Coronavirus Update: Age And Obesity Are Biggest Risk Factors For COVID-19 Hospitalization

Recent studies conducted by researchers from the NYU found that aside from chronic illness, certain risk factors like obesity and age increase the risk of hospitalization for coronavirus patients. New York University Grossman School of Medicine researchers say that age and chronic illness are huge factors that led to the hospitalization of coronavirus patients. Reports say that the researchers’ data analysis on coronavirus cases is the biggest scientific review on the subject so far.

The NYU Study

The study involved an analysis of data on 4,103 COVID-19 patients from March 1 to April 2. The research is presently undergoing peer-review but has been pre-published online. In their study, the researchers wrote, “The risk factors we identified for hospitalization in [COVID-19] are largely similar to those associated with any type of severe disease requiring hospitalization or ICU-level care, though we were surprised that cancer and chronic pulmonary disease did not feature more prominently in the risk models.”

The researchers also noted that although advanced age was by far the most vital predictor of hospitalization, they also found that 54% of the hospitalized victims were below 65 years. “This is typical of the hospitalization pattern in viral respiratory disease,” the researchers wrote.

A Separate Research

In another recent study, NYU Langone Health researchers discovered that patients below 60 years old were at a higher risk of hospitalization due to COVID-19 complications if they were overweight. The report has been published in the journal Clinical Infectious Diseases. It analyzed the data of 3,615 hospitalized COVID-19 patients from March 4 through April 4.

According to researchers, patients below 60 years old who were viewed as obese by BMI standards were nearly two times as likely to be hospitalized for acute and critical care. In this study, the researchers wrote, “This has important and practical implications, where nearly 40 percent of adults in the US are obese. Unfortunately, obesity in people [under 60] is a newly identified epidemiologic risk factor, which may contribute to increased morbidity rates experienced in the US.”

Known COVID-19 Risk Factors

Health agencies and organizations like the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, as well as the World Health Organization, has made known some of the COVID-19 risk factors. Aside from age, it listed various underlying medical conditions as risk factors. Some of these health conditions are those suffering from chronic lung disease or mild to severe asthma, diabetes, liver disease, and those suffering from kidney disease and undergoing dialysis. It also includes those suffering from serious cardiovascular conditions, severe obesity, and those who are immunocompromised.

Several conditions can cause an individual to be immunocompromised. This may be due to being treated for cancer, suffering from immune deficiencies, smoking, or he may have undergone bone marrow or organ transplantation. Poorly controlled AIDS or HIV can also cause an individual to be immunocompromised, as well as prolonged usage of corticosteroids or other immune weakening drugs.