Since the outbreak of Covid-19 pandemic, it has been seen that elderly and the ones with underlying health conditions are particularly at risk. During the initial days of pandemic, experts saw that the elderly had a higher risk of dying from this viral disease.
But with time, we have seen many younger patients also falling prey to this disease.
In order 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.
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The study is published in the journal Clinical Infectious Diseases.
Men With Certain Risk Factors Had A 30 Per Cent Higher Risk Of Dying
After going to the in-depth analysis, researchers found that hospitalised COVID-19 patients have a greater risk of dying if they are men or if they are overweight or have complications like 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 said hospitalised patients who were heavy, and had hypertension or poorly managed diabetes had a higher risk of dying as compared to those who did not have these conditions.
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According to the researchers, age remained the strongest predictor of mortality from COVID-19.
The group of people aged from 20 to 39 with these conditions had the biggest difference in their risk of dying compared to their healthier people.
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 rise to record high numbers during the month of December.
Mortality Increases With Each Decade Of Life
Overall, nearly 19 per cent of hospitalised COVID-19 patients died from their infection with the lowest death among pediatric patients were less than two per cent.
Death rates have increased with each decade of life with the highest mortality, 34 per cent, among those aged 80 and older.
While the older patients still have the highest risk of dying, but younger patients with obesity and hypertension have the highest risk of dying relative to other patients their age without these conditions.
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More Attention To Younger Patients Will Help Lower Mortality Rate
According to researchers, 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. The death rates have fallen considerably since the starting weeks of the pandemic in April.
This is likely due to the accessibility of new treatments and more knowledge in the medical community on how to properly manage and care for hospitalised patients.
