CDC: Characteristics of patients who died with COVID-19, February 12-May 18

Editor's Note

This July 10 report from the Centers for Disease Control & Prevention (CDC) provides detailed demographic and clinical information on a subset of 10,647 people who died with COVID-19 (ie, decedents) in 16 US public health jurisdictions between February 12 and May 18.

The researchers found that:

• 60.6% of decedents were male
• 74.8% of decedents were 65 years of age or older
• 76.4% of decedents had underlying medical conditions
• 34.9% of Hispanic and 29.5% of nonwhite decedents were less than 65 years of age, compared with 13.2% of white, non-Hispanic decedents
• of decedents less than 65 years of age, 7.8% died in an emergency department or at home
• 93.9% of decedents resided in New York City, New Jersey, or the state of Washington.

Understanding factors contributing to racial/ethnic mortality differences and out-of-hospital deaths might encourage at-risk groups to practice preventive measures and promptly seek medical care if they become ill, the researchers say.