What is Your Risk of Dying from COVID-19 for your Age Group?

A study published in the Annals of Internal Medicine from the Indiana University, Infection Fatality Ratios for COVID-19 Among Noninstitutionalized Persons 12 and Older, answered that question.

The Infection fatality rate (IFR) is the number of people who die among those who have COVID infections.

IFR = (COVID Deaths / COVID Infections)

People who live in nursing homes, residences for senior citizens, correctional and custodial facilities are examples of institutionalized persons.

Non-institutionalized are those living in their own homes, separate from other people.

It is important to separate the institutionalized and noninstitutionalized death rates since the population characteristics are different.  Institutionalized individuals like those in nursing homes are more vulnerable due to age and chronic illnesses. Thus they tend to get more sick, spread infections, and have a higher COVID-19 death rate.

It is also important to separate the deaths among age groups because of differences in the immune system, co-morbidities like diabetes and hypertension, environmental exposures, and levels of physical activities.

In the first study, the authors did not include the nursing home deaths since they account for 54.9% of the deaths in Indiana.

Here are the IFR among noninstitutionalized persons aged ≥12 years in Indiana, 2019

What Is Your Risk Of Dying From Covid-19 For Your Age Group?

In another study of 45 countries, the IFR among age groups was also determined. Compared with the previous study, the age groups are smaller, and there is more appreciation of the IFR per age.

 

What Is Your Risk Of Dying From Covid-19 For Your Age Group?
Source: Age-Specific Mortality And Immunity Patterns Of Sars-Cov-2. Nature. 2021 Feb;590(7844):140-145.

 

To add context, the following are the case-fatality rates of other infectious diseases. Case Fatality Rate is the same as Infection Fatality Rate, but it is defined for a particular period.

 

What Is Your Risk Of Dying From Covid-19 For Your Age Group?

In my clinical practice, I have seen many elderly patients from 70-80 years of age, including those with diabetes, hypertension, and chronic lung diseases that have survived COVID-19, who are all doing well.

After looking at the data for your age group, would you still like to get vaccinated?

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