Yale study identifies those at risk of breakthrough COVID-19 infectionshttps://newatlas.com/health-wellbeing/risk-factors-vaccine-breakthrough-coronavirus-infections/A small but robust study from Yale University researchers is offering insights into the characteristics of severe COVID-19 infections in fully vaccinated individuals. Although these kinds of breakthrough infections are very rare, the research helps doctors understand which patients may be most at-risk of hospitalization despite vaccination status.
The new study, published in The Lancet Infectious Diseases, looked at around 1,000 hospitalized COVID-19 patients admitted to the Yale New Haven Health System between March and July this year. Only 54 of those admissions were fully vaccinated, affirming the strong protection vaccines offer against severe COVID-19.
Of those 54 fully vaccinated patients, around half were completely asymptomatic, having been admitted to hospital for other reasons and their COVID-19 status only being picked up through incidental SARS-CoV-2 testing. Fourteen patients ended up critically ill, requiring oxygen support, and four ended up in intensive care. Three of these patients ultimately died from COVID-19.
The median age of those 14 severely ill COVID-19 patients was 80, and several pre-existing co-morbidities were noted in the study. Twelve of those patients were suffering cardiovascular disease, nine were overweight, seven had diabetes and seven had some kind of pre-existing lung disease.
"Median" means that as many of the 14 were over age 80 as were younger. The numbers of those with each of the several co-morbidities indicate that many of the 14 had two or more co-morbidities.
