Study uncovers significant antagonistic results in patients hospitalized with COVID-19

Overview

• Post By : Kumar Jeetendra


• Source: Brigham and Women's Hospital


• Date: 11 Oct,2020

While older age is widely known as a risk factor for increased morbidity and mortality due to COVID-19, younger patients have received less attention as a population vulnerable to adverse clinical outcomes. Researchers from Brigham and Women’s Hospital analyzed records from 419 hospitals utilizing the Premier Healthcare Database to examine the clinical trajectories of 3,222 hospitalized COVID-19 patients aged 18-34.

Researchers found that over one-fifth of the patients (21 percent) required intensive care, 10 percent required mechanical ventilation and 2.7 percent died. For comparison, the team wrote, the death rate of those in the exact same age group hospitalized with heart attacks is roughly half of the figure.

The researchers found that patients who presented these comorbidities were also more likely to experience adverse outcomes.

There was a significant rate of adverse outcomes. Even though a 2.7 percent death rate is lower than for older patients, it’s high for young people who typically do well even when hospitalized for other conditions.”-Jonathan Cunningham, MD, Cardiovascular Medicine fellow at the Brigham and first author on the letter

Patients with morbid obesity, by way of example, comprised 41 percent of those hospitalized young adults who died or needed mechanical ventilation. For people with more than one of these conditions, risks for adverse effects were comparable to the risks faced by middle-aged adults, aged 35-64, who had none of these conditions, as observed in a study of 8,862 members of this population.

The researchers stress that the dataset, which is based on hospital administrative claims, only lends insight into the negative outcomes of hospitalized young people.

“We know nothing about the complete denominator of patients who got an illness,” said corresponding author Scott Solomon, MD, director of noninvasive cardiology in the Division of Cardiovascular Medicine at the Brigham. “We think the vast majority of people in this age range have self-limited disorder and don’t require hospitalization. But if you do, the dangers are really substantial.”

There was no funding organization for this study. Cunningham reported grants from the National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute (T32HL094301) through the conduct of the analysis. Solomon reported grants from industry beyond the submitted work. A complete list of disclosures can be found in the paper.