COVID-19 Mortality 5.6 Times Greater for People with Illnesses, Survey by Japan’s Health Ministry Shows

From Jiji

September 4 2021

TOKYO – The mortality rate for COVID-19 among people with pre-existing health conditions such as chronic kidney disease is about 5.6 times greater than that of people without such illnesses, a survey by Japan’s health ministry showed Saturday.

The mortality rate for people with one or more of the nine factors seen to raise the risks of COVID-19 symptoms becoming severe stood at 2.28 pct, against 0.41 pct for those without the factors.

The nine factors include high blood pressure, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, cancer, diabetes and obesity, in addition to chronic kidney disease.

Of some 322,000 COVID-19 cases that were registered on the ministry’s HER-SYS system for managing data on coronavirus patients between April and June, the survey looked into roughly 103,000 cases that were registered with information about whether the nine factors were involved and calculated the mortality rate for these cases based on deaths through July 22.

The mortality rate was higher for people suffering more factors, with the rate standing at 1.38 pct for people with one factor, 3.80 pct for those with two, 5.20 pct for those with three and 9.69 pct for those with four or more.