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A new study published April 22 in the Journal of the American Medical Association characterizes the symptoms, comorbidities, and clinical outcomes of 5,700 patients hospitalized because of COVID-19 in the New York area. The authors found that 94 percent of the patients had a chronic health problem, and 88 percent had two or more. The three most prevalent conditions were hypertension (56.6 percent), obesity (41.7 percent), and diabetes (33.8 percent).
The study followed patients confirmed to have COVID-19 between March 1 and April 4, spanning 12 New York City–area hospitals. Patients ranged from babies to centenarians with a median age of 63. Around 40 percent of them were female.
The findings were observational of patients with severe illness and the health conditions correlated with these patients do not necessarily apply to all COVID-19 cases or represent causation.
“We’re simply describing the patients who came in and ...
