COVID-19: Post-Discharge Organ Damage, Death / B.1.1.7 Rising in U.S. / Mortality in 2020 / WHO on Ivermectin

By Kelly Young

Edited by Susan Sadoughi, MD, and Richard Saitz, MD, MPH, FACP, DFASAM

Here are some of the COVID-19 items worthy of your attention today:

Organ damage: Patients discharged following a hospital stay for COVID-19 are at increased risk for mortality, readmission, and organ dysfunction, finds a study in The BMJ. Researchers matched roughly 50,000 patients in England who were hospitalized and discharged with COVID-19 to members of the general population. During a mean 140 days of follow-up, 29% of patients with COVID-19 were readmitted and 12% died after being discharged, rates that were 3.5 and 7.7 times higher than in matched controls. New-onset diagnoses of respiratory diseases were 27 times more common than in controls. Patients with COVID-19 were also diagnosed more frequently with major adverse cardiovascular events, chronic liver disease, chronic kidney disease, and diabetes than their matched controls.

B.1.1.7 rising in U.S.: The proportion of U.S. COVID-19 cases caused by the B.1.1.7 variant, originally identified in the U.K., was increasing by 7.5% a day and doubling every week and a half as of mid-February, according to a study in Cell. The variant is 40% to 50% more transmissible than the original strain. The authors write: "We show that the U.S. is on a similar trajectory as other countries where B.1.1.7 became dominant, requiring immediate and decisive action to minimize COVID-19 morbidity and mortality." As of February 27, B.1.1.7 accounted for 10% of all U.S. COVID-19 infections, but provisional data from March show a substantial increase, according to the latest CDC data.

Mortality in 2020: COVID-19 ranked as the third leading cause of death in the U.S. in 2020, according to provisional data from death certificates in MMWR. COVID-19 was listed as the underlying cause in 345,000 deaths — behind heart disease (690,000) and cancer (598,000). From 2019 to 2020, the age-adjusted death rate increased by 16% in the U.S.

WHO on ivermectin: Ivermectin should only be used to treat COVID-19 within clinical trials, the World Health Organization says in updated guidelines. The WHO determined that the evidence regarding the antiparasitic agent's use for COVID-19 was inconclusive.