11 Feb COVID-19 Patients Much Sicker and More Likely to Die than Flu Patients
MedicalResearch.com Interview with:
Tejasvi Hora
Tejasvi Hora, PhD Candidate
Department of Geography and Environmental Management, University of Waterloo
Data Analyst, GEMINI, Unity Health Toronto
MedicalResearch.com: What is the background for this study?
Response: Death rates and resource use for COVID-19 hospitalization vary significantly worldwide, however, the characteristics and outcomes of COVID-19 hospitalizations in Canada have not been described in detail. Further, there is considerable uncertainty about how COVID-19 compares with influenza. In some circles, COVID-19 has been dismissed as being not more severe than “the flu”. We used data extracted from electronic health records of 7 hospitals in Ontario, Canada to describe characteristics and outcomes of hospitalization for COVID-19 and influenza.
MedicalResearch.com: What are the main findings?
Response: We compared 1027 hospital admission for COVID-19 with 783 admissions for influenza. After adjusting for patient factors like age, sex, and comorbidity, we found that patients with COVID-19 have a 3.5 times higher risk of death, 1.5 times longer hospital length-of-stay and 1.5 times greater ICU use than influenza hospitalizations. We also found that adults younger than 50 years old accounted for 1 in 5 COVID-19 hospitalizations and nearly 1 in 3 of these people required ICU care, highlighting that COVID-19 can cause serious illness even among younger adults. Finally, we found that simple risk models can predict in-hospital COVID-19 mortality with ~80% accuracy.
MedicalResearch.com: What should readers take away from your report?
Response: Hospitalization for COVID-19 are significantly more severe than influenza hospitalization in Canada. COVID-19 is definitely not “just like flu”.. Simple risk scores can inform clinical decision-making and resource allocation of COVID-19 hospitalizations.
MedicalResearch.com: What recommendations do you have for future research as a result of this work?
Response: There is a need to develop region-specific COVID-19 risk predication models that can aid current management efforts. Furthermore, there is a need for a more detailed examination of how socio-economic factors influence COVID-19 spread and hospitalizations in urban centers.
Any disclosures? I have nothing to disclose.
Tejasvi Hora is a PhD candidate in Geography at the University of Waterloo researching the relationship between groundwater use and agriculture production in low-income regions. He is also currently working as a data analyst at GEMINI–a health data analytics lab at Unity Health Toronto–to improve patient care during the COVID-19 pandemic.
Citation:
Characteristics and outcomes of hospital admissions for COVID-19 and influenza in the Toronto area
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Last Updated on February 11, 2021 by Marie Benz MD FAAD