Abstract: OBJECTIVE To investigate and analyze the risk factors associated with mortality in patients with COVID-19 and the extent of their impact, so as to provide reference for clinical treatment planning. METHODS Clinical case-control studies or retrospective case analysis of COVID-19 deaths in databases such as PubMed/Medline, OVID, Web of Science, CNKI, Wanfang and VIP were searched from December 2019 to September 2020. And the patients' general social and demographic characteristics, complicated underlying diseases, causes of death or complications and other factors were analyzed by quantitative statistics. RESULTS Obtained 13 papers, 8 papers of recommendation level A, 4 papers of recommendation level B and 1 paper of recommendation level C. There were 1 377 COVID-19 dead patients recorded on three continents, including 32 related risk factors. Death risk distribution showed that, in terms of general social demographic characteristics, retirement, the elderly(aged>65 years old), male, with a history of drinking accounted for a relatively high proportion of death, which were high risk factors for death. In terms of patients' basic diseases, hypertension(36.48%), diabetes(22.21%) and coronary heart disease(19.71%) were the top three with high risk. In the assessment of death from complications or causes of death, respiratory failure(61.90%), multi-organ failure(53.33%), and heart failure(51.06%) were the most common causes of death. CONCLUSION Elderly patients with chronic metabolic diseases and a long history of alcohol consumption in COVID-19 are at high risk of death, and deaths due to acute respiratory failure, multi-organ failure or heart failure are more frequent and more frequent. Therefore, intensive care and prudent medication should be given to these groups when appropriate for clinical treatment.