According to a new study published in Annals of Internal Medicine, down syndrome can increase the death risk of a Covid-19 patient by ten-fold.
Down syndrome is a condition in which a child is born with an extra copy of their 21st chromosome. This syndrome leads to delays in physical and mental developmental.
Study author wrote, “Although the down syndrome was not specifically mentioned on official lists of conditions that put people at increased risk, the condition is associated with immune dysfunction, congenital heart disease, and pulmonary pathology.”
Therefore, the syndrome could be an unconfirmed risk factor for severe Covid-19.
Researchers from the University of Oxford, the University of Nottingham, and the University College London analysed a cohort of 8.26 million adults through a ‘QResearch’. This was done to know if the down syndrome is a risk factor for death from Covid-19.
The authors of the study found that an estimated a 4-fold increased risk for Covid-19-related hospitalisation and a 10-fold increased risk for Covid-19-related death in persons with Down syndrome.
“We are unaware of the effects of down syndrome on Covid-19 outcomes being reported elsewhere yet during this pandemic,” the study authors wrote in their paper.
They further noted that this novel evidence should be used by public health organisations, policymakers, and health care workers to strategically protect vulnerable individuals.