Four Pre-Existing Conditions Linked to COVID Hospitalizations

Almost two-thirds of all hospitalizations for COVID-19 in the US are attributable to four pre-existing cardiometabolic conditions, according to new research.

The study, published in February 2021 in the Journal of the American Heart Association, estimated that as of November 2020, of the 906,849 COVID hospitalizations of US adults, 30% were related to obesity; 26% to hypertension; 21% to diabetes, and 12% to heart failure.

To arrive at their conclusions, the researchers studied hospital admissions of 5,279 patients with COVID at a major health center in New York City. 

The authors say healthy lifestyle measures to improve cardiometabolic health could have prevented many deaths and hospitalizations, yet none have been addressed. Senior author of the study Dariush Mozaffarian, MD, dean of the School of Nutrition Science and Policy at Tufts University, said to reduce severe COVID outcomes the country should be focusing on public health messages to reduce diabetes and obesity.

“If individuals exercised a little more and ate a bit more healthily, we would see improvements in diabetes and hypertension in just a few weeks,” Mozaffarian told Medscape Medical News. “We should be shouting this from the rooftops, along with the messages to wash hands, social distance, and wear masks.”

The results of the study, say the authors, can help inform public health prevention strategies to reduce COVID-19 healthcare burdens.