COVID vs. Flu: Which Is Deadlier?

Feb. 17, 2023 – COVID-19 stays deadlier than influenza in extreme circumstances requiring hospitalization, a brand new examine exhibits.

Individuals who have been hospitalized with Omicron COVID-19 infections have been 54% extra more likely to die, in comparison with individuals who have been hospitalized with the flu, Swiss researchers discovered.

The outcomes of the examine proceed to debunk an earlier perception from the beginning of the pandemic that the flu was the extra harmful of the 2 respiratory viruses. Researchers famous that the deadliness of COVID-19 in comparison with flu persevered “regardless of virus evolution and improved administration methods.”

The examine was revealed this week in JAMA Community Open and included 5,212 sufferers in  Switzerland hospitalized with COVID-19 or the flu. All of the COVID sufferers have been contaminated with the Omicron variant and hospitalized between Jan. 15, 2022, and March 15, 2022. Flu knowledge included circumstances from January 2018 to March 15, 2022. 

Total, 7% of COVID-19 sufferers died, in comparison with 4.4% of flu sufferers. Researchers famous that the loss of life price for hospitalized COVID sufferers had declined since their earlier examine, which was carried out throughout the first COVID wave within the first half of 2020. At the moment, the loss of life price of hospitalized COVID sufferers was 12.8%. 

Since then, 98% of the Swiss inhabitants has been vaccinated. “Vaccination nonetheless performs a major function relating to the primary final result,” the authors concluded, since a secondary evaluation on this most up-to-date examine confirmed that unvaccinated COVID sufferers have been twice as more likely to die in comparison with flu sufferers.

“Our outcomes show that COVID-19 nonetheless can not merely be in contrast with influenza,” they wrote.

Whereas the loss of life price amongst COVID sufferers was considerably greater, there was no distinction within the price that COVID or flu sufferers have been admitted to the intensive care unit, which was round 8%.

A limitation of the examine was that every one the COVID circumstances didn’t have laboratory testing to substantiate the Omicron variant. Nevertheless, examine authors famous that Omicron accounted for at the least 95% of circumstances throughout the time the sufferers have been hospitalized. The authors acknowledged that they have been assured that their outcomes weren’t biased by the potential for different variants being included within the knowledge.