New Delhi: Although the novel coronavirus (SARS-Cov-2) that causes COVID-19 disease may be less deadly than other SARS viruses, but it’s still a killer. If a patient develops complications, it becomes difficult to treat. And it’s highly contagious too.
So how does the coronavirus kill and what are the complications associated with its infection? A large study in the US lists all the health complications associated with COVID-19 and which are fatal.
The most common complications associated with COVID-19 are pneumonia, respiratory failure, kidney failure, and sepsis or systemic inflammation.
The absolute risk of someone with COVID-19 having these serious conditions was 27.6% for pneumonia, 22.6% for respiratory failure, 11.8% for kidney failure and 10.4% for sepsis or systemic inflammation, the study has found.
“Understanding the full range of associated conditions can aid in prognosis, guide treatment decisions and better inform patients as to their actual risks for the variety of COVID-19 complications reported in the literature and media,” wrote Dr. William Murk from University at Buffalo, New York.
Using de-identified outpatient and inpatient medical claims from a United States health database, researchers identified 70 288 patients who had a COVID-19-related health visit between March 1 and April 30, 2020.
More than half of all patients were admitted to hospital, and approximately 5% were admitted to the intensive care unit.
The median age was 65 years, and 55.8% were female. The authors looked at all possible diagnostic codes and identified those that increased in frequency after the onset of COVID-19.
The researchers also found associations with a range of other lung and cardiovascular conditions, such as collapsed lung, blood clotting disorders and heart inflammation, although the risk of these was relatively low. Contrary to results of other studies, COVID-19 did not appear to be associated with a higher risk of stroke.
“This study provides estimates of absolute risk and relative odds for all identified diagnoses related to COVID-19, which are needed to help providers, patients and policy-makers understand the likelihood of complications,” wrote the authors
