Death Related to COVID-19 Up for People with Down Syndrome

A research letter recently published in the Annals of Internal Medicine indicates that adults who have Down syndrome "have an increased risk for COVID-19-related death."

United Kingdom-based University of Oxford's Ashley Kieran Clift, MBBS, and colleagues analyzed Down syndrome as a risk factor for death from COVID-19 through an examination of data from more than eight million adults between January 24 and June 30, 2020.

The study authors found that more than 4,000 of the adults involved in the study cohort had Down syndrome. Among these adults, the study specified, 68 people died.

Mortality specifically comprised "39.7, 25.0 and 35.3 percent of COVID-19, pneumonia or pneumonitis and other causes, respectively."

Of these over 8,000 individuals who do not have Down syndrome, more than 41,600 died. The said figure comprised "20.3, 14.4 and 65.3 percent of COVID-19, pneumonia or pneumonitis, and other causes, respectively."

ALSO READ: 12-Year-Old Manhattan Girl Shares Her 'Long-COVID' Story

Down Syndrome

This is a condition in which a child is born with an extra similar 21st chromosome called "trisomy 21." Down syndrome causes mental and physical developmental delays, as well as disabilities.

While a lot of disabilities are more often than not, lifelong and tend to shorten an individual's life expectancy, with Down syndrome, one can leave a normal, healthy, and fulfilled life.

Recent advances in medicine, as well as cultural and institutional support for individuals who have Down syndrome and their families, offers numerous opportunities to help them overcome the challenges met because of their condition.

'Hazard Ratios'

A hazard ratio for COVID-19-related death in adults with, as opposed to without Down Syndrome, was 24.94 following an adjustment for age and sex.

More so, after further adjustment for the participants' ethnicity, BMI or body mass index, diagnosis for dementia, residency in a care home, and an array of comorbid conditions and therapies, study findings showed, the hazard ratios for COVID-19 related mortality and hospitalization "were 10.39 and 4.94 respectively."

In their research, the study authors wrote, "We are unaware of the impacts of Down syndrome on COVID-19 results," being presented elsewhere yet during this global health crisis.  

Innovative evidence that particular conditions may confer increased risk need to be used by "public health organizations, policymakers, and health care workers," the researchers said, to tactically shield the vulnerable individuals. Several other study investigators revealed financial associations with the medical technology industry.

DON'T MISS THIS: COVID-19 Update: Recent Developments Regarding the Infectious Disease

Study Findings

As indicated in the published study, the study authors were able to estimate "a 4-fold increased risk for hospitalization" related to COVID-19 and a 10-fold elevated risk for "COVID-19-related death in people who have Down syndrome.

Such results are substantial as individuals who have Down syndrome are typically not categorized as being at high-risk for COVID-19, like those who have underlying conditions lie diabetes or high blood pressure.

The study indicates that "Down syndrome features on neither the UK protection list nor the US CDC or Centers for Disease Control and Prevention list of groups" at elevated risk.

Nonetheless, the researchers wrote, it is linked to "immune dysfunction, congenital heart disease, and pulmonary pathology." More so, given its predominance, it may be pertinent, although yet for confirmation, a risk factor for a severe case of COVID-19.

IN CASE YOU MISSED IT: Case Report at Children's National Hospital Raises Concern for Resistance to Antibiotic

Check out more news and information on COVID-19  and Down Syndrome on MD News Daily.

© MD News Daily.