People with intellectual disabilities are more vulnerable to the effects of Covid-19: report | World news

A study by a team of researchers in the UK suggested that people with disabilities, who contract coronavirus disease (Covid-19), are five times more likely to be hospitalized and eight times more likely to die from Covid-19 as the general population of England. Published in the journal “The BMJ”, the study also found that the risks were particularly high for people with severe to profound disabilities, Down’s syndrome and cerebral palsy.

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To study the effect of Covid-19 on people with disabilities, the team of researchers analyzed data from 14,312,023 adults and 2,627,018 children across the two waves of the coronavirus pandemic. While the first wave was recorded from March 1, 2020 to August 31, 2020, the second wave was recorded from September 1, 2020 to February 8, 2021.

The results of the study for the 90,307 adults registered in the disability register are as follows: 538 (0.6%) were hospitalized in connection with Covid-19, there were 222 deaths (0.25% ) due to viral disease and 602 deaths (0.66%) were unrelated to infection.

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On the other hand, the corresponding figures for more than 14 million adults not registered in the disability register were as follows: 29,781 (or 0.20%) had hospitalization linked to Covid-19, there were 13,737 deaths (0.1%) due to viral disease and 69,837 deaths (0.5%) deaths were unrelated.

Then potentially influencing factors such as age, gender, ethnicity, geographic location were taken into account and it was found that adults who contract coronavirus have a five times higher risk of hospitalization. , as well as an eight times higher risk of death than adults not on the disability registry.

Similar patterns were also recorded in children, although the researchers mentioned that the absolute risk of hospitalization and death was “low”.

However, the researchers clarified that these were observational results and, as such, have certain limitations, including focusing only on severe Covid-19 results and the inability to identify anyone. having a learning disability from medical records alone.

Finally, the study concluded that in addition to vaccination, efforts to protect people with learning disabilities from the serious consequences of Covid-19 should continue. He also called for more research into the excessive risks of Covid-19 on people with Down syndrome and cerebral palsy.

(With ANI inputs)