Readmission and inhospital death 1 year after COVID‐19 hospitalization in South Africa

Abstract

BackgroundAcute SARS‐COVID‐19 infection may increase readmission risk compared to other respiratory infections. We assessed the 1‐year readmission and inhospital death rates of hospitalized SARS‐COVID‐19 patients compared to patients hospitalized with other types of pneumonia.MethodsWe determined the 1‐year readmission and inhospital death rate of adult patients initially hospitalized with a positive SARS‐COVID‐19 result, and subsequently discharged, between March 2020 and August 2021, at a Netcare private hospital in South Africa, and compared this to all hospitalized adult pneumonia patients in the 3 years prior to the COVID‐19 pandemic (2017–2019).ResultsThe 1‐year readmission rate in COVID‐19 patients was 6.6% (328/50,067) versus 8.5% in pneumonia patients (4699/55,439; p < 0.001), with an inhospital mortality rate of 7.7% (n = 251) and 9.7% (n = 454; p = 0.002) for COVID‐19 and pneumonia patients, respectively.

Diabetes is associated with increased risk of death in COVID‐19 hospitalizations in Mexico 2020: A retrospective cohort study

“…The Mexican cohort in this study had a high prevalence of comorbidities, including hypertension (20%), diabetes (16%), and obesity (19%), among patients with COVID‐19. These findings are consistent with previous research on adults in the United States, which has shown that individuals with diabetes are at an increased risk of severe illness and complications from COVID‐19 31 …”