MedPageToday However, estimated COVID-related hospitalizations and deaths did decrease from 2022 to 2024. Despite the end to the public health emergency declaration in May 2023, COVID-19 continued to have a large impact on the U.S. population and healthcare system, a cross-sectional study suggested.
From October 2022 to September 2023, there were an estimated 43.6 million COVID-associated illnesses, 10 million outpatient visits, 1.1 million hospitalizations, and 101,300 deaths, which dropped to an estimated 33 million COVID-associated illnesses, 7.7 million outpatient visits, 879,100 hospitalizations, and 100,800 deaths from October 2023 to September 2024, reported Emilia Koumans, MD, of the CDC’s National Center for Immunization and Respiratory Diseases, and colleagues.
From 2022-2023 to 2023-2024, estimated national COVID-related hospitalizations and deaths slid by a median 22.2% and 1.0%, respectively, they wrote in JAMA Internal Medicine.
By comparison, influenza caused 470,676 hospitalizations and 27,965 deaths during the 2023-2024 flu season, according to CDC estimates — reflecting a much lower burden.
Koumans and team pointed out that while adults ages 65 and older make up 17.7% of the U.S. population, this group bore a disproportionately large percentage of the COVID illness burden, accounting for 47.9% of COVID-associated illnesses, 64.3% of outpatient visits, 67.6% of hospitalizations, and 81.2% of deaths.
Patients ages 65 and older had the highest estimated hospitalization rates, at 48 per 100,000 people in January 2023, followed by those ages 0-5 months, who had hospitalization rates of 33 per 100,000 in December 2022. By December 2023, estimated hospitalization rates for these two groups were 39 per 100,000 and 26 per 100,000, respectively.