A new study shows that fewer New Yorkers are dying from coronavirus than health experts expect. Natural mortality has fallen below the high levels seen at the onset of the outbreak, leading to drastic changes in the immune system in people.
Since New York became the epicenter of the epidemic in early March, thousands have died COVID-19, Experts expected that the infection would be just as fatal in the months to come.
Instead, a new investigation showed that by mid-August, the death rate among people hospitalized with coronavirus-related illness had dropped from 27 percentage points to about 3 percentage points. The study, led by researchers at the NYU Grossman School of Medicine Medicine, showed that a smaller, healthier group than those infected in the spring was infected and arriving at the hospital with less-severe symptoms.
However, the researchers ’analysis showed that these factors are responsible for only a fraction of the improvement in existence. The rest, they suspect, are the result of the growing experience of health care providers with coronavirus. For example, physicians learned that COVID-19 is a more effective method of resting patients on their stomachs instead of their backs and delaying the use of a ventilator as long as possible, the study authors say. Drugs likely also helped. In addition, other factors such as reduced hospital proportions, less infection and earlier diagnosis and treatment may have played a role.
“Our findings suggest that while COVID-19 is a deadly disease, our efforts to improve treatment are probably working,” says study author Leora Horwitz, MD, associate professor in the Department of Population Health at NYU Langone Health. “Even in the absence of silver-bullet treatment or vaccines, we protect our patients more through small to large changes,” says Eva Horwitz, director of the Center for Healthcare Innovation and Delivery Science at NYU Langone.
New York was one of the first states to have a serious outbreak of COVID-19. In contrast, recent wave deaths in the southern and western regions of the country, including small, healthy coronavirus patients, were also low, says Horwitz. However, it was not clear whether the virus was less lethal due to different patient demographics or improved care.
Horwitz says the new study will be published online next week Journal of Hospital Medicine, Is the most detailed analysis of the date of coronavirus mortality over time. By accounting for age, obesity and other major factors, the researchers were able to remove some of the findings from the analysis.
For the investigation, the research team analyzed the records of 5,263 patients treated in COVID-19 at NYU Langone Hospitals in New York City and Long Island between March 1 and August 8 Gust. The severity of the illness upon admission to the hospital, the study authors developed a model Dell in which the risk of death for each patient.
According to the findings, for most critically ill patients, the average in Gust was 22 percentage points lower than in March.
The average age of hospitalized COVID-19 patients also decreased from from. 47 is done. In March, 73 percent had serious conditions such as lung disease and diabetes, while in mid-June only 65 percent had such risk factors.
“Other epidemiological hotspots should be expected from lessons learned here in New York,” says Christopher Patrilly, senior author of the study, says MD MD, assistant professor of medicine at NYU Langon. “If we can do better in managing the disease, they can too.”
Still, he adds, the research team plans to expand further investigations into hospitals outside of New York.
Petril also warns that despite the improvement in mortality, Covid-19 still produces symptoms in some people that persist for a long time, including fatigue, blood clots and lung damage after hospital patients are sent home.
Reference: Journal of Hospital Medicine.
The NYU Grossman School of Medicine has provided all the necessary funding for the study.
In addition to Horwitz and Petrie, other NYU Langone researchers include Simon Jones, PhD; Robert Certiflow, MD; Fritz Francois, MD; Joseph Greco, MD; And Brett Rudy, MD.
