Revealed – Why COVID-19 Kills Some People And Spares Others

Reasons why COVID-19 kills some people and spares others, and why its symptoms differ from person to person, are now emerging and helping scientific enquiries.

Though scientists at first thought age was the dominant factor, with young people avoiding the worst outcomes, new research has revealed a suite of features impacting disease severity.

According to them, these influences could explain why a perfectly healthy 20-year-old with the disease may be hit heavily while an older 70-year-old dodges the need for critical interventions.

So, across board, what are those factors that make a difference and how?

The experts list them thus:

Age

Age is top of the ladder in what makes a difference in COVID-19 attacks according to the Livescience report

Expatiating on this, it says about 8 out of 10 deaths associated with COVID-19 in the U.S. have occurred in adults aged 65 and above.

Quoting the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), the report says the risk of dying from the infection, and the likelihood of requiring hospitalisation or intensive medical care, increases significantly with age. Adults of 65-84 make up an estimated 4-11% of COVID-19 deaths in the U.S, while adults of 85 and above make up 10-27%.

“The trend may be due, in part, to the fact that many elderly people have chronic medical conditions, such as heart disease and diabetes, that can exacerbate the symptoms of COVID-19”.

It says with age, the ability of the immune system to fight off pathogens also declines.

Diabetes

Diabetes mellitus — a group of diseases that result in harmful high blood sugar levels — also seems to be linked to risk of more severe COVID-19 infections.

According to experts, the  most common form in the U.S. is type 2 diabetes, which occurs when the body’s cells don’t respond to the hormone insulin. The sugar that would otherwise move from the bloodstream into cells to be used as energy just builds up in the bloodstream.

“In a review of 13 relevant studies, scientists found that people with diabetes were nearly 3.7 times more likely to have a critical case of COVID-19 or to die from the disease compared with COVID-19 patients without any underlying health conditions”

According to experts, the scenario above tallies with earlier conclusions whereby, flu and pneumonia have been found to be more common and more serious in older individuals with type 2 diabetes. , on this, it adds: “Mounting research has shown the progression of type 2 diabetes is tied to changes in the body’s immune system.

This link could also play a role in poorer outcomes in a person with diabetes exposed to SARS-CoV-2, the virus that causes COVID-19”.

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Also, not all people with type 2 diabetes are at the same risk, though: A study published May 1 in the journal Cell Metabolism found that people with diabetes who keep their blood sugar levels in a tighter range were much less likely to have a severe disease course than those with more fluctuations in their blood sugar levels.

Heart disease and hypertension

People with conditions that affect the cardiovascular system, such as heart disease and hypertension, generally suffer worse complications from COVID-19 than those with no preexisting conditions, according to the American Heart Association. That said, historically healthy people can also suffer heart damage from the viral infection.

The first reported coronavirus death in the U.S., for instance, occurred when the virus somehow damaged a woman’s heart muscle, eventually causing it to burst, Live Science reported. The 57-year-old maintained good health and exercised regularly before becoming infected.

 “In one scenario, by attacking the lungs directly, the virus might deplete the body’s supply of oxygen to the point that the heart must work harder to pump oxygenated blood through the body. The virus might also attack the heart directly, as cardiac tissue contains angiotensin-converting enzyme 2 (ACE2) — a molecule that the virus plugs into to infect cells.

In some individuals, COVID-19 can also kickstart an overblown immune response known as a cytokine storm, wherein the body becomes severely inflamed and the heart could suffer damage as a result”.

Other factors listed in the report by scientists are Smoking, obesity, blood type and genotype

On the first for example it submitted: “People who smoke cigarettes may be prone to severe COVID-19 infections, meaning they face a heightened risk of developing pneumonia, suffering organ damage and requiring breathing support”.

Citing a a study of more than 1,000 patients in China, published in the New England Journal of Medicine, it added: “12.3% of current smokers included in the study were admitted to an ICU, were placed on a ventilator or died, as compared with 4.7% of nonsmokers”.

On obesity as a risk factor, the researchers said: “Several early studies have suggested a link between obesity and more severe COVID-19 disease in people.

Blood type

Blood type seems to be a predictor of how susceptible a person is to contracting SARS-CoV-2, though scientists haven’t found a link withblood type per se and severity of disease.

It said researchers in Wuhan, China, found that individuals with blood types in the A group (A-positive, A-negative and AB-positive, AB-negative) were at a higher risk of contracting the disease compared with non-A-group types. People with O blood types (O-negative and O-positive) had a lower risk of getting the infection compared with non-O blood types

Genetic factors

Another important factor of note is genetics, with scientists suspecting that certain genetic factors may leave some people especially susceptible to the disease

”The genes that instruct cells to build ACE2 receptors may differ between people who contract severe infections and those who hardly develop any symptoms at all…Alternatively, differences may lie in genes that help rally the immune system against invasive pathogens”. It submits, quoting both Science magazine & Live Science.