Welsh, JenniferKorda, RosemaryPaige, EllieMorgan, Mark ALaw, Hsei DiStanton, TonyBourne, Zoltan MJTolosa, M XimenaGreaves, Kim2023-04-192023-04-192209-6051http://hdl.handle.net/1885/289637BACKGROUND To date, there are limited Australian data on characteristics of people diagnosed with COVID-19 and on how these characteristics relate to outcomes. The ATHENA COVID-19 Study was established to describe health outcomes and investigate predictors of outcomes for all people diagnosed with COVID-19 in Queensland by linking COVID-19 notification, hospital, general practice and death registry data. This paper reports on the establishment and first findings for the ATHENA COVID-19 Study. METHODS Part 1 of the ATHENA COVID-19 Study used Notifiable Conditions System data from 1 January 2020 to 31 December 2020, linked to: Emergency Department Collection data for the same period; Queensland Health Admitted Patient Data Collections (from 1 January 2010 to 30 January 2021); and Deaths Registrations data (from 1 January 2020 to 17 January 2021). RESULTS To 31 December 2020, a total of 1,254 people had been diagnosed with SARS-CoV-2 infection in Queensland: half were female (49.8%); two-thirds (67.7%) were aged 20-59 years; and there was an over-representation of people living in less-disadvantaged areas. More than half of people diagnosed (57.6%) presented to an ED; 21.2% were admitted to hospital as an inpatient (median length of stay 11 days); 1.4% were admitted to an intensive care unit (82.4% of these required ventilation); and there were six deaths. Analysis of factors associated with these outcomes was limited due to small case numbers: people living in less-disadvantaged areas had a lower risk of being admitted to hospital (test for trend, p < 0.001), while those living in more remote areas were less likely than people living in major cities to present to an ED (test for trend: p=0.007), which may reflect differential health care access rather than health outcomes per se. Increasing age (test for trend, p < 0.001) and being a current/recent smoker (age-sex-adjusted relative risk: 1.61; 95% confidence interval: 1.00, 2.61) were associated with a higher risk of being admitted to hospital. CONCLUSION Despite uncertainty in our estimates due to small numbers, our findings are consistent with what is known about COVID-19. Our findings reinforce the value of linking multiple data sources to enhance reporting of outcomes for people diagnosed with COVID-19 and provide a platform for longer term follow-up.This project was funded by Health Innovation, Investment and Research Office (HIIRO), Queensland Health.application/pdfen-AU© 2021 Commonwealth of Australia as represented by the Department of Healthhttps://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/epidemiologymorbidityoutcomespredictorsrecord linkagesurveillanceadolescentadultagedaged, 80 and overcovid-19childchild, preschoolcohort studiesfemalehospitalizationhospitalshumansinfantinfant, newbornintensive care unitsmalemiddle agedqueenslandrisk factorssars-cov-2young adult2021-09-3010.33321/cdi.2021.45.51Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs License