Every second death of patients hospitalized during it epidemic wave “Omicron” in COVID-19 Clinic at People’s HospitalIt wasn’t because of the coronavirus. The patients were hospitalized for another health problem, tested positive for the virus, but had no symptoms or needed treatment for the virus. COVID-19. This study, conducted by a team of researchers led by EKPA Professor of Pathological Physiology-Infection, Nikos Sipsademonstrates what most clinicians and health authorities in the country report: namely, that a significant proportion deaths reported as COVIDa specific disease is not responsible for the fate of the patient.

Our country continues to follow his instructions World Health Organization, under which any patient who tests positive for the virus is ultimately declared dead from COVID-19. However, the health minister Thanos Pleuris announced that soon – probably from next week – the announcement of deaths from COVID-19 will also be accompanied by an analysis of how many of them are related to the coronavirus, and how many are for patients who ended up with other serious health problems and tested positive result for coronavirus. coronavirus.

“The change in data presentation is important because the epidemiology of COVID-19 has also changed. We now have many reinfections and many asymptomatic patients who test positive for the virus.” indicates “K” EODY President Theoklis Zautis. And he adds: “EODY has always investigated deaths. We are now asking hospitals to provide us with additional information, such as whether patients had symptoms and received treatment for COVID-19 during their stay.”

These criteria were also used in the study of the research group led by Mr. Sypsa. In particular, the study (Samara S., Basulis D., Iliadi E., Voutsinas P.-M., Karamanakos G., Makrodimitri S., Georgakopoulou V., Sipsas N.) included all patients who died in the infectious diseases department . – COVID from January 1, 2022 to April 15, 2022. For each patient, the death certificate, medical/nursing record and the opinion of the attending physician were retrospectively examined. Each death was classified as “due to COVID”, as “due to another cause, but COVID was involved in death”, or as “due to another disease in which SARS-CoV-2 infection played no role”. The latter category included patients who were hospitalized for another reason and tested positive on routine screening, had no clinical symptoms or laboratory findings consistent with COVID-19, and have never received treatment for COVID-19.

A total of 126 deaths registered at the clinic were studied. Based on established criteria, 41 (31.7%) deaths were classified as due to COVID-19, 25 (19.8%) as due to other causes but involving COVID-19, and 60 (47.6%) death – as related to other causes where there was no COVID-19 infection. Other causes include generalized carcinomatosis, hematologic malignancy, end-stage renal/cardiac/liver failure, postoperative complications, and nosocomial infection.

Such as underlined in “K” Mr. Sypsas, the picture from other European countries is similar. Tellingly, Denmark’s relevant EODY recently reported that 45% of the deaths recorded in COVID-19 reports for the two months of February-March 2022 involved patients who tested positive for the virus but whose death was unrelated to it. “Little by little, similar data will be issued by others,” he notes and adds that “it is possible that in this phase of the epidemic, the percentage of deaths of patients with COVID-19, where the infection did not participate in the occurrence of death, is higher. “From my own clinical experience, I estimate that more than half of the deaths are now related to COVID-19, and not from COVID-19,” he emphasizes. From 01/01/2022 to 07/31/2022, a new retrospective study of the causes of death of patients in large hospital COVID dispensaries is being conducted. Its first results are expected at the end of September.