Firefighters and paramedics with Anne Arundel Fire Department evaluate an elderly patient while wearing N-95 masks as they respond to a 911 medical call during the coronavirus pandemic on July 29, 2020 in Brooklyn Park, Maryland.
In a recent study, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) points out that COVID-19 hospitalizations remain more common among the elderly in the United States.
The CDC revealed on Friday, October 6, that between January and August of this year, over 63% of all COVID-related hospitalizations included adults age 65 and older, as reported by Fox News.
The agency found that individuals in most of these situations suffered from comorbidities. Diabetes, kidney problems, cardiovascular disease, heart failure, cardiomyopathy, and obesity were the most frequent of these ailments.
'Disturbing' Fact
According to Dr. Marc Siegel, a clinical professor of medicine at NYU Langone Medical Center and medical commentator for Fox News: "This is very important information that adds to what we already knew previously - that being over 65 years old, especially with chronic or pre-existing medical conditions, increases a person's risk of hospitalization from COVID." He was not engaged in the CDC research.
Among patients aged 65 and over, 76.5% were not updated on their COVID immunizations, a finding Siegel described as "disturbing."
He told Fox News that only 23% of the population had received the bivalent booster. Therefore, those people were not adequately protected against disease.
The total uptake of the bivalent vaccination was substantially greater in this age range, providing further evidence that it helps protect against catastrophic results.
According to the CDC, the incidence of hospitalization for those aged 65 and above more than quadrupled throughout the research period, from 6.8 to 16.4 per 100,000. These results show that COVID-19-related hospitalizations continue to disproportionately impact older persons and pose a continuing hazard to public health.
However, COVID-19 hospitalization rates decreased for individuals of all ages over the research period.
Number of Flaws
The CDC recognized that the research had several drawbacks. To begin, a lack of testing may have led to the overlooking of certain hospitalizations caused by COVID-19.
Another possibility is that the symptoms of a particular patient were misclassified. "Hospitalization records that do not specify COVID-19 or respiratory illness as a likely presenting complaint can still result in COVID-19-related illness and might affect clinical decision-making and the course of hospitalization," the report states.
Moreover, these results may not apply to the whole country since the patient database that the CDC used only included information from around 10% of the population.
Nevertheless, the declaration that COVID-related hospitalizations constitute a continuing public concern has to be put in perspective, according to Dr. Brett Osborn, a neurologist and longevity specialist from Florida who was not involved in the research.
To reduce their risk, guidance for this age should emphasize preventing SARS-CoV-2 infection, promoting vaccination, and promoting early treatment for positive test results.
