Hospitalization for COVID-19 linked to greater risk of later readmission
or death
Large study in England suggests need for increased monitoring of COVID-19 patients after discharge

Date:
January 25, 2022
Source:
PLOS
Summary:
A large study conducted in England found that, compared to the
general population, people who had been hospitalized for COVID-19
-- and survived for at least one week after discharge -- were more
than twice as likely to die or be readmitted to the hospital in
the next several months.



FULL STORY ==========================================================================
A large study conducted in England found that, compared to the general population, people who had been hospitalized for COVID-19 -- and survived
for at least one week after discharge -- were more than twice as likely to
die or be readmitted to the hospital in the next several months. Krishnan Bhaskaran and colleagues from the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine, University of Oxford and clinical software provider TPP present
these findings in the open-access journal PLOS Medicine.


========================================================================== Previous research has suggested that people with COVID-19 may face
a greater risk of health issues for several months following their
initial infection.

However, evidence on this topic remains limited.

To help clarify long-term health risks for people with COVID-19,
Bhaskaran and colleagues focused on those who had been hospitalized
for the disease. The researchers conducted a statistical analysis of
electronic health records from the database OpenSAFELY, evaluating data on nearly 25,000 patients who had been discharged after being hospitalized
for COVID-19 in 2020, and for comparison, more than 100,000 members of
the general population.

The analysis showed that, compared to the general population, people
who had been hospitalized for COVID-19 and lived for at least one week
after discharge had twice the overall risk of hospital readmission or
death in subsequent months. They also faced nearly five times the risk
of death from any cause.

In order to account for risks after hospitalization for an infectious
disease, the researchers also considered data from more than 15,000
people who had been hospitalized for influenza in 2017-19. Statistical
analysis found that, compared to the influenza patients, COVID-19
patients faced a slightly lower combined risk of hospitalization or
death overall. However, people who had been hospitalized for COVID-19
had a greater risk than influenza patients of death from any cause,
a greater risk of hospital readmission or death resulting from their
initial infection, and a greater risk of death due to dementia.

Overall, these findings align with other research showing increased
risks of subsequent health issues for people who have had COVID-19. The
authors suggest these risks could be mitigated by policies to increase monitoring of COVID-19 patients after discharge and to raise awareness
of potential complications.

Bhaskaran adds, "Our findings suggest that people who have
had a severe case of COVID-19 requiring a hospital stay are at
substantially elevated risk of experiencing further health problems
in the months after their hospitalisation; it is important that
patients and their doctors are aware of this so that any problems
that develop can be treated as early as possible. Our findings
also highlight the importance of getting vaccinated, which is the
best tool we have for preventing severe COVID-19 in the first place." ========================================================================== Story Source: Materials provided by PLOS. Note: Content may be edited
for style and length.


========================================================================== Journal Reference:
1. Krishnan Bhaskaran, Christopher T. Rentsch, George Hickman,
William J.

Hulme, Anna Schultze, Helen J. Curtis, Kevin Wing, Charlotte
Warren-Gash, Laurie Tomlinson, Chris J. Bates, Rohini Mathur, Brian
MacKenna, Viyaasan Mahalingasivam, Angel Wong, Alex J. Walker,
Caroline E. Morton, Daniel Grint, Amir Mehrkar, Rosalind M. Eggo,
Peter Inglesby, Ian J. Douglas, Helen I. McDonald, Jonathan
Cockburn, Elizabeth J. Williamson, David Evans, John Parry, Frank
Hester, Sam Harper, Stephen JW Evans, Sebastian Bacon, Liam Smeeth,
Ben Goldacre. Overall and cause-specific hospitalisation and death
after COVID-19 hospitalisation in England: A cohort study using
linked primary care, secondary care, and death registration data
in the OpenSAFELY platform. PLOS Medicine, 2022; 19 (1): e1003871
DOI: 10.1371/journal.pmed.1003871 ==========================================================================

Link to news story: https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2022/01/220125151007.htm

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