Patients with COVID-19 face considerably higher risks of health problems in the months after getting discharged from the hospital, suggests a new study conducted in England.

Researchers compared 24,673 COVID-19 patients who survived at least a week after hospital discharge and 123,362 similarly aged individuals in the general population. COVID-19 survivors were found to have double the risk of hospital admission or death over the next 10 months. 

In comparison with 16,058 patients hospitalized for influenza, COVID-19 patients had a 37% higher likelihood of being readmitted or of death due to their initial infection or other lower respiratory tract infection. They also had 37% higher odds of experiencing cognitive-related admission or death. The researchers also noted that COVID-19 patients with dementia who survived hospitalization had an increased risk for death in the ensuing months. The findings are published in PLOS Medicine… (Reuters, February 1, 2022)