It is a received idea which has not (yet) disappeared: the Covid-19 would not be different from a “flu” with symptoms similar to those of the seasonal flu. Except that according to a recent French study conducted by researchers from Inserm and Dijon University Hospital, Covid-19 would cause 3 times more deaths than seasonal flu.
To reach this conclusion, the researchers (who published their work in the scientific journal The Lancet Respiratory Medicine) studied medical data from the Information Systems Medicalization Program (PMSI): the latter contains information on all patients admitted to hospitals (public or private) in France, as well as the reasons for their admission and the care they received.
The Covid-19, “much more serious” than the seasonal flu
Researchers compared hospital admissions for Covid-19 in the spring of 2020 (between March 1 and April 30, 2020) with hospital admissions for seasonal influenza between December 1, 2018 and February 28, 2019.
Results ? Scientists found that the death rate among patients admitted for Covid-19 (that is, the number of deaths per number of patients) was 16.9%, which is 3 times higher than the seasonal influenza death rate (5.8%). In addition, patients with Covid-19 were, on average, hospitalized longer than those with influenza: 15 days compared to 8 days.
In addition, the researchers noticed that patients with Covid-19 used intensive care more during their stay compared to patients with influenza. More than 1 in 4 patients with Covid-19 have suffered from acute respiratory failure, compared to less than 1 in 5 patients with influenza.
“Taken together, these results clearly indicate that Covid-19 is much more serious than seasonal flu. While at present, no treatment has yet proven to be effective in preventing serious illness in patients with Covid-19, this study underlines the importance of all preventive measures (barrier measures) and emphasizes highlight the need for access to effective vaccines“responded Pascale Tubert-Bitter, research director at Inserm.
Source: Inserm press release, December 18, 2020.
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