January 4, 2021
COVID-19: Five Times More Deadly Than Seasonal InfluenzaThomas Glück, MD reviewing Xie Y et al. BMJ 2020 Dec 15
Retrospective comparison shows COVID-19 confers higher risk for adverse outcomes such as death, mechanical ventilation, and ICU admission.
The COVID-19 pandemic is the most challenging health crisis since the 1918 influenza pandemic, yet some comparisons have played down COVID-19 as “not more severe than the flu.” To address this knowledge gap, researchers evaluated morbidity, mortality, and healthcare resource use associated with COVID-19 versus seasonal influenza in an analysis of Veterans Affairs healthcare data from 3641 hospitalized patients with laboratory-confirmed COVID-19 (admitted between February and June 2020) and 12,676 patients with seasonal influenza (admitted between January 2017 and December 2019).
Compared with seasonal influenza, COVID-19 conferred significantly higher risk for acute renal failure, need for dialysis, septic shock, need for vasopressors, deep venous thrombosis and pulmonary embolism, stroke, myocarditis, arrythmias and sudden cardiac death, elevated troponin, elevated liver enzymes, and rhabdomyolysis (odds ratio range, 1.5–7.8 ). Hospital admissions for COVID-19 were also associated with significantly higher mortality risk (adjusted hazard ratio, 5.0) as well as greater likelihood of mechanical ventilation (HR, 4.0) and treatment in an intensive care unit (HR, 2.4). The highest excess mortality was seen in those older than 75 with chronic kidney disease or dementia and in Black patients with obesity, diabetes, or chronic kidney disease. Hospital stay was a median of 3 days longer in individuals with COVID-19.
COMMENT
This comprehensive analysis highlights the multisystem involvement of COVID-19 and the poor prognosis of affected patients. Those who disregard the enormous impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on health systems worldwide would do well to acknowledge and comprehend these data.
EDITOR DISCLOSURES AT TIME OF PUBLICATION
Disclosures for Thomas Glück, MD at time of publication
Editorial Boards Consilium Infectiorum by InfectoPharm
CITATION(S):
Xie Y et al. Comparative evaluation of clinical manifestations and risk of death in patients admitted to hospital with covid-19 and seasonal influenza: Cohort study. BMJ 2020 Dec 15; 371:m4677. (Δεν είναι ορατοί οι σύνδεσμοι (links).
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Thomas Glück, MD
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