As the coronavirus resurges in hotspots across the United States, health officials are doing everything they can to safeguard Americans who are most at risk of the disease.
It’s well-documented that elderly adults and those with underlying conditions are susceptible to negative effects of the virus and are in many cases less likely to recover. But what underlying conditions are most likely to lead to poor health outcomes in patients who contract COVID-19?
According to data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), hospital visits were six times higher among patients with underlying conditions, and those same patients were 12 times more likely to die from COVID-19 than their counterparts without medical conditions.
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These are the five highest-reported underlying conditions in patients with COVID-19:
- Hypertension
- Cardiovascular disease
- Diabetes
- Obesity
- Chronic lung disease
Doctors do not fully understand the correlation between diabetes and obesity with COVID-19, according to Clarke Piatt, a medical director at the Bryn Mawr Hospital ICU in Philadelphia. But she told The Philadelphia Inquirer the diseases are generally associated with inflammation and diminished lung capacity, making the flow of oxygen more difficult as the new virus also attacks the lungs.
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