(Robin Foster & E.J. Mundell/ HealthDay News) — New research suggests that COVID-19 is far from benign when it strikes young adults: Once they are hospitalized, 1 in 5 wind up in the ICU and many need ongoing medical care even after they are free of the virus, scientists report.
The Harvard University doctors reviewed more than 3,200 coronavirus cases where adults aged 18 to 34 needed hospitalization. Twenty-one percent ending up requiring ICU admission and 10 percent needed a ventilator to breathe. Overall, 2.7 percent of young hospitalized patients died. Another 3 percent required care in a post-acute treatment facility even after clearing the virus from their bodies.
The proportion of young people who have contracted the virus has increased in recent months, as cities and states have relaxed restrictions on businesses and some people have returned to work. Last month, the World Health Organization warned that young adults are emerging as the primary spreaders of the virus in many countries, the Washington Post reported.
In the new report, published Sept. 9 as a research letter in the journal JAMA Internal Medicine, the researchers found that certain preexisting conditions, such as hypertension, diabetes and obesity, were more common among the young patients who had severe health impacts or died from the virus. (…)