September 23, 2020

Risk Factors for Hospitalization, Mechanical Ventilation, or Death Among 10 131 US Veterans With SARS-CoV-2 Infection

Category: Article Summary

Topic: Clinical Characteristics and Health Care Setting

Keywords (Tags): clinical characteristics, risk factors

• In a national cohort of 88,747 veterans in the US, 11% tested positive for SARS-CoV-2 from February to May 2020. Veterans with positive PCR results were predominantly male (91%) with a mean age of 64 (SD=16) years. Positive patients had increased rates of 30-day hospitalization (aHR=1.1), mechanical ventilation (aHR=4.2), and death (aHR=4.4). Among positive patients, characteristics significantly associated with mortality included older age, high regional COVID-19 disease burden, higher Charlson comorbidity index score, fever, shortness of breath, and abnormalities in certain blood tests.

Ioannou et al. (Sept 23, 2020). Risk Factors for Hospitalization, Mechanical Ventilation, or Death Among 10 131 US Veterans With SARS-CoV-2 Infection. JAMA Network Open. https://doi.org/10.1001/jamanetworkopen.2020.22310