Younger patients with comorbidities were at higher risk of mortality during first COVID-19 wave, study reveals

Researchers at Delhi’s Sir Ganga Ram Hospital conducted a retrospective study and they found that younger patients with underlying comorbidities were found to be relatively at higher risk of severity of COVID-19 as well as mortality as compared to elderly patients with similar underlying conditions during the first wave of coronavirus pandemic in India. The findings of the study were published on Saturday in Molecular and Cellular Biochemistry, Springer Nature.

While conducting the study, the researchers analysed the data of 2586 COVID-19 hospitalized patients who were admitted to the hospital from April 8, 2020 to October 4, 2020 to observe the association of Diabetes (DM), Hypertension (HT) and chronic kidney disease (CKD) on the prognosis and mortality of COVID-19 infection in hospitalized patients.

“Our study also found that females were relatively at higher risk of mortality as compared to males having the same comorbid conditions except for hypertensive patients,” Dr. Rashmi Rana, Author & Consultant, Department of Research, Sir Ganga Ram Hospital said in a statement.

The researchers informed that out of 2586 patients, 779(30.1 %) needed ICU admission whereas 1807(69.9%) were not admitted to ICU. Out of 2586 hospitalized patients with COVID-19 infection, 2269 (87.7%) and the mortality was in 317(12.3%) patients.

“Study showed the risk of the severity of COVID-19 infection in younger patients with underlying comorbidities were found to be relatively at higher risk of severity of disease as well as to mortality compared to elderly patients with a similar underlying condition,” Dr. Vivek Ranjan, Co-author & Chairperson, Department of Blood Transfusion, Sir Ganga Ram Hospital said.

Meanwhile, Dr. Atul Gogia, Co-author and Senior Consultant, Department of Medicine revealed that in their study, patients with Chronic Kidney Disease were found to be more prone to disease progression, complications, and mortality followed by Hypertension and Diabetes.

“On comparing the impact of multiple co-morbidities with the severity of COVID-19 infection, it was found that the presence of comorbidity poses a greater risk of ICU admission. As the number of comorbidities increases, the risk of severity of COVID-19 infection also increases significantly,” Dr. D.S.Rana, Co-author, and Chairperson, Department of Renal Sciences said.

The study also revealed that the presence of comorbidity poses greater risk of ICU admission. Moreover, patients with diabetes and hypertension were related to a longer recovery period. As the number of comorbidities increased, the risk of severity of COVID-19 infection also increases significantly.