Age-related disparities in the severity course of COVID-19
1 Laboratory of Virology, MHAT „Uni Hospital“, Panagyurishte, Bulgaria, Geogri Benkovski 100 str.
2 Department of Health Economics, Faculty of Public Health “Prof. Тsekomir Vodenicharov, MD, DSc”, Medical University of Sofia, Bulgaria.
Research Article
World Journal of Biology Pharmacy and Health Sciences, 2024, 17(03), 096–100.
Article DOI: 10.30574/wjbphs.2024.17.3.0109
Publication history:
Received on 20 January 2024; revised on 03 March 2024; accepted on 05 March 2024
Abstract:
COVID-19 demonstrates a different clinical severity of course in different age groups. In the present study, we present a comparative analysis regarding the risk of hospitalization and in-hospital mortality between two extreme age groups – children and young adults (0-39 years) and elderly patients (≥70 years). For the period from January to June 2022, nasopharyngeal samples of 1,611 patients at MHAT Uni Hospital (Panagyurishte, Bulgaria) were examined by PCR analysis, of which 486 had a positive result for SARS-CoV-2. From the first target group with a laboratory-confirmed diagnosis of COVID-19, there were 158 patients with an average age of 27.5 years, and only one of them was hospitalized (a 30-year-old man, unvaccinated, with bilateral pneumonia and concomitant arterial hypertension). The average age of the patients from the second target group (n=40) was 75.6 years, 29 of them were outpatients and 11 were hospitalized, among whom 5 men with an average age of 77.6 years died. The average hospital stay of the only hospitalized patient from the young age group was 6 bed days, while for patients ≥70 years of age it was 10.1 bed days. Age is among the determinants of risk of hospitalization and in-hospital mortality associated with COVID-19.
Keywords:
COVID-19; Age Disparities; Children; Young Adults; Elderly patients
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