CDC: COVID-19 Hospitalizations Highest Among Older Adults, Those With Underlying Conditions

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The CDC has provided the updated reports of population-based COVID-19-associated hospitalizations between March 1-28, and clinical data on admitted patients between March 1 -30, in 99 counties and 14 states.

The study, which was published in the CDC’s Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report, stresses the importance of continuing to follow social distancing, respiratory hygiene, and face covering strategies in order to flatten the curve.

The CDC report contends that hospitalization rates increase with age and are highest among older adults. Additionally, the majority of those hospitalized for COVID-19 infection have at least 1 underlying condition.

In order to conduct COVID-19 hospitalization surveillance based on population, the COVID-19-Associated Hospitalization Surveillance Network (COVID-NET) was created; researchers incorporated the existing infrastructure of the Influenza Hospitalization Surveillance Network (FluSurv-NET) and the Respiratory Syncytial Virus Hospitalization Surveillance Network (RSV-NET). The report spans all 10 US Department of Health and Human Services regions and represents approximately 10% of the US population, including California, Colorado, Connecticut, Georgia, Iowa, Maryland, Michigan, Minnesota, New Mexico, New York, Ohio, Oregon, Tennessee, and Utah,

Among the 1482 hospitalized patients with COVID-19 within the jurisdiction of COVID-NET, 74.5% were above the age of 50 and 54.4% were male. COVID-NET identified a hospitalization rate of 4.6 per 100,000 population.

Of those hospitalized with novel coronavirus with underlying conditions, the most common conditions were hypertension (49.7%), obesity (48.3%), chronic lung disease (34.6%), diabetes mellitus (28.3%), and cardiovascular disease (27.8%).

Where race and ethnic data was reported (580 patients), the CDC found that 261 (45.0%) were non-Hispanic white; 192 (33.1%) were black; 47 (8.1%) were Hispanic, 32 (5.5%) were Asian, 2 (0.3%) were American Indian/Alaskan Native, and 46 (7.9%) were of other or unknown race.

“These findings underscore the importance of preventive measures (eg, social distancing, respiratory hygiene, and wearing face coverings in public settings where social distancing measures are difficult to maintain) to protect older adults and persons with underlying medical conditions, as well as the general public. In addition, older adults and persons with serious underlying medical conditions should avoid contact with persons who are ill and immediately contact their health care provider(s) if they have symptoms consistent with COVID-19,” the CDC report asserted.

As of April 3, 2020, COVID-NET data are being published each week at https://gis.cdc.gov/grasp/covidnet/COVID19_3.html.

References:

Garg S, Kim L, Whitaker M. Hospitalization rates and characteristics of patients hospitalized with laboratory-confirmed coronavirus disease 2019–COVID-NET, 14 states, March 1-30, 2020. Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report. 2020. Doi: http://dx.doi.org/10.15585/mmwr.mm6915e3external icon