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More Pennsylvanians were hospitalized for COVID-19 complications during the first four months of the pandemic than the seasonal flu in any of the last four years, according to a new study
In-hospital deaths for those Pennsylvanians as a result of COVID complications far outnumbered seasonal flu deaths for the year during the same period.
The new Pennsylvania Health Care Cost Containment Council research brief found nearly 20,000 patients were hospitalized between March and June, a nearly 50% higher rate than the average annual number of seasonal flu hospital stays between 2017 and 2020.
Those COVID patients spent a total of 168,511 days in the hospital with the average stay of roughly nine days. A little more than 17% of the patients were hospitalized 14 days or longer, researchers found.
“Hospital admission data will be an important resource as health researchers and health care professionals grapple with the important pandemic-related questions facing the Commonwealth,” said Joe Martin, executive director of the council, an independent state agency charged with analyzing health data.
Both the number of hospitalizations and the rate of in-hospital mortality were highest in April during the first four months of the pandemic, according to the brief’s key findings.
During those earliest months, 19,177 Pennsylvania residents were hospitalized with COVID-complications, and a little more than 16% died during a hospital stay, the researchers found.
Hospitalization rates were higher for men ages 55 and older living in areas where at least 25% of the population lives in poverty.
When the researchers compared COVID-related hospitalizations with seasonal flu they found dramatic differences particularly with outcomes.
The influenza-related hospitalizations ranged from a low of 10,157 last year to a high of 17,868 in 2018 for the year. The annual in-hospital death rates for flu were far lower at roughly 2.8% over the last four years.
On average virtually all Pennsylvania hospital stays related to flu complications during the four-year period occurred between October and May, according to the brief.
Hospitalizations were higher in the state’s eastern counties including Bucks and Montgomery, which were early epicenters for the virus, according to the research brief.
Both Bucks and Montgomery County hospitalizations per 10,000 residents were above the state rate of 14.5 between March and June.
The counties with the highest hospitalization rates early in the pandemic were Philadelphia (44.1), Delaware (30.3), Northampton (23.7), Montgomery (20.4) and Monroe (19.1). The rate in Bucks County was 16.7 per 10,000 residents.
The results of the early research will be used to form a basis for continued comparison as subsequent data becomes available, Martin said.
