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SEATTLE – Patients with COVID-19 had a hospital death rate twice that of influenza patients, according to a new study.
This higher in-hospital death rate – 40% for COVID-19 patients compared to 19% for influenza patients – was independent of age, sex, concurrent health problems and severity of the condition. the disease in intensive care, according to the study published Friday in the Annals of the American Thoracic Society.
The study is believed to be the first in the United States to directly compare clinical features, lab results, and health outcomes between COVID-19 patients and patients with the flu.
Lead author Dr. Natalie Cobb, a pulmonary and critical care physician at the University of Washington Medicine, and her coauthors reviewed the medical records of 65 critically ill COVID-19 patients and 74 with influenza severe A or B who were admitted to the intensive care units of two UW medical hospitals between January 1, 2019 and April 15, 2020.
The study found that COVID-19 patients had a 40% in-hospital death rate, compared to 19% for influenza patients and had to stay on mechanical ventilation longer, had poorer lung function and were more likely to develop severe lung inflammation were those who had the flu.
“The finding that ARDS (Acute Respiratory Distress Syndrome) may be more prevalent in critically ill patients with COVID is important to understanding why there may be a difference in mortality between the two diseases,” Cobb said. “We also found that patients with ARDS due to COVID-19 tended to have worse clinical outcomes than patients with ARDS with influenza.”
The researchers noted that at the start of the COVID epidemic, many comparisons were made between COVID-19 and influenza infection, which is responsible for a significant number of hospitalizations and deaths, to United States and around the world. Although previous studies did not directly compare the two diseases, research has shown that there are significant differences between the two diseases in the proportion of individuals with severe disease and death.
Cobb said, “I strongly encourage people to get the flu shot and continue with social distancing and masking to limit the spread of COVID-19.”
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