Research continues to reveal how COVID-19 affects different people with different health issues, both short-term and long-term.
People who are older and have specific comorbidities, such as obesity and diabetes, are clearly at higher risk of severe COVID-19. Still, research continues to reveal how the disease affects different people with different health issues, both short-term and long-term. Read on for more.
Survivors of Severe COVID-19 at Increased Mortality Risk
A study by the University of Florida looked at the health of people who had survived severe cases of COVID-19. Published in Frontiers in Medicine, their research found that the survivors had more than twice the risk of dying in the year after recovery compared to people who had a mild or moderate disease or who never had COVID-19. One of the unusual findings was that the risk of dying seemed greater for people under 65 years of age. In addition, only 20% of the patients who had severe COVID-19 died of typical disease complications such as blood clots or respiratory failure.
“We conducted a previous study that showed that patients with severe COVID-19 who recovered were at significantly greater risk of being hospitalized in the subsequent six months,” said Dr. Arch Mainous, lead author of the study. “This new study extended that to investigate mortality risk over the next 12 months.”
They analyzed electronic health records of 13,638 patients who received a PCR test for COVID-19 within the University of Florida health system. Of them, 178 experienced severe COVID-19, 246 had a mild or moderate infection, and the rest tested negative. All patients recovered from the disease. However, they found that patients under 65 who recovered from severe COVID-19 had a 233% increased chance of dying compared to the uninfected over the next year. Because they didn’t die of COVID-19 specifically, their deaths may not have been tied to the disease. They conclude that severe COVID-19 appears to result in an overall decline in health and that preventing severe illness is more important than ever.
Mainous said, “Taking your chances and hoping for successful treatment in the hospital doesn’t convey the full picture of the impact of COVID-19. Our recommendation at this point is to use preventive measures, such as vaccination, to prevent severe episodes of COVID-19.”
Research Shows 1% of Hospitalized COVID-19 Patients Have Central Nervous System Complications
A study presented at the annual meeting of the Radiological Society of North America by Thomas Jefferson University researchers in Philadelphia found that about 1%, or 1 in 100, of hospitalized COVID-19 patients will have central nervous system complications. In 38,000 patients hospitalized with the disease in the U.S. and Europe, about 11% appeared to have brain complications, which were confirmed by magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) and computed tomography (CT). The most common CNS complications were stroke from clogged arteries, including brain bleeds, brain inflammation, and other potentially fatal complications.
Pregnant Women with COVID-19 Have Higher Risk of Childbirth Complications but Antibody Therapies Appear Safe
Two studies were published related to COVID-19 and pregnancy. The first, published in PLOS Medicine and conducted by researchers at the University of Paris, found that pregnant women with COVID-19 have higher risks of complications in childbirth than women not infected during pregnancy. The second study, published ahead of peer review on medRxiv and conducted by physicians at the Mayo Clinic, found it safe to treat pregnant women with mild-to-moderate COVID-19 with monoclonal antibody therapies.
“Pregnant women and those who plan to conceive … are strongly encouraged to be vaccinated,” said Sylvie Epelboin, M.D., of the University of Paris.
Pregnant women with COVID-19 had an 80% greater risk of having too much amniotic fluid, doubled the odds of high blood pressure, more than doubled chances of amniotic infection, tripled odds of hemorrhage during delivery, and almost doubled chances of hemorrhage afterward, as well as a higher risk for preterm delivery.
The Mayo study looked at 51 pregnant patients with mild-to-moderate COVID-19 who received one of several different monoclonal antibody therapies, such as those offered by Regeneron Pharmaceuticals or Merck. To date, 29 of the women have delivered healthy babies. There was one miscarriage that was not related to the medication.
Children with Poorly Controlled Asthma at Higher Risk of Severe COVID-19
Researchers at the University of Edinburgh, Scotland, and published in The Lancet Respiratory Medicine, found that children ages 5 to 17 with poorly controlled asthma were three to six times more likely to be hospitalized with COVID-19 than children without asthma. The authors recommended children with asthma be vaccinated as soon as possible. The research looked at the medical records of more than 750,000 children. Of them, 63,463 had asthma, and in that cohort, 4,339 had confirmed COVID-19 from March 1, 2020, to July 27, 2021.
“The key takeaway from this study is that keeping children’s asthma under control is critical, as this greatly reduces the risk of COVID-19 hospitalization,” said Dr. Aziz Sheikh, the senior author of the study. “Vaccinating those with poorly controlled asthma offers an additional important layer of protection from serious COVID-19 outcomes.”
Moderna Vaccine Still Effective After 2 Shots in Real-World Study
Research published by investigators with Kaiser Permanente in California found that five months after the second dose of the Moderna mRNA COVID-19 vaccine, it was 87% effective against overall infection and 96% effective against hospitalization. It was 98% effective against death from COVID-19. The research was published in The Lancet Regional Health – Americas. The study tracked almost 706,000 adults in the health system, half of whom had received the vaccine. E. John Wherry of the University of Pennsylvania, who was not involved in the study, said it is “highly unlikely” that the Omicron variant of SARS-CoV-2 can completely avoid the immune defenses created by the vaccines and that boosters will likely “provide increased protection against this variant.”
Israel Study: Pfizer-BioNTech Vaccine Booster Counteracts Dropping Protection
A study published in JAMA Internal Medicine looked at 306,710 Israelis 40 years and older who received two or three doses of the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine who did not have previous COVID-19 infections. The data ranged from March 1, 2020, to October 4, 2021, but the analysis focused on the period of August 1, 2021, when the third booster doses were rolled out, to October 4. People who received the booster were tested for COVID-19 five times over that period.
Positive COVID-19 results were most common in people who did not receive a booster or who received a booster within the past week. The least common positive tests were in people who received a booster more than two weeks before. The odds of hospitalization in people who received a booster were 92% to 97% lower than in people who received only two doses. Still, the authors warn that interpreting the data is difficult because hospitalization rates were dropping almost immediately after receiving the booster.
