In-Hospital COVID-19 Mortality Fell During the First 6 Months of the Pandemic in the U.S. — But Remains Unacceptably High

While <20% of patients with SARS-CoV-2 infection require hospitalization, the large total number of infected individuals has resulted in thousands of hospital admissions. Investigators used a U.S. clinical database to describe the characteristics and outcomes of 192,550 adults (52.5% men, 43.3% white) hospitalized with COVID-19 at 555 medical centers between March 1 and August 31, 2020.

The most common comorbidities were hypertension (61.5%), diabetes (38.4%), and obesity (27.4%). In-hospital mortality was 13.6% overall, rising with age (from 1.4% [age range, 18–29] to 26.6% [≥80]) and falling with calendar month (from 22.1% [March] to 6.5% [August]). Almost 30% of the cohort was admitted to the intensive care unit (ICU); of these patients, …