NEW DELHI: Patients under the age of 50 succumbed to Covid-19 more than those above 65, suggests a study by the All India Institute of Medical Sciences, Delhi. It reveals that sepsis with multi-organ dysfunction was the most common cause of death.
The recent study published in the Indian Journal of Critical Care Medicine, authored by Dr Randeep Guleria and Dr Rajesh Malhotra, is a retrospective one covering adult deceased patients admitted to ICU from April 4 to July 24, 2020. It looks at comorbidities, complications and causes of death.
“Very few studies have documented similar features of the deceased. This study was aimed to describe the clinicoepidemiological features and the causes of mortality of patients admitted in a dedicated Covid-19 centre in India,” it reads.
In all, 654 adult patients were admitted to ICU during the study period. Of them, 247 died and mortality was 37.7%. Adult patients were further divided into age-groups of 18-50, 51-65 and above 65. The study shows 42.1% were between 18-5, 34.8% from 51-65 and 23.1% above 65.
“Among the adult deceased, 65.9% were males with a median age of 56 years (between 41.5-65) and 94.7% had one or more comorbidities,” the study says. It finds that the most common cause of death was sepsis with multi-organ failure (55.1%) followed by severe acute respiratory distress syndrome (ARDS) (25.5%).
Pre-existing hypertension was the most frequent comorbidity in 107 (43.32%) patients, followed by diabetes in 86 (34.82%) and chronic kidney disease in 51 (20.6%). Among patients with other ailments, 39% had one comorbidity, 27.5% had two, 21% had three and 6% had more than three comorbidities.
“Percentage of deceased having multiple comorbidities (two or more) was significantly higher in the age-group above 65 as compared to younger age-groups. Multiple comorbidities were seen in 68.4% of patients above 65, as compared to 59.3% in the age-group of 51–65 and 44.2% in patients between 18-50,” the study notes.
There were 46 pediatric admissions during this period, of which six died of Covid. ICU mortality in the pediatric group was 13%. Age-group of the deceased varied from 6 months to 16 years and all these patients had comorbidities including congenital heart disease, tubercular meningitis, endocrine disorders and hematologic malignancies.
Daily cases dip to lowest this year
New Delhi: The national capital recorded 85 new Covid-19 cases on Saturday, the lowest daily count this year. On Monday, there were 89 cases — the first day since February 16 that the daily count was below 100. On that day, the figure was 94. January 27 was another day when figures were low — 96. Now, daily positivity rate has dipped to 0.12 per cent. Since April 19, daily cases and single-day deaths count had been rising alarmingly, with over 28,000 cases and 277 deaths recorded on April 20. On May 3, the city registered a record 448 deaths.