COVID hospitalizations are still a ‘public health threat’ for older adults - Dr. Osborn comments
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) reported that older adults in the U.S. are still at higher risk of hospitalization due to COVID-19.
The CDC reported that approximately 63% of hospitalizations related to COVID-19 occurred in adults 65 and older between January and August 2023. Most of these cases resulted in patients having “multiple underlying conditions,” with the most common conditions diabetes, kidney disorders, coronary artery disease, chronic heart failure or cardiomyopathy, and obesity.
About 76.5% of the hospitalized patients 65 and older did not receive their COVID booster vaccinations.
The CDC analyzed data from the COVID-19 Associated Hospitalization Surveillance Network (COVID-NET) to create the report. The report revealed the rates of hospitalization in adults 65 and older doubled from 6.8 per 100,000 people to 16.4 per 100,000. However, COVID-19 hospitalizations declined for adults of all ages.
The study had some limitations, with the possibility of some COVID-19-related hospitalizations missed due to lack of testing and some patient’s symptoms being “misclassified.”
Dr. Osborn, who was not involved in the study, told Fox News Digital that COVID hospitalizations will continue to affect patients 65 years and older."COVID-19 and its variants continue to and will continue to threaten the aged and those with multiple comorbidities (i.e., diabetes, obesity and kidney disorders)," Osborn told Fox News Digital.
"Over time, however, this effect will dissipate as the virulence of the SARS-COV-2 virus (and particularly its variants) declines," he went on.
"Ultimately, hospitalizations will decrease to a steady hum with intermittent spikes representing a novel variant to which the susceptible population has been exposed – likely during flu season. This is already occurring."
The full version of this article originally appeared on Fox News and was authored by Melissa Rudy.
