Physician Update: AHA Special Edition
Read more articles from our most relevant research presented at the 2020 AHA Scientific Sessions.
Clinical Heart and Vascular Center
Using Electronic Health Record Data to Understand the COVID-19 Pandemic
By Ann Marie Navar, M.D., Ph.D.
Associate Professor of Internal Medicine
With advances in COVID-19 immunizations and increasing case numbers, understanding who is at highest risk for severe complications of COVID-19 is more important than ever. In a Late-Breaking Science session at #AHA20, I presented work I conducted with another UTSW faculty member, Dr. Eric Peterson, using data from a large electronic health record (EHR)-derived database on patients with COVID-19. With almost 20,000 cases through July 2020, this is one of the largest EHR-derived datasets on COVID-19 available.
Soberingly, 20.7% of hospitalized patients died, with stark increases in mortality with increasing age. Men and those with diabetes, heart failure, or chronic kidney disease were all at higher risk. Complications such as stroke (< 2%) or heart attack (5%) were rare, but more than half of those who experienced one of these complications died.
These data show us what the front line is seeing every day: 1 in 5 patients hospitalized with COVID-19 never makes it home.
Overall, the results reveal that large numbers of the population are at risk of death if hospitalized for COVID-19 – and highlight the importance of continued public health measures.
“These data show us what the front line is seeing every day: 1 in 5 patients hospitalized with COVID-19 never makes it home.”
Follow Dr. Ann Marie Navar:
Twitter: @annmarienavar
