.1) and Delta variant of SARS-CoV-2 was performed. The viral genomic sequence metadata containing demographic, vaccination, and patient status details (N=9500, NDelta=6238, NWT=3262) were statistically analyzed. Results: With the Delta variant, in comparison with the WT strain, a higher proportion of young individuals (<20 years) were infected (0-9 years: Delta: 281/6238, 4.5% vs B.1: 75/3262, 2.3%; 10-19 years: Delta: 562/6238, 9% vs B.1: 229/3262, 7%; P<.001). The proportion of women contracting infection increased (Delta: 2557/6238, 41% vs B.1: 1174/3262, 36%; P<.001). However, it decreased for men (Delta: 3681/6238, 59% vs B.1: 2088/3262, 64%; P<.001). An increased proportion of the young population developed symptomatic illness and were hospitalized (Delta: 27/262, 10.3% vs B.1: 5/130, 3.8%; P=.02). Moreover, an increased proportion of the women (albeit not men) from the young (Delta: 37/262, 14.1% vs B.1: 4/130, 3.1%; P<.001) and adult (Delta: 197/262, 75.2% vs B.1: 72/130, 55.4%; P<.001) groups developed symptomatic illness and were hospitalized. The mean age of men and women who contracted infection (Delta: men=37.9, SD 17.2 years; women=36.6, SD 17.6 years; P<.001; B.1: men=39.6, SD 16.9 years; women=40.1, SD 17.4 years; P<.001) as well as developing symptoms or being hospitalized (Delta: men=39.6, SD 17.4 years; women=35.6, SD 16.9 years, P<.001; B.1: men=47, SD 18 years; women=49.5, SD 20.9 years, P<.001) were considerably lower with the Delta variant than the B.1 strain. The total mortality was about 1.8 times higher with the Delta variant than with the WT strain. With the Delta variant, compared with B.1, mortality decreased for men (Delta: 58/85, 68% vs B.1: 15/20, 75%; P<.001); in contrast, it increased for women (Delta: 27/85, 32% vs B.1: 5/20, 25%; P<.001). The odds of death increased with age, irrespective of sex (odds ratio 3.034, 95% CI 1.7-5.2, P<.001). Frequent postvaccination infections (24/6238) occurred with the Delta variant following complete doses. Conclusions: The increased involvement of young people and women, the lower mean age for illness, higher mortality, and frequent postvaccination infections were significant epidemiological concerns with the Delta variant. 
SN  - 1929-073X
UR  - https://www.i-jmr.org/2024/1/e44492
UR  - https://doi.org/10.2196/44492
DO  - 10.2196/44492
ID  - info:doi/10.2196/44492
ER  -