South Korean doctors identify underlying risk factors for severe coronavirus patients

While COVID-19 continues to spread across the globe, South Korean doctors recently found underlying conditions that may make some infected patients more severely affected by the disease. While speaking to an international media outlet, a professor at Yeungnam University Medical Center, Ahn June-hong, said that the findings could help doctors identify and prioritise high-risk patients at an early stage of the disease. 

According to the study published in Journal of Korean Medical Science, the South Korean healthcare workers said that diabetes, high body temperature, low oxygen saturation and pre-existing cardiac injury were shown to be the prognostic factors fro severe coronavirus. The health experts are still investigating risk factors for patients who develop severe cases of the disease. In a bid to come to the conclusion, the doctors observed around 110 COVID-19 patients at a hospital in Daegu from February 19 to April 15. 

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Within the time span of almost a month, out of the total number of patients under observation, 23 develops a severe case of COVID-19. As the patients were significantly older than the rest, they were more likely to have diabetes and lower peripheral oxygen saturation. In the research, Dr Ahn said that the patients with at least three of the four prognostic factors developed severe conditions. 

In the research paper, the doctors said that they believe using prognostic factors of severe COVID-19 patients will provide an opportunity for physicians to offer those risk-high patients with the best health care from the early stage of the virus. 

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COVID-19 outbreak 

Meanwhile, coronavirus, which originated in China in December 2019, has now claimed over 416,000 lives worldwide as of June 11. According to the tally by Johns Hopkins University, the pandemic has now spread to 188 countries and territories and has infected more than 7.3 million people.

Out of the total infections, more than two million have recovered but the easily spread virus is continuing to disrupt many lives. Major cities have been put under lockdown in almost all countries including Spain, and the economy is struggling. 

(Image: AP) 

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