Pre-existing Chronic Disease Puts COVID-19 Patients in Hospital
Written by Dallas Vein Specialists on July 18, 2020
A recent publication in the Journal of the American Medical Association detailed the pre-existing health of 5,700 patients who required in hospital care in the New York City area between March 1 and April 4. It appears from the study’s findings that patients with certain pre-existing chronic illnesses are at increased risks for development of severe symptoms leading to in hospital care, complications and death.
Data from the study follows:
63 years median age
61% male; 39% female
upon hospital admission:
30.7% had fever
17.3% had respiratory rate greater than 24 breaths/minute
27.8% received supplemental oxygen
Pre-existing disease and conditions:
56.6% had hypertension
41.7% were obese
33.8% were diabetic
11% had coronary artery heart disease
7% had congestive heart failure
9% had asthma
5% had chronic obstructive lung disease
Treatment:
14.2% were treated in ICU
12.2% required mechanical ventilation
As of April 4, the end of the study interval:
3.3% (38 patients) were discharged alive
21% died
24.5% of those receiving mechanical ventilation died
3.3% of those receiving mechanical ventilation were discharged alive
72.2% of those receiving mechanical ventilation remained in hospital
Important points about these data on patients sick enough to require in hospital care:
Fever was present in only 30% of patients admitted.
Major risk factors are hypertension, diabetes, obesity and heart disease.
As opposed to what was originally thought, chronic lung disease and asthma are probably not high-risk pre-existing diseases for hospital admission.
Almost 25% of patients requiring ventilators died.