143 Hospital mortality in patients with rare diseases during the COVID-19 and SARS pandemics: results from a 7.5 million population

BackgroundThe threat of pandemics occur differently for different groups. The rare disease population is at particular risk of being further marginalised during pandemics.ObjectivesTo assess hospital mortality in the rare disease and general populations during the coronavirus disease of 2019 (COVID-19) and severe acute respiratory syndrome (SARS) pandemics in the 7.5 million population in Hong Kong.MethodsUsing the Clinical Data Analysis and Reporting System (CDARS), a population-level database that records all public healthcare records in Hong Kong, all admission records during the COVID-19 (January 23 – August 23, 2020) and SARS (March 11 – June 30, 2003) pandemics were extracted. Patients with rare diseases were identified using one or more of the 1,084 10th version International Classification of Diseases and Related Health Problems (ICD-10) codes cross-referenced with 467 ORPHAcodes. Admission records during the same period in 2019 and 2002 were retrieved for comparison. Primary outcomes were COVID-19/SARS mortality in hospital. Secondary outcomes were overall hospital mortality during the COVID-19 and SARS pandemic periods. Subgroup analysis by age-group (≤18, >18 to