As the number of young adults infected with the coronavirus surges throughout the nation, a new study by researchers at UC San Francisco Benioff Children’s Hospitals indicates that youth may not shield people from serious disease.
As the number of young adults infected with the coronavirus surges throughout the nation, a new study by researchers at UC San Francisco Benioff Children’s Hospitals indicates that youth may not shield people from serious disease.
The study looked at data drawn from a nationally representative sample of approximately 8,400 men and women ages 18 to 25 and concluded that overall “medical vulnerability” was 33 percent for males and 30 percent for females. The impact of smoking surpassed other less common risks, the UCSF researchers reported in their study, which publishes in the Journal of Adolescent Health on July 13, 2020.
Data from the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), not included in the UCSF study, indicates that while patients over 65 are significantly more likely to be hospitalized than younger people, the gap is narrowing. For the week ending April 18, there were 8.7 hospitalizations per 100,000 of the population for the 18-to-29 age bracket, compared with 128.3 per 100,000 of the population for patients over 65. By the week ending June 27, the figures were 34.7 and 306.7 respectively, representing a 299 percent increase in hospitalizations for young adults, versus a 139 percent increase in hospitalizations for older adults.
Read more at University of California - San Francisco
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