What lessons for Eris, Pirola, should we learn from ICMR study on post-COVID complications?

ITDC INIDA EPRESS/ ITDC NEWS: Nearly 6.5 per cent of those who were hospitalised with COVID-19 died the following year, says a study by the Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR) as part of an effort to map the long-term impacts of the pandemic on public health. While this finding is comparable to data from across the world, the ICMR study also shows that 17 per cent of the participants experienced post COVID-19 conditions such as lethargy, breathlessness, cognitive abnormalities like difficulty in remembering or concentrating and brain fog.

The study included patients who were hospitalised since September 2020 — meaning the infections were likely to have happened with the original, Delta or Omicron variants. Besides, it looks at outcomes only in those who were hospitalised with moderate to severe disease.

What were the major findings of the study?

The study was based on the on data of 14,419 patients across 31 hospitals. It found that 6.5 per cent of those hospitalised with COVID-19 died during the following year and 17.1 per cent of them experienced long-term symptoms. Importantly, the study also found that people were nearly three times more likely to die if they experienced post-Covid-19 complications.

The study puts in a caveat that the exact definition by WHO (World Health Organisation) or the US CDC (Centers for Disease Control) on long COVID could not be used as they came out after patient enrolment had already begun. The ICMR study defines post COVID-19 conditions as a new onset of fatigue, breathlessness or cognitive abnormalities such as difficulties in remembering or concentrating and brain fog. The study further shows that even a single dose of the vaccine before the infection reduced the number of deaths in the one-year period by 60 per cent.

Who was at a higher risk of mortality?

The other factors that increased the risk of death later in the year after a COVID-19 infection and hospitalisation were comorbidities, age and gender. The study found that people with one co-morbid condition were more than nine times likely to die during the year following the infection. Men were 1.3 times more likely to die and those above the age of 60 years 2.6 times more likely to die, according to the data.

However, children between the ages of 0 and 18 years were at a 5.6 times higher risk of death between the first follow-up at four weeks and the follow-up at the one-year mark. This risk reduces to 1.7 fold when the four weeks immediately after hospitalisation is considered, meaning more children died later in the year. “Our earlier reports have shown that comorbidities among admitted children are more severe, such as malignancies, kidney disorders, haematological disorders and others. This could be hypothesized as one of the reasons for the higher odds of death among these children,” the study said.

With co-morbidity increasing the likelihood of death the most, a former scientist from ICMR previously associated with the study, said: “This clearly shows that comorbidities are an important risk factor. So, people with any comorbidities, especially conditions such as liver cirrhosis and chronic kidney disease, must take all precautions because they are likely to get severe disease and following complications. They must stay in touch with their doctors and monitor their conditions well.”