Coronavirus: age, a vulnerability factor that remains to be assessed

4/17/2020, 7:31:09 PM

From the age of 70, the respiratory capacity and renal functions, two targets of the virus, are impaired. But it is not known whether age alone is an aggravating factor.

Since the start of the epidemic, people over 70 appear particularly vulnerable since they represent half of those hospitalized. Is this frailty directly linked to age? Or is it caused by the cardiovascular or respiratory pathologies frequent in this section of the population and known to be risk factors aggravating the disease? "This is a question that has preoccupied us for years," answers Professor Yves Rolland, geriatrician at the Toulouse University Hospital.

Read also: Coronavirus: are people over 75 automatically excluded from intensive care?

“Generally speaking, we know that the older you are, the higher your risk of getting serious infections. In fact, due to age-related physiological changes, you are less well equipped to respond to stress. In addition, this risk will be amplified by the associated comorbidities. This explains why the elderly in nursing homes are the most vulnerable. ” But what about the others? All these more and more people,