About 45% of those who died were diabetic, scientists say.
New Delhi:
Researchers, including those from the government of Tamil Nadu and Andhra Pradesh, conducted one of the largest epidemiology analyzes of COVID-19 to date and found that cases and deaths from the disease were more heavily concentrated in the 40 -69-year-old age group in India compared to high-income countries, among other trends.
The study, published Wednesday in the journal Science, assessed the disease transmission patterns in 5,751,071 people exposed to 84,965 confirmed cases of COVID-19 in the two states based on data collected by tens of thousands contact tracers.
According to scientists, including Ramanan Laxminarayan of the Center for Disease Dynamics, Economics, and Policy in New Delhi, the findings offer insight into the trajectory of the pandemic in a low- and middle-income country, where most COVID-19s cases have occurred.
Based on the data, scientists said cases and deaths in the two Indian states were concentrated in younger cohorts than expected from observations in high-income countries.
The study noted that contact with the same age was associated with greater risk of infection – a trend that researchers said was strongest in children 0-14 and adults over 65. years.
They said the proportion of deaths to the number of people infected, known as the case-fatality ratio (CFR), ranged from 0.05% at ages 5 to 17 to 16.6 % at the age of over 85 years.
The researchers also noted that patients with COVID-19 in both states have a median hospital stay of five days before death, up from 13 days before death from the date of hospital admission. in the USA.
Exposed contact tracing tests found that 70% of those infected did not infect any of their contacts, while 8% of coronavirus-positive patients accounted for 60% of the new infections seen.
The researchers said the finding presented the greatest empirical demonstration of over-spraying.
They said the results “may indicate identification of less serious infections through active case finding.”
Andhra Pradesh and Tamil Nadu are among the Indian states with the largest health workforce and public health expenditure per capita, and are known for their effective models of primary health care delivery, according to the study.
He said 63 percent of those who died had at least one comorbidity and 36 percent had at least two underlying health conditions that made them more vulnerable to the disease.
About 45% of those who died were diabetic, scientists say.
Contrary to observations in high-income countries, they said that deaths in India are concentrated between the ages of 50 and 64.
In the two Indian states in particular, they said that only 17.9% of deaths from COVID-19 that occurred on or before August 1, 2020 were in people over the age of 75, compared with 58.1% of deaths due to disease in the United States.
“This study was made possible by the significant contact tracing effort in Andhra Pradesh and Tamil Nadu, which involved tens of thousands of health workers,” said Laxminarayan.
“The findings on disease transmission and mortality have the potential to inform policy in the fight against COVID-19. The study also talks about the capacity of India’s emerging research to help inform the global response. to COVID-19 “, he added.
