Brazil, strong increase in young people suffering from Covid: intensive care units fill up
Brazil, strong increase in young people suffering from Covid: iIn addition to the explosion of cases of Covid-19 since the beginning of 2021, what has frightened health professionals at the forefront of combating the pandemic are the changes in the profile of the victims.
Today, one in five people admitted to the ICU with the disease is between 18 and 44 years old, often without comorbidities.
Brazil, intensive care unit occupancy concerns
During the first wave, in 2020, patients were mostly elderly.
Although this group still represents the highest number of deaths, hospitalizations of adults and young people for Covid-19 grows at a much faster rate than in the rest of the population. Among people aged 40 to 49 years hospitalizations increased 625%, while the age groups 30 to 39 and 50 to 59, the increase was above 500%.
Researchers and scientists attribute the increase in hospitalizations of young people to some factors, such as the possibility that the new variants of the coronavirus are more aggressive for this age group, but there is still no scientific evidence.
In general, younger people take longer to look for hospitals and, therefore, arrive in a more serious condition.
The impact of Covid-19 on Brazil’s healthcare system: intensive care units in trouble
The change in profile also impacts on the pressure on the country’s health system, since normally young people and adults are more resistant to the disease and spend more time in ICU beds, reducing the turnover of vacancies.
In early March, São Paulo’s Health Secretary, Jean Gorinchteyn, said in a news conference that the average ICU occupancy in the state went from 7 to 10 days per patient, to 14 to 17 days.
The mortality of young Brazilians by Covid-19 is also a topic of study for scientific cooperation between Italy and Brazil, which assess the causes of this increase, as well as genetic predispositions to the virus and the impact of new variants on the pandemic.
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