Researchers have found that readmission rates for COVID-19 patients are 3.5 times higher than other hospital patients. The death rate has been found to be seven times greater as well.
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Rates are higher than in any other hospital patient group.
The study, which has not yet been peer-reviewed, found that nearly a third of patients who had been discharged from hospitals in England after having successfully been treated for COVID-19 were readmitted within five months, with about one in eight of those readmitted dying.
Another key factor that was found in the study is that there is a greater risk of issues developing in a range of organs post discharge in those younger than 70 and in ethnic minority individuals.
Dr. Charlotte Summers, lecturer in intensive care medicine at the University of Cambridge, said:
There’s been so much talk about all these people dying from Covid… but death is not the only outcome that matters. The idea that we have that level of increased risk in people – particularly young people – it means we’ve got a lot of work to do.
How was the research conducted?
The research in question is based off of data from the ONS and general practitioners in England which involved 47,780 individuals who has been admitted into a hospital after having tested positive for coronavirus. The results were then compared with a control group who did not have COVID-19.
Numbers later showed that of the 47,780 COVID-19 positive patients, 29.4% of them were readmitted within 140 days of discharge and that a total of 12.3% had died from the virus. Those in the control group, on the other hand, were 3.5 times less likely to be readmitted to hospitals and the death rate was seven times lesser than those who had coronavirus.
Complications such as respiratory conditions,diabetes and problems with the heart, liver and kidneys, in COVID-19 patients were significantly higher than those in the control group. The risk of being readmitted post initial exposure was also seen to be much higher in younger and ethic minority groups.
