(Reuters) – People face substantially higher risks of health problems in the months after being discharged from the hospital following a bout of COVID-19, researchers in England found.
Comparing 24,673 COVID-19 patients who survived at least a week after hospital discharge and 123,362 similarly aged people in the general population, they found the COVID-19 survivors had twice the risk of hospital admission or death during the next 10 months.
Compared with 16,058 patients who had been hospitalized for influenza, the COVID-19 patients were 37% more likely to be readmitted or die due to their initial infection or other lower respiratory tract infection, and 37% more likely to experience cognitive-related admission or death, researchers reported in PLoS Medicine.
COVID-19 patients with dementia who survived hospitalization were at particularly high risk for death in the months afterward, according to the report.
“Large numbers of people have been hospitalized with COVID-19… and the raised risks of death and readmission… could significantly impact public health and resources,” the researchers wrote. “Risks might be minimized or mitigated by increasing monitoring of patients in the months following hospital discharge, and greater awareness among patients and clinicians of potential problems.”
SOURCE: https://bit.ly/3rdHrwb PLoS Medicine, online January 25, 2022.
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