In Ecuador 60% of deaths from coronavirus are older adults

For each year of age of the infected person, there is a 10% increased risk of death.

With the pandemic, older adults are a risk group. Six out of 10 deaths from coronavirus belong to this segment of the population.

The number of deaths -between confirmed with PCR and probable tests- reached 10.996 and of these 60% correspond to people over 65, according to statistics from the Ministry of Health.

In other words, 6 out of 10 older adults failed to overcome the disease and the majority are men.

The reason is that along with the acquired virus they suffer from other diseases such as: hypertension, diabetes, coronary diseases, among others.

In March, a study published in the journal The Lancet, indicated that the mortality rate of Chinese patients between 60 and 69 years would be 4%, higher than the 1.4% of all patients. The rate for septuagenarians would be 8.6% and for people aged 80 and over, 13.4%.

The proportion of patients requiring hospitalization also increases with age: 4.3% for those between 40 and 49 years old; 11.8% for the sixties and 18.4% for the octogenarians.

Ciro Ugarte, director of the Pan American Health Organization (PAHO), explained that, in Ecuador, given the demand, there is limited access to the primary care system, which could be a factor in increasing the number of deaths in this group

For each year older than the infected person, there is a 10% higher risk of death in an Intensive Care Unit (ICU).

The official recommended contacting the medical areas through telephones or social networks so that the elderly, especially, are treated immediately.

Esther de Jesús, 105 years old, defeated the disease, once the doctors monitored her. This case was registered in Paltas-Loja.