Rise in young women being admitted to hospital

[Char2015]

Reported by Sky News:

An expert has said more women aged 20 to 40 are being admitted to hospital with COVID-19.

Professor Calum Semple, professor of child health and outbreak medicine at the University of Liverpool, said the rise could be attributed to work and caring responsibilities.

"It does really show that this is not just a problem of the frail elderly, this is a problem that can affect people between 20 and 40 just as well," he told BBC Breakfast.

"These people will be working in hospitality. Also in caring roles, some will be parents of school children. It's mainly to do with their public sector and public facing roles."

I was just chatting to a Dr friend about this.

She points out that they now have to test every single patient staying in the hospital. So lots of people are testing positive who are actually there for other things (e.g. giving birth - she works in a maternity ward).

Could this help explain things? I have no idea - just thought it was interesting.

According to the covid age calculator having a bmi of, for example, 30-35, adds five years, but being female takes five years off. So an otherwise healthy 30 year old female who is obese will have the same risk as a otherwise healthy non obese 30 year old white man.

So unless people are expecting slim healthy 30 year old white men to start being hospitalised in large numbers, it should be no kind of comfort or explanation to 'other' an obese 30 year old woman.

Undoubtedly there is more testing now than in March/April but the worrying thing is the proportion of positive test coming back is going up.

I think we are in for a long hard autumn/winter and spring.

Two schools near to me are already closed for 2 weeks as 8 teachers in one school and 5 in the other have tested positive for Covid No students known to have it in either school. Both schools having a two week circuit break then reopening.

This isn't news to me. At one point we had a designated 30 bedded ward that was full of 20's.

ICU was full of 50/60 year old and for the 1st 2 months of Covid not one patient who went into ICU came out.

Remember that MN when you claim it's no big deal and start whittering about the frail and elderly.

Anyone can contract covid at any age. It may be that the rise in women being admitted is yes, because they are in hospitality and caring roles but these figures mean nothing if they do not go on to die or unless it is known whether they have health conditions.
Obesity and poor health in women of that age group is at an all time high in this country and they are of course more likely to die from covid than their counterparts who are fit and a healthy weight. It's not rocket science.

Yes good pints and don’t forget the pcr tests used give aprox 40% FALSE POSITIVE results ... even the scientist who developed it says it’s not accurate for Covid therefore not fit for purpose.

Source for that assertion?

@strivingforjustice

Yes good pints and don’t forget the pcr tests used give aprox 40% FALSE POSITIVE results ... even the scientist who developed it says it’s not accurate for Covid therefore not fit for purpose.

But these aren't women being admitted to hospital for other reasons who have been discovered via testing (false positives or otherwise) to be suffering from Covid, these are young women ill enough they are unable to breathe who are going into Covid wards and ICU. This point seems to keep being missed. Denial, I suppose.

"Hospital records reveal a substantial rise in the number of women aged 20 to 40 admitted for serious coronavirus infections since the beginning of August, a country-wide trend"

www.theguardian.com/world/2020/sep/22/younger-women-bearing-brunt-of-second-wave-of-covid-in-uk

@TurquoiseDress

Are they fit and healthy? Or have existing health conditions including obesity?

This matters significantly as this helps put all the figures & statistics into context. Just by saying women aged 20-40 yrs is not actually that helpful and all it does is create worry and concern.

Yes, important to know this. If it's healthy thin people there's a problem. If it's fatties or those with chronic illnesses, fuck 'em, eh?

Yes, most definitely important to know this.
But, no not for the reasons you have put..and I really don't think anyone has said or implied that on this thread.

I don’t think it matters significantly to know this in this context - x% will have underlying health conditions as is always the case. The question is why is this rise happening now to women? Schools re-opening? More going back to work in people facing roles? Onset of cold/flu season?

Does the article provide any theories as to why?

Apologies, the article does provide some theories. Yes it is worrying... The gov have a difficult job trying to balance going back to normality/not destroying the economy versus preventing resurgence.
Natural dying off of the virus (WHO mentioned possibility of 2 yrs!) and/or a vaccine are the only ways this can come to a gradual end. In the mean time we have hard choices to make.

We've always known that it can affect ppl if any age. However it affects ppl differently if they have any ore-dospisitions.

The point is, in the earlier months it was predominantly older people - and more so men, of 50-60 and up - being admitted to hospitals. Now there is a wave of younger women being hospitalised.

“Lots of people will test positive in hospital even though they have no covid symptoms.

People are being routinely tested on admission.

The rise might be in young women giving birth/with ingrown toenails/having their appendix removed/cancer. And no Covid related issues at all”

This.
About 3 weeks ago, my grandad, who has failing health in general, was admitted to hospital with cellulitis in his leg due to a minor injury.

He was tested upon admission and found to be covid positive. He had no symptoms or illness related to covid whatsoever.

There are MANY cases just like this. Just in the same way as the headlines read “person died WITH coronavirus” Does not necessarily mean they died OF coronavirus.
Had my grandad died from his cellulitis infection, I am in no doubt covid would’ve been written on his death certificate. They have already admitted that they do this.

Yes be aware, wear masks, socially distance and be careful. But don’t let the fear overtake.

@lljkk

That risk calculator is about fitness for work when people have occupational exposure. So it's about shielding & furlough or even community exposure, really.

"Its purpose is to assist health professionals in the UK who are asked to advise about patients’ medical fitness for work that may entail exposure to coronavirus."

It does show mortality rate at each Covid age. A healthy women of 30 has a 1 in 5000 chance of dying is she contracts Covid. Her DH of the same age is 50% more likely to die, her 60 year old mother is 23x more likely to die and her 85 year old granny is 300 x more likely to die. A BMI of 30 brings her risk up alongside her DH Young women are the least likely of adults to die from Covid by a long way

Young women are the least likely of all adults to die
Perhaps so.... whilst hospitals have capacity. If cases keep on rising, how do the sick get treatment?

These figures mean nothing if they do not go on to die
If they keep increasing, it means no access to hospital beds. Going on to die then becomes much more likely.

Also, quite how anyone can be so unbothered about potential long-term (possibly permanent) heart, lung, or brain damage (Long Covid) is beyond me.