Nearly 50% of adults hospitalized with COVID-19 develop complications, and often these problems affect their ability to care for themselves after discharge, new research indicates.
Men and those older than 50 were most likely to develop complications, but younger, previously healthy adults were not spared, researchers reported on Thursday in The Lancet.
“This work contradicts current narratives that COVID-19 is only dangerous in people with existing comorbidities and the elderly,” coauthor Dr. Calum Semple of the University of Liverpool said in a news release.
His team studied 73,197 adults hospitalized with COVID-19 across the UK in 2020. Overall, 49.7% suffered at least one complication, affecting the kidneys in 24%, breathing in 18%, multiple organs in 16%, the heart in 12%, the gastrointestinal system in 11%, and the nervous system in 4%.
Complications occurred in 39% of individuals ages 19 to 49, compared to 51% of those over age 50. Rates were highest in Black patients. After leaving the hospital, more than one in four patients were less able to care for themselves than before they got sick.
“Just focusing on death from COVID-19 is likely to underestimate the true impact, particularly in younger people who are more likely to survive severe COVID-19,” coauthor Dr. Aya Riad of the University of Edinburgh said in the news release.
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