WEDNESDAY, June 24, 2020 (HealthDay News) -- Characteristics that are independently associated with hospitalization for COVID-19 include older age, black race, and having diabetes mellitus, according to research published in the June 17 early-release issue of the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report.

Marie E. Killerby, from the CDC COVID-19 Emergency Response Team, and colleagues abstracted data from the medical records of 220 hospitalized and 311 nonhospitalized patients aged ≥18 years with laboratory-confirmed COVID-19 from six acute care hospitals and associated outpatient clinics in Atlanta to identify patient characteristics associated with hospitalization.

The researchers found that age ≥65 years, black race, having diabetes mellitus, lack of insurance, male sex, smoking, and obesity were independently associated with hospitalization (adjusted odds ratios, 3.4, 3.2, 3.1, 2.8, 2.4, 2.3, and 1.9, respectively).

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