Nearly 1 in 4 heart failure patients hospitalized with COVID-19 died during their hospital stay, according to a study published Dec. 28 in the Journal of the American College of Cardiology.
Researchers used the Premier Healthcare Database to identify patients with a history of heart failure who were subsequently hospitalized between April and September. They compared the outcomes of 8,383 hospitalized heart failure patients with COVID-19 to 28,843 hospitalized patients with acute heart failure. About 24 percent of heart failure patients with COVID-19 died in the hospital compared to 2.6 percent of acute heart failure patients.
Risk factors associated with worse outcomes for COVID-19 patients were male sex, morbid obesity, diabetes, older age and admission to the hospital during the early months of the pandemic. Those who were hospitalized in April faced the highest in-hospital death risk.
"Dedicated and innovative efforts surrounding education and infection control are needed for this high-risk population as the pandemic continues to evolve," the study authors wrote.
To view the full study, click here.