ORIGINAL RESEARCH article
Front. Public Health
Sec. Infectious Diseases: Epidemiology and Prevention
Volume 13 - 2025 | doi: 10.3389/fpubh.2025.1565677
This article is part of the Research TopicSARS-CoV-2: Virology, Epidemiology, Diagnosis, Pathogenesis and Control, Volume IIView all 6 articles
Baseline medication load and long-term outcomes in COVID-19hospitalized patients: results of the AUTCOVSTUDY
Provisionally accepted
Alexandra Graf1
Berthold Reichardt2Christine Wagenlechner1Pavla Krotka1Denise Traxler-Weidenauer1
Michael Mildner1Julia Mascherbauer3
Clemens Aigner1Johann Auer4Ralph Wendt5
Hendrik Jan Leonard Ankersmit1*- 1Medical University of Vienna, Vienna, Austria
- 2Austrian Social Health Insurance Fund, Eisenstadt, Austria
- 3University Hospital St. Poelten, St. Poelten, Austria
- 4St. Josef Hospital Braunau, Braunau, Austria
- 5University Hospital Leipzig, Leipzig, Lower Saxony, Germany
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Limited data are available on long-term morbidity and mortality after COVID-19 hospitalization. In this registry-based study, we investigated the long-term mortality and morbidity after COVID-19 hospitalization and associations with baseline medication load. Data were provided on hospitalized COVID-19 patients in 2020 and matched controls by the Austrian Health Insurance Funds. The primary outcome was mortality. Secondary outcomes were mortality conditional on COVID-hospital survival and re-hospitalization. The median follow-up was 600 days. 22 571 patients aged >18 years were hospitalized in Austria in 2020 due to COVID-19. The risk of mortality was significantly higher with polypharmacy. With the exception of the youngest age group (19-40 years), patients receiving antiepileptics, antipsychotics or iron supplements, erythropoietic stimulating agents, Vitamin B12, and folic acid in the year before hospitalization described patients significantly associated with a higher risk of death (all p<0,001). For patients with prescribed non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs and other anti-inflammatory drugs, significantly increased survival was observed (all p<0,001). Patients had a higher medication load than the control population. Long-term mortality and the risk of re-hospitalization due to any reason were also significantly greater in the patients. Antipsychotics and antidepressants are assumed to be underrecognized to identify patients at risk for severe outcomes after COVID-19 hospitalization.
Keywords: COVID-19 hospitalization, All-cause mortality, Polypharmacy, baseline medication load, Readmission, population-based observational study
Received: 23 Jan 2025; Accepted: 09 May 2025.
Copyright: © 2025 Graf, Reichardt, Wagenlechner, Krotka, Traxler-Weidenauer, Mildner, Mascherbauer, Aigner, Auer, Wendt and Ankersmit. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) or licensor are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.
* Correspondence: Hendrik Jan Leonard Ankersmit, Medical University of Vienna, Vienna, Austria
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