Abstract
Background
Due to the lack of a well-established definition, long COVID—unlike its acute counterpart—has been evading statewide surveillance systems. In October 2021, however, the adoption of an ICD-10-CM code for long COVID, created the prerequisite needed for such retrospective state-level surveillance of long COVID. To seize this opportunity and establish baseline information, we used Mississippi’s hospital discharge data to examine hospitalizations associated with long COVID.
Methods
Hospital discharge data are a population-level data source that captures data from all non-federal hospitals in the state and contains information on diagnoses, procedures, and resource utilization. In this cross-sectional study, we utilized the latest available data that incorporates long COVID diagnoses (10/01/2021-09/30/2022). The study included only adult Mississippi residents (≥ 18 years) and the unit of analysis was individual patients. We performed descriptive and inferential (chi-squared tests) statistical analyses.
Results
Among the 1,213 patients hospitalized with post-COVID-19 complications, the majority were white (69.7%), elderly (average age = 66), rural residents (60.3%), and females (53.8%). The most common comorbidities were hypertension (73.6%), diabetes (39.4%), chronic pulmonary disease (28.4%), and congestive heart failure (28.4%). Among long haulers, 22.1% were admitted to ICU, 13.6% needed respiratory support, and 8.5% died in the hospital. The in-hospital mortality proportion among long haulers did not differ by race, residence, or insurance status. In-hospital deaths were more likely to occur, however, among patients ≥ 65 years (68.7% vs. 56.3%, p < .01). Compared to survivors, deceased patients with long COVID had a slightly higher average number of comorbid conditions (2.8 vs. 2.2). For patients with long COVID, the mean length of stay was 11 days and the mean hospital charges were $109,739.
Conclusion
In our study, we identified that hypertension was highly prevalent among long haulers. The severity of illness as measured by ICU care, in-hospital mortality, length of stay, and hospital charges was also high among patients with long COVID. These findings underscore the importance of long-term surveillance of COVID-19 complications.
Disclosures
All Authors: No reported disclosures