Cape Town – Patients with existing
illnesses that cause breathlessness, wheezing or lung problems
run a higher risk of developing severe cases of Covid-19
infection due to the new coronavirus, according to a pooled
analysis study published on Wednesday.
It also found that shortness of breath - also known as
dyspnoea - is the only symptom of Covid-19 that is significantly
associated with severe cases and with patients requiring
admission to intensive-care units (ICU).
The findings, which were not peer-reviewed but were
published online on the MedRxiv scientific study site, suggest
that not all underlying health conditions carry the same risk of
added complications in patients infected with Covid-19.
A condition known as chronic obstructive pulmonary disease,
or COPD - a chronic progressive lung disease that causes
long-term breathing problems - is the greatest risk factor for
severe Covid-19 among hospitalised patients, the research found.
Vageesh Jain, of University College London's Institute for
Global Health, who co-led the work, said the findings should
help guide public health officials and doctors in prioritising
people at highest risk of severe illness with Covid-19.
The new virus has caused a pandemic of disease around the
world, with more than 200 000 people infected and almost 8 500
deaths.
The disease, called Covid-19, is a respiratory infection
that in severe cases causes shortness of breath and lung
failure. In milder cases, the most common symptoms are a fever
and cough.
The study, conducted by researchers at Britain's University
College London, pooled and analysed the results of seven smaller
studies from China and included a total of 1 813 patients, all
of whom were hospitalised with laboratory-confirmed Covid-19.
Patients with shortness of breath were 3.7 times more likely
to have severe Covid-19 disease and 6.6 times more likely to
need intensive care than those without, it found.
Patients with
COPD were 6.4 times more likely to develop severe disease and
17.8 times more likely to be admitted to intensive care.
"Whilst dyspnoea was not a particularly common symptom in
Covid-19 patients, its significant association with both severe
disease and ICU admission may help clinicians discriminate
between severe and non-severe Covid-19 cases," Jain said in a
statement about the findings.