Results
The median number of tests per million inhabitants performed as of March
7th in different Regions (with interquartile range)
was 240 (105-474), ranging from 58 to 2941. The median prevalence of
known SARS-CoV-2 infection was 27 (7-64) cases per million, ranging from
2 to 273. The number of tests and that of individuals with positive test
results showed a significant correlation (r=0.61, p=0.006). The T/Pratio
was 11.2 (5.0-19.8), with a range of 3.6-28.2. In the interval between
March 23thand 25th, recorded deaths
per million inhabitants were 14(3-54), with a range of 2-119, whereas
severe cases (ICU+death) were 31(10-112), ranging from 4to 271. Both the
number of deaths and that of severe cases on March
23th-25th showed a significant
correlation (R2 .38 and .37, with p=.004 and .006,
respectively) with the T/P ratio up to March 7th(Figure 1). With the exclusion of apparent outlier Lombardia,
R2 for the correlation of deaths and severe cases were
.36 (p=.009) and .34 (p=.01), respectively.
Deaths and severe cases were associated with higher mean personal income
and lower density of General Practioners (GPs); deaths were also
associated with higher population density (Table 1). The association of
T/P with severe cases and deaths retained statistical significance after
adjusting for mean personal income (R2 .20 and .21,
respectively; both p=.04) and GPs density (R2.22 and
.21, respectively; both p=.03).