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Relationship between BCG vaccination and increased mortality from COVID-19. An ecological fallacy?

Authors

  • Miguel Ángel Villasís-Keever <p>Instituto Mexicano del Seguro Social, Coordinaci&oacute;n de Investigaci&oacute;n en Salud, Unidad de Investigaci&oacute;n en An&aacute;lisis y S&iacute;ntesis de la Evidencia. Ciudad de M&eacute;xico</p>
  • María Guadalupe Miranda-Novales <p>Instituto Mexicano del Seguro Social, Coordinaci&oacute;n de Investigaci&oacute;n en Salud, Unidad de Investigaci&oacute;n en An&aacute;lisis y S&iacute;ntesis de la Evidencia. Ciudad de M&eacute;xico</p>

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.24875/RMIMSS.M20000002

Keywords:

SARS Virus, Coronavirus Infections, Ecological Studies, Epidemiologic Studies, Epidemiologic Factors, COVID-19

Abstract

Ecological studies are one of the most common study designs used to establish the association between certain factors and disease development. However, they have limitations mainly on how to measure the variables, so their results must be verified in studies with greater validity. Therefore, the study that links the possible relationship between higher mortality from COVID-19 and non-vaccination by bacillus Calmette-Guérin (BCG) that was recently published, remains in doubt due to the lack of rigor in the methodology used.

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References

Miller A, Reandelar MJ, Fasciglione K, Roumenova V, Li Y, Otazu GH. Correlation between universal BCG vaccination policy and reduced morbidity and mortality for COVID-19:an epidemiological study. MedRxiv. 2020. Disponible en:https://www.medrxiv.org/content/10.1101/2020.03.24.20042937v2. doi:https://doi.org/10.1101/2020.03.24.20042937

 

Moorlag SJCFM, Arts RJW, van Crevel R, Netea MG. Non-specific effects of BCG vaccine on viral infections. Clin Microbiol Infect. 2019;25:1473-8. doi:10.1016/j.cmi.2019.04.020

 

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Published

2020-04-13

Versions

Issue

Vol. 58 No. 2 (2020): March-April

Section

Letter to the Editor

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