Age, a pre-disposing factor for torpid evolution in COVID-19 patients

HAVANA, Cuba, Feb 11 (ACN) Although the factors leading COVID-19 patients to a severe stage are still uncertain, hospitals have observed that age is a predisposing factor in adults over 65 years old and found that their level of mobility and comorbidities also have an impact.

“We have had patients over 100 years old with a fairly high state of consciousness who can still walk, whereas other ‘younger’ ones have a more torpid evolution because they are bedridden and have underlying diseases,” said Dr. Nelson Yero Díaz, member of the COVID-19 experts committee of the Salvador Allende Hospital, one of the first to treat positive cases in Havana since the beginning of the pandemic last March.

In practice, he remarked, elderly people with senile dementia and cerebrovascular diseases have proved to be more prone to develop a severe form, since they are usually confined to bed at home.

As to long-term smokers, they are more at risk, as smoking is a cause of chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, shown to triple mortality due to COVID-19, according to Infomed’s website. Likewise, the most dangerous comorbidities in adults aged 40 to 65 are hypertension and diabetes mellitus, in addition to obesity.
To date, in Havana, 14,268 people have tested positive to COVID-19—almost 17% of those infected nationwide—and more than 100 have died.