According to a Canadian study, the hospitalization rate of unvaccinated people aged 30 to 39 doubles compared to younger people.
Even if some experts see the Covid-19 pandemic morphing into a flu-like situation with steady spread and seasonal spikes, the danger remains. Canadian experts have already used data from all patients with Covid-19 in the province of British Columbia to prove the protective factor of vaccination against severe courses: Vaccination against Covid-19 dramatically changes the frequency of hospitalizations in terms of age and considerably reduces in general.
Hector Velasquez Garcia of the Canadian Provincial Center for Disease Control and Department of Public Health at the University of British Columbia in Vancouver and his coauthors have data on all adult patients with Covid-19 between January 1, 2021 and December 31 of the analyzed year. The vaccination rate was just two percent at the beginning of the observation period and finally reached around 80 percent at the end of 2021. In total, there were 162,509 cases of Covid-19. 8546 patients had to go to the hospital because of serious strokes (57.2 percent of them men). The average age of all patients was 38 years, the average age of those admitted was 60 years.
Age is the biggest influencing factor
It has long been known that the age of those affected is often the biggest influencing factor for the severity of Covid-19 illness. In the International Journal of Infectious Diseases study (https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ijid.2022.12.001), which has now appeared online, vaccination against Sars-CoV-2 showed a very good effect. For example, among the unvaccinated aged 30 to 39 years, there was a 2.14-fold increase in the frequency of hospitalizations compared to those aged 20 to 29 years. However, among those vaccinated, the risk of hospitalization increased by only 45%. In the 40-49 age group, the rate of hospital admissions among the unvaccinated (compared to those aged 20-29) increased 3.38 times (vaccinated: factor 1.34 or 34 percent more).
People aged 50 to 59 who were not vaccinated were hospitalized 5.75 times more often than the 20 to 29 year old comparison group. This increase was only about half in those vaccinated by a factor of 2.95. Among those aged 70 to 79 years, the rate of serious illnesses with hospitalizations increased 20.29 times among the unvaccinated, and among those over 80 years old 41.95 (vaccinated between 70 and 79 years old: 11.92; over 80 years old : increase of a factor of 24.24).
Diabetes as the biggest risk factor
The following figures also show how strongly the vaccination status is statistically effective: With an increase in the frequency of hospitalization (all sick; vaccinated, unvaccinated) aged 60 to 69 years (comparison: 20 to 29 years) by 9.39 This curve was almost identical to that of the unvaccinated. Overall, diabetes (whole sample) was the biggest risk factor with a 2.85 times higher hospitalization rate for Covid-19. This was followed by multiple sclerosis (increased by a factor of 2.64).
Of those admitted to the hospital, 18.3 percent were people with asthma (among Covid-19 patients treated outside the hospital: 13.3 percent), 2.7 percent had cirrhosis of the liver (outpatient care: 0.3 Percent). 10.3% of patients hospitalized with Covid-19 also suffered from chronic obstructive pulmonary disease/COPD (outpatient care: 1.4%). 7.9% of people infected with Sars-CoV-2 treated at the hospital also suffered from chronic heart failure, compared to just 0.8% of those treated at home.
The scientists: “Although 58.6 percent of Covid 19 patients who were not admitted to the hospital were not vaccinated, the unvaccinated still represented a larger proportion of those admitted to the hospital (76.2 percent).” 10.6% of those hospitalized for severe courses of Sars-CoV-2 and 30.9% of those treated as outpatients because of the infection were fully vaccinated against Covid-19.