Substantially increased burden of COVID-19 in contrast with flu, new research shows
In a paper published within the Journal of Frequent Inside Treatment, doctor-researchers at Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center (BIDMC) assessed the relative impact of COVID-19 on patients hospitalized with the viral infection in March and April 2020, versus patients hospitalized with influenza for the length of the final 5 flu seasons on the scientific heart. Total, the team demonstrated that COVID-19 cases resulted in vastly extra weekly hospitalizations, extra employ of mechanical ventilation and increased mortality charges than influenza.
COVID-19 and influenza are every contagious respiratory viral diseases that can consequence in pneumonia and acute respiratory failure in extreme cases. On the other hand, detailed comparability of the epidemiology and clinical characteristics of COVID-19 and these of influenza are lacking.
“COVID-19 has been in contrast with influenza every by health care mavens and the lay public, nonetheless there is in actuality restricted detailed procedure recordsdata available for evaluating and contrasting the impact of these two diseases on patients and hospitals,” acknowledged corresponding creator Michael Donnino, MD, Serious Care and Emergency Treatment doctor at BIDMC. “We in contrast patients admitted to BIDMC with COVID-19 in spring 2020 to patients admitted to BIDMC with influenza for the length of the final 5 flu seasons. We chanced on that COVID-19 causes extra extreme disease and is extra lethal than influenza.”
Donnino and colleagues incorporated a total of 1,634 hospitalized patients in their detect, 582 of whom had laboratory-confirmed COVID-19 and 1,052 of whom had confirmed influenza. The team chanced on that, on moderate, 210 patients had been admitted to BIDMC for the length of every eight-month flu season, in contrast with the 582 patients with COVID-19 admitted in March and April 2020. Whereas 174 patients with COVID-19 (or 30 p.c) obtained mechanical ventilation for the length of the 2-month length, factual 84 patients with influenza (or 8 p.c) had been placed on ventilation over all 5 seasons of influenza. Likewise, the share of patients who died used to be mighty increased for COVID-19 than for influenza; 20 p.c of admitted patients with COVID-19 died within the 2-month length, in contrast with 3 p.c of patients with influenza over 5 seasons.
Extra analysis published that hospitalized patients with COVID-19 tended to be youthful than these hospitalized with influenza. Among patients requiring mechanical ventilation, patients with COVID-19 had been on ventilation for so much longer — a median length of two weeks — in contrast with factual over three days for patients with influenza. Furthermore, amongst patients requiring mechanical ventilation, patients with COVID-19 had been far much less susceptible to possess had pre-existing scientific prerequisites.
“Our recordsdata illustrate that 98 p.c of deaths of patients hospitalized with COVID-19 had been straight or circuitously associated to their COVID-19 illness, illustrating that patients did now no longer die with COVID nonetheless pretty from COVID pneumonia or a complication,” acknowledged Donnino.
The authors display masks that the stringent social distancing guidance in cease final spring could possess impacted these findings by limiting the incidence and lethality of COVID-19 toward the cease of April 2020. Conversely, some remedy practices possess developed over the route of the pandemic, doubtlessly improving outcomes for patients with COVID-19.
Co-authors incorporated Ari Moskowitz, MD, Garrett S. Thompson, MPH, Stanley J. Heydrick, PhD, Rahul D. Pawar, MD, Katherine M. Berg, MD, Shivani Mehta, Parth V. Patel, BSN, RN, and Anne V. Grossestreuer, PhD, all of Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center.
This work used to be supported by inner funding. Donnino, Moskowitz and Berg are supported in portion by grants from the Nationwide Institutes of Health (Okay24HL127101, R01HL136705 and 1R01DK112886; Okay23GM128005; and Okay23HL128881404).