Table of contents:
- How does age affect the severity of COVID-19 symptoms?
- 1,024,298
- 831,330
- 28,855
- Why are elderly people more at risk of worsening COVID-19 symptoms?
Read all articles about coronavirus (COVID-19) here.
People of all ages can die from COVID-19, but the older the person is, the higher the risk. According to the American Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), the risk of symptom severity from COVID-19 is increasing in the elderly.
How does age affect the severity of COVID-19 symptoms?
The CDC says people in their 50s have a higher risk of developing COVID-19 symptoms than those in their 40s. Likewise, people in their 60s or 70s are generally at risk of worsening symptoms.
About 8 in 10 deaths related to COVID-19 in the US occur in adults aged 65 and over. The risk of severe symptoms and the risk of death from infection with the new coronavirus increases as a person gets older.
The death toll for people aged 65-84 years is estimated at 4-11 percent of the total COVID-19 deaths in the US, while those aged 85 years and over account for 10-27 percent.
The Faculty of Medicine at the University of Indonesia together with the DKI Jakarta Health Office observed data on patient deaths in Jakarta. Researchers classified ages into 5 groups, namely, 0-9 years, 10-19 years, 20-49 years, 50-69 years, and more than 70 years.
The result was a total of 3,986 who were positive for COVID-19, mostly from the 20-49 age group, namely 51.2 percent. But most cases of death occurred in patients from the age group 50-69 years.
"Analysis by age group showed a significant difference in risk of death with more patients in the 50-69 age group and older than 70 years dying," the study wrote.
This study confirms previous findings which say, there is an increased risk of death in COVID-19 patients aged 65 years and over.
COVID-19 Outbreak updates Country: IndonesiaData
1,024,298
Confirmed831,330
Recovered28,855
DeathDistribution MapWhy are elderly people more at risk of worsening COVID-19 symptoms?
The collaborative study between FKUI and the DKI Jakarta Health Office mentions several possible reasons for age being a risk factor for the worsening of COVID-19, one of which is the weak immune response.
The ability of the immune system to fight pathogens (microorganisms that cause disease) decreases with age. This condition makes elderly people susceptible to experiencing bad symptoms due to viral infection.
The large number of COVID-19 deaths in the elderly group is also likely due to the fact that many elderly people have comorbid chronic diseases, such as hypertension, heart disease, or diabetes. COVID-19 infection and comorbidities run the risk of worsening the person's condition.
Age, comorbidities, and gender are interrelated risk factors for the severity of COVID-19 symptoms.
In the results of unadjusted data analysis, diabetes is one of the comorbidities that increases the risk of death for COVID-19 patients. But after adjusting for other characteristics such as age, gender, and other comorbidities, diabetes was not the most significant risk factor.
Diabetes itself does not directly affect the severity of COVID-19 infection, thus increasing the risk of death. This disease aggravates the symptoms of the condition if they occur together with other factors that make the situation worse, such as hypertension or old age.
Research on the characteristics of how COVID-19 infects the human body is not fully known and is still being studied. Many anomalous cases have occurred, such as cases of worsening of COVID-19 symptoms to cause death in healthy young people. On the other hand, there are also grandparents over 80 years of age who have successfully recovered from COVID-19.
Therefore, experts urge all groups to take precautionary measures to prevent the transmission of COVID-19, especially around high-risk people.
