Older age and the presence of previous diseases are known risk factors for severe forms of covid. But the way of aging is not the same for everyone and there is another key condition to take into account, to understand who should be protected from the most devastating effects of the virus. It is the concept of fragility, a systemic imbalance linked to age but not only, which exposes you to an increased risk of dying from covid. For the first time, this risk has been quantified: among frail coronavirus patients, deaths due to the infection are three times more common.
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A research published in the scientific journal reached this conclusion Age and Aging: in the observational study, ie without active intervention by the researchers, 5,711 covid patients from 55 hospitals in 12 different countries were followed. Individuals who had contracted the virus in a condition of already high fragility died three times more than non-frail patients (even peers: the study was designed specifically to exclude the “weight” of the age factor). And people with severe frailty who survived the virus needed seven times more than others for more home care or hospitalization in a long-term care facility.
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Therefore frailty, regardless of age, also increases the risk of death from CoViD-19. But what exactly is meant by frail patients? The definition is hotly debated among geriatricians themselves. Fragility is a state of latent vulnerability linked both to factors of a more strictly “medical” type and to psychosocial variables: an already precarious balance determined by a series of physical, cognitive, psychological and social losses, which predispose an individual to an increasing risk of disability and a lower resistance to sudden stressors, such as long-term covid disease.
A 360 ° look. To recognize a fragile patient, it is necessary to have a global look at his health and life conditions: have you lost a lot of weight lately? Do you still exercise? Do you often feel fatigued? Do you have any family members you are in contact with? Do you have any friends? How do you organize your day? Who prepares the meals? It is possible to be frail at all ages, but the elderly are more often so (in Italy 14.3% of over 65s).
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Protected first. The researchers hope that what has emerged will help to convey the message that it is not only old age that carries an increased risk: frailty also increases the chances of a bad outcome from covid. There are ninety-year-olds who are not fragile and younger people who are considered fragile even if they do not have chronic diseases. The hope is that these people will also be given priority in the measures to protect against contagion and in vaccination campaigns.
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