Most patients hospitalised with COVID-19 had chronic health issues, says study

Nearly all of the thousands of hospitalised coronavirus patients in the New York City area had at least one major chronic health condition, and most — 88 per cent — had at least two, a study has found.

Another shocking finding of the research was striking too -- only 6 per cent of the patients had no underlying health conditions.

Earlier research had also shown chronic conditions like obesity, high blood pressure and diabetes were common risk factors for severe COVID-19.

The paper, published in the Journal of the American Medical Association, analysed data about 5,700 patients admitted between March 1 and April 4 to a dozen hospitals in New York City, Long Island and Westchester County that are part of the Northwell Health system.

Children, teenagers and women had a clear edge over other patients.

The report added new evidence of the greater susceptibility of men to the coronavirus: Men represented 60 per cent of the hospitalised patients, and an even greater share — 66 per cent — of the patients treated in the intensive care unit.

The risk of dying increased with age for all patients but it climbed faster and higher for men.

Of the other 320 intubated patients, 282 died and 38 were discharged from the hospital. Their mortality rate, 88 per cent, is higher than some other early case reports, which found death rates for coronavirus patients on ventilators ranging from 50 per cent to close to 70 percent, the research report said.

The institute, however, said the report was observational in nature, and that there was no comparison group with which to contrast frailties or outcomes.