Vaccination has changed the profile of those hospitalized by Covid-19 in Brazil and also of people who die as a result of the disease. A study conducted in São José do Rio Preto, in the interior of São Paulo, recorded the beginning of this process.
The team from the Laboratory of Virology Research at Famerp (Faculdade de Medicina de São José do Rio Preto) retrospectively analyzed data from 2,777 patients treated between January 5 and September 12, 2021 at Hospital de Base, which is a reference for the entire region. . At that time, the gamma variant (P.1) of Sars-CoV-2 predominated in the state and the elderly were the majority in the group of Brazilians with the complete vaccination schedule (two doses, until then).
All those hospitalized with Covid-19 in the period were divided between vaccinated and unvaccinated. And the researchers compared the characteristics of the members of each group – from age, sex and presence of comorbidities to the symptoms they presented, the clinical procedures adopted during hospitalization and the outcomes (recovery or death). The full data was released this month in the Journal of Infection.
“Our objective was to find out which is the best predictor of mortality among those vaccinated”, tells Agência Fapesp Maurício Lacerda Nogueira, a professor at Famerp and corresponding author of the study, which was supported by Fapesp through three projects (20/04836- 0, 13/21719-3 and 19/06572-2).
Among the 2,518 non-immunized participants, the mean age was 51 years and 71.5% had one or more comorbidities, the most common being heart disease, diabetes and obesity. Among the 259 hospitalized who had received two doses of vaccine, the average age was 73 years and 95% had underlying diseases.
In the statistical analysis, the factors that correlated with increased risk of hospitalization and death among the unvaccinated were age over 60 years and the presence of one or more of the following conditions: heart disease, liver or neurological disorders, diabetes, immunological impairment and kidney disease. Among those immunized, only age over 60 years and renal failure were configured as predictors of mortality.
“This is clear evidence that the vaccine protects very well and saves lives”, says Nogueira.
In the assessment of Cássia Fernanda Estofolete, first author of the study and a member of the Laboratory of Virology Research at Famerp, the advance of vaccination has “drastically” changed the profile of the patient hospitalized for Covid-19 and also the natural history of the disease, that is, the way it evolves.
“Today, with the return of elective surgeries, the advance of vaccination and the emergence of the omnitron, we have seen a different scenario in hospitals. Many patients are hospitalized for scheduled surgery or for trauma and end up discovering that they have Covid-19, that is, it is not the virus that takes the person to the hospital. And there are also many elderly people with comorbidities who end up being hospitalized because Covid-19 exacerbates the underlying disease — decompensates for diabetes or kidney failure, for example. is not hospitalized for SARS [síndrome respiratória aguda grave]as it was at the time the study was carried out”, he says.
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