Coronavirus: a third of all hospitalized patients with COVID-19 die, and dementia and obesity are at highest risk

A third of all patients admitted to the hospital with COVID-19 die, and dementia and obesity are the underlying health conditions that carry the highest risk.

The finding comes from a major British study by the Coronavirus Clinical Characterization Consortium that analyzed nearly 17,000 people admitted to the hospital with the virus.

The investigation showed that, overall, a third (33%) of the admitted patients died. For those in intensive care or highly dependent units, the death rate was 45%, increasing to 53% for those who received invasive ventilation.

It found that 53% of patients hospitalized for COVID-19 have a pre-existing condition, with chronic heart disease being the most common (29%), followed by uncomplicated diabetes, non-asthmatic chronic lung disease, and asthma.

But they also found that the risk of death was 39% higher among dementia patients, 37% higher in obese patients, and 31% higher for heart disease.

This means that after adjusting for other medical problems like lung, heart and kidney disease, having a BMI (body mass index) greater than 30 is a significant factor associated with death from the disease.

The researchers believe that the reason for the increased risk could be because obese people have reduced lung function and possibly more inflammation in adipose tissue, the fatty tissue that surrounds internal organs.

This could contribute to a “cytokine storm,” the life-threatening overreaction by the body’s immune system that is being observed in many patients at the COVID-19 hospital.

The rate of hospital admission and death also increased with age.

The research also traced the most common symptoms patients show, and cough and fever are the most common.

The study also found:

• Most of the elderly patients who did not survive were admitted to the hospital with symptoms of COVID-19 and “I would not have died otherwise“
• The median age of those who died in hospital from COVID-19 in the UK was 80 years, and only 12% of these patients had no recorded pre-existing condition.
• Of the 16,749 patients included in the study, 7,924 (47%) had no documented comorbidity
• Of the 6,628 patients who required hospital stays of 14 days or more, almost half (49%) have been discharged, and an additional 17% are still under treatment. 33% died
• Seventeen percent of those admitted to the hospital required critical care, a higher rate than that observed in Italy, and those with poor results are more often elderly, male and obese.
• The highest virus severity in male patients was observed in all age groups.
• More men (60.2%) than women (39.8%) have been admitted to the hospital with COVID-19
• Pregnant women are not at increased risk of death.

Professor Calum Semple, who leads the largest study of coronavirus Patients in the UK said the death rate was “the same for those admitted to the hospital with Ebola.”