Facing the propagation of coronavirus in France and in the world, many searchers multiply clinical trials to find effective treatments. Others try to determine factors likely to aggravate the state of health of a covid-19 patient.
According to some specialists, some factors should be taken into account such as age, tobacco, or even overweight and people suffering from chronic diseases.
Age
Since the beginning of the covid-19 epidemic, doctors have been saying so: age is a risk factor. The Haut Comité de Santé Publique thinks people over 70 years old are more likely to develop a severe infection sort to SARS-CoV-2.
Since then, minds have changed and the risk of developing severe covid-19 infection is now involving people over 60 years old. This past April 2, Santé Publique France said that 35% of people in ICU were between 65 and 74 years old, and 22% were over 75 years old, between March 16th and 29th.
Shared by Le NouvelObs, Worldometer statistics website – which has put studies on very numerous cases togethers – says the rate of mortality in patients hospitalized would be of 0.2% in people under 40. This number would then move on to 0/4% in people between 40 and 49 years old, to 1.3% in 50-59 years old, to 3/6% in people between 60-69 years old, to 8% in people between 70 and 79 years old and to 14.8% in people over 80 years old.
For the record, in France, the number of coronavirus deceased in nursing homes keeps on growing. This April 7th, the country recorded 3,237 people who died in nursing homes out of 10,328 deaths in France.
If the mortality rate increases with age, for the record, the most severe cases and deaths have also been noticed in much younger patients.
Gender
According to Santé Publique France (update on Tuesday March 24, 2020), out of the 358 patients in ICU in France, 73% of them were men and 26% were women. If the male gender is more likely to check in ICU, it also involves the highest death level. Still according to Santé Publique France, 57% of coronavirus deaths are men.
Other numbers highlighted by Chinese searchers this time. Ran in 45,000 patients between December 18 and February 11, this study counts 63.8% of men who died against 36.2% of women who died, out of the first 1,023 deaths.
Tobacco
According to a press release publish in late March by the Comité national contre le tabagisme [National Committee against Smoking], “smokers present a higher risk of catching the disease and develop a severe sort”.
A fact checked by a studied released in the medical journal News England Journal of Medicine saying that the risk, for smokers, to develop a sever sort of Covid-19 is increased by 50%. This percentage escalates to 130% as for death risk, in comparison with non-smokers.
Overweight and obesity
Overweight is another risk factor to develop a severe sort of covid-19. According to the first number from a national record released by Le Monde, 83% of patients in intensive care in France are people in overweight or obese, the most often suffering from high blood pressure or diabetes.
“We are particularly looking after overweight people quickly showing deterioration of their clinical state, and especially the apparition of breathing difficulties” Health director general Jérôme Salomon said Tuesday during a press conference. “We know, obesity on one hand, as well as overweight, could become a severe infection risk factor”.
In an interview with Le Figaro, Paris Bichat Hospital head of infectious disease unit Yazdan Yazdanpanah said “over 80% of people under 50 years old who are in ICU in our hospital because of Covid-19 are obese”.
According to results from Chinese searches released on April 1st in The Lancet, we discover that out of 383 coronavirus patients at the Shenzhen hospital, 42% of them were overweight or obese.
Blood type
Is blood type also a factor to take into account in the development of severe covid-19 cases? According to a recent Chinese study, the answer seems to be affirmative. Chinese searchers have discovered that “blood type A is associated to a higher risk of getting Covid-19 in comparison with other blood types, while type O is associated to a lower risk”.
To come to such a result, released on MedRxiv, these searchers have observed the distribution of blood types in 2,173 covid-19 patients in the three hospitals of Wuhan and Shenzhen and compared them with people non contaminated.
In an interview with France Inter, Nantes-Angers cancerology and immunity research laboratory and French National Institute for Health and Medical Research research director Jacques Le Pendu explains these results that are no surprise. “When the virus is created by a group A person, they will have the mark of this blood type on them, the A and the same way for a person from group B. A person from group O, they will have anti A and anti B antibodies and could destroy the virus quicker” he explains.
People from blood type O naturally have anti A and anti B antibodies, giving them a double way to defend unlike people from blood type A or type B.
Chronic diseases
The Haut Comité de Santé Publique released in March a list (see below) of people the most at risk of developing covid-19 complications.
Among these people are included people with cardiovascular background such as high blood pressure, as well as people with diabetes, or patients showing chronic kidney failure given dialysis as well as people with cancer and under medication.
According to the epidemiological report released this April 2 by Santé publique France, 62% of people in ICU are co-morbidity, that is to say, the presence of illnesses and/or varied acute or chronic disorders added to covid-19 symptoms.
According to the Santé Public Upper Committee, patients likely to develop a severe Covid-19 case are:
In an interview with Franceinfo, this April 8, Scientific Committee president Jean-François Delfraissy estimated the number of French people “at risk” facing coronavirus because of “age” or “polypathologies” of about “17 million” people.
