Jahnavi Sarma
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Older patients still have the highest risk of dying, but younger patients with obesity or hypertension have the highest risk of dying relative to other patients their age without these conditions.
The COVID-19 pandemic is particularly dangerous for the elderly and those with underlying health conditions. During the initial days of the pandemic, experts saw that the elderly had a higher risk of dying from this viral disease. But as time went on, they witnessed that many younger patients were also falling prey to this infection. To get to the bottom of this mystery, researchers from the University of Maryland in the US evaluated around 67,000 hospitalised COVID-19 patients in 613 hospitals across the country to determine the link between certain common patient characteristics and the risk of dying from COVID-19. This study is published in the journal Clinical Infectious Diseases.
After in-depth analysis, researchers found that hospitalised COVID-19 patients have a greater risk of dying if they are men or if they are obese or have complications from diabetes or hypertension. Their analysis found that men had a 30 per cent higher risk of dying compared to women of the same age and health status. They say that hospitalised patients who were obese, had hypertension or poorly managed diabetes had a higher risk of dying compared to those who did not have these conditions.
Those aged 20 to 39 with these conditions had the biggest difference in their risk of dying compared to their healthier peers. Predicting which hospitalized COVID-19 patients have the highest risk of dying has taken on urgent importance as cases and hospitalizations in the US continue to surge to record high numbers during the month of December. According to the researchers, age remained the strongest predictor of mortality from COVID-19.
Overall, nearly 19 per cent of hospitalised COVID-19 patients died from their infection with the lowest mortality among pediatric patients, which was less than two per cent. Mortality rates increased with each decade of life with the highest mortality, 34 per cent, among those aged 80 and older. Older patients still have the highest risk of dying, but younger patients with obesity or hypertension have the highest risk of dying relative to other patients their age without these conditions.
Researchers say that to bring down mortality rates among younger patients, doctors may want to pay extra attention to these younger patients when they're hospitalized to ensure they detect any complications quickly. The researchers also found some good news in their study findings. Death rates among hospitalized patients have fallen dramatically since the early weeks of the pandemic in April. This is likely due to the availability of new treatments and more knowledge in the medical community on how to properly manage and care for hospitalised patients.
(With inputs from IANS)