Population-Based Estimates of Chronic Conditions Affecting Risk for Complications from Coronavirus Disease, United States - Volume 26, Number 8—August 2020 - Emerging Infectious Diseases journal - CDC

Population-Based Estimates of Chronic Conditions Affecting Risk for Complications from Coronavirus Disease, United States - Volume 26, Number 8—August 2020 - Emerging Infectious Diseases journal - CDC

Volume 26, Number 8—August 2020

Dispatch

Population-Based Estimates of Chronic Conditions Affecting Risk for Complications from Coronavirus Disease, United States

Mary L. Adams , David L. Katz, and Joseph Grandpre

Author affiliations: On Target Health Data LLC, Suffield, Connecticut, USA (M.L. Adams); True Health Initiative, Derby, Connecticut, USA (D.L. Katz); Wyoming Department of Health, Cheyenne, Wyoming, USA; (J. Grandpre)

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Abstract

We estimated that 45.4% of US adults are at increased risk for complications from coronavirus disease because of cardiovascular disease, diabetes, respiratory disease, hypertension, or cancer. Rates increased by age, from 19.8% for persons 18–29 years of age to 80.7% for persons >80 years of age, and varied by state, race/ethnicity, health insurance status, and employment.

Data for China indicate that 81% of coronavirus disease (COVID-19) patients had mild cases, 14% had severe cases, and 5% had critical cases (1,2). The overall case-fatality rate (CFR) in China was 3.8% (3), but CFRs were higher for adults with chronic conditions of cardiovascular disease (CVD; CFR 13.2%), diabetes (9.2%), chronic respiratory disease (8.0%), hypertension (8.4%), and cancer (7.6%), compared with 1.4% for patients with none of these conditions (3). Our objective for this study was to use population-based US data to estimate the fraction of adults in the community who might be at increased risk for complications from COVID-19 because they reported any of the chronic conditions with a high CFR in China.