Surfing the Waves: Differences in Hospitalised COVID-19 Patients across 4 Variant Waves in a Belgian University Hospital
The unprecedented COVID-19 pandemic took the form of successive variant waves, spreading across the globe. We wanted to investigate any shift in hospitalised patients’ profiles throughout the pandemic. For this study, we used a registry that collected data automatically from electronic patient healt...
| Main Authors: | , , , , , , |
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
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MDPI AG
2023-02-01
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| Series: | Viruses |
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| Online Access: | https://www.mdpi.com/1999-4915/15/3/618 |
| _version_ | 1797608635022442496 |
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| author | Lucie Seyler Els Van Nedervelde Diederik De Cock Claudia Mann Karen Pien Sabine D. Allard Thomas Demuyser |
| author_facet | Lucie Seyler Els Van Nedervelde Diederik De Cock Claudia Mann Karen Pien Sabine D. Allard Thomas Demuyser |
| author_sort | Lucie Seyler |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | The unprecedented COVID-19 pandemic took the form of successive variant waves, spreading across the globe. We wanted to investigate any shift in hospitalised patients’ profiles throughout the pandemic. For this study, we used a registry that collected data automatically from electronic patient health records. We compared clinical data and severity scores, using the National Institute of Health (NIH) severity scores, from all patients admitted for COVID-19 during four SARS-CoV-2 variant waves. Our study concluded that patients hospitalised for COVID-19 showed very different profiles across the four variant waves in Belgium. Patients were younger during the Alpha and Delta waves and frailer during the Omicron period. ‘Critical’ patients according to the NIH criteria formed the largest fraction among the Alpha wave patients (47.7%), while ‘severe’ patients formed the largest fraction among Omicron patients (61.6%). We discussed host factors, vaccination status, and other confounders to put this into perspective. High-quality real-life data remain crucial to inform stakeholders and policymakers that shifts in patients’ clinical profiles have an impact on clinical practice. |
| first_indexed | 2024-03-11T05:47:21Z |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj.art-9d79737860b04fc0ac04a3f4adcdcf2d |
| institution | Directory Open Access Journal |
| issn | 1999-4915 |
| language | English |
| last_indexed | 2024-03-11T05:47:21Z |
| publishDate | 2023-02-01 |
| publisher | MDPI AG |
| record_format | Article |
| series | Viruses |
| spelling | doaj.art-9d79737860b04fc0ac04a3f4adcdcf2d2023-11-17T14:21:57ZengMDPI AGViruses1999-49152023-02-0115361810.3390/v15030618Surfing the Waves: Differences in Hospitalised COVID-19 Patients across 4 Variant Waves in a Belgian University HospitalLucie Seyler0Els Van Nedervelde1Diederik De Cock2Claudia Mann3Karen Pien4Sabine D. Allard5Thomas Demuyser6Infectiology Research Group, Infectious Diseases Department, Universitair Ziekenhuis Brussel, Vrije Universiteit Brussel (VUB), 1090 Brussels, BelgiumInfectiology Research Group, Infectious Diseases Department, Universitair Ziekenhuis Brussel, Vrije Universiteit Brussel (VUB), 1090 Brussels, BelgiumBiostatistics and Medical Informatics Research Group, Department of Public Health, Faculty of Medicine and Pharmacy, Vrije Universiteit Brussel (VUB), 1090 Brussels, BelgiumInfectiology Research Group, Infectious Diseases Department, Universitair Ziekenhuis Brussel, Vrije Universiteit Brussel (VUB), 1090 Brussels, BelgiumMedical Registration, Universitair Ziekenhuis Brussel, 1090 Brussels, BelgiumInfectiology Research Group, Infectious Diseases Department, Universitair Ziekenhuis Brussel, Vrije Universiteit Brussel (VUB), 1090 Brussels, BelgiumDepartment of Microbiology and Infection Control, Universitair Ziekenhuis Brussel, Vrije Universiteit Brussel (VUB), 1090 Brussels, BelgiumThe unprecedented COVID-19 pandemic took the form of successive variant waves, spreading across the globe. We wanted to investigate any shift in hospitalised patients’ profiles throughout the pandemic. For this study, we used a registry that collected data automatically from electronic patient health records. We compared clinical data and severity scores, using the National Institute of Health (NIH) severity scores, from all patients admitted for COVID-19 during four SARS-CoV-2 variant waves. Our study concluded that patients hospitalised for COVID-19 showed very different profiles across the four variant waves in Belgium. Patients were younger during the Alpha and Delta waves and frailer during the Omicron period. ‘Critical’ patients according to the NIH criteria formed the largest fraction among the Alpha wave patients (47.7%), while ‘severe’ patients formed the largest fraction among Omicron patients (61.6%). We discussed host factors, vaccination status, and other confounders to put this into perspective. High-quality real-life data remain crucial to inform stakeholders and policymakers that shifts in patients’ clinical profiles have an impact on clinical practice.https://www.mdpi.com/1999-4915/15/3/618COVID-19SARS-CoV-2pandemicinpatientsdisease severityregistry data |
| spellingShingle | Lucie Seyler Els Van Nedervelde Diederik De Cock Claudia Mann Karen Pien Sabine D. Allard Thomas Demuyser Surfing the Waves: Differences in Hospitalised COVID-19 Patients across 4 Variant Waves in a Belgian University Hospital Viruses COVID-19 SARS-CoV-2 pandemic inpatients disease severity registry data |
| title | Surfing the Waves: Differences in Hospitalised COVID-19 Patients across 4 Variant Waves in a Belgian University Hospital |
| title_full | Surfing the Waves: Differences in Hospitalised COVID-19 Patients across 4 Variant Waves in a Belgian University Hospital |
| title_fullStr | Surfing the Waves: Differences in Hospitalised COVID-19 Patients across 4 Variant Waves in a Belgian University Hospital |
| title_full_unstemmed | Surfing the Waves: Differences in Hospitalised COVID-19 Patients across 4 Variant Waves in a Belgian University Hospital |
| title_short | Surfing the Waves: Differences in Hospitalised COVID-19 Patients across 4 Variant Waves in a Belgian University Hospital |
| title_sort | surfing the waves differences in hospitalised covid 19 patients across 4 variant waves in a belgian university hospital |
| topic | COVID-19 SARS-CoV-2 pandemic inpatients disease severity registry data |
| url | https://www.mdpi.com/1999-4915/15/3/618 |
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