Survivors of severe COVID-19 — especially those younger than 65 years — may be at more than twice the risk of dying within the next year than those who had mild or moderate illness or were never infected, finds a study in Frontiers in Medicine, according to a news release from the Center for Infectious Disease Research and Policy (CIDRAP) at the University of Minnesota.
Another finding of the analysis of electronic health records of 13,638 patients who tested positive or negative for COVID-19 is that only 20% of those who had severe COVID-19 (requiring hospitalization) and died did so because of complications of their infection, such as abnormal blood clotting, respiratory failure, or cardiovascular problems.
Rather, 80% were due to different reasons typically considered unrelated to COVID-19.
Of all patients, 178 had severe COVID-19, while 246 were mildly or moderately ill, and the rest tested negative. Among all patients, 2,686 died within 12 months of their COVID-19 diagnosis.
Relative to uninfected patients, those recovered from severe COVID-19 younger than 65 years had a 233% increased risk of dying in the next year. The increased risk was greater than that of survivors of severe COVID-19 who were 65 years or older.
