In a heartening development surrounding COVID-19 recoveries, a 96-year-old yoga practitioner who was infected in August and successfully underwent a hip surgery in Bengaluru private hospital is on the way to full recovery. The patient--Shastri--recently suffered a mild stroke and has a history of hypertension. He had tested positive for the novel coronavirus in early August and was kept on oxygen support prior to his recovery. However, during his treatment at another private medical facility he had accidentally fallen and sustained a complex fracture of the left hip rendering him immobile.
For the treatment of his hip, he was referred to Manipal Hospital, Whitefield. The hospital said the concurrent presence of COVID-19 infection in patients with a hip fracture came with a major risk of complications associated with surgeries in general which puts the patient at a greater risk of mortality. According to medical literature, hip fracture along with COVID-19 carries a 2.4 fold risk of 30-day mortality, the hospital said. They said, “Mr.Shastri, was quite assertive about his decision to undergo the hip surgery. Being an avid yoga practitioner and performing regular exercises, he was quite eager to regain his ability to lead an independent life.”
Incidentally the hospital said that this was the third successful hip surgery that was done on COVID-19 patients at their facility.
Dr Kumardev Arvind Rajamanya, the operating surgeon, said, “Presently, one and a half months post-surgery, patient is doing well and is stable and it’s a matter of time before he starts walking independently. The recovery from COVID -19 infection and a complex hip fracture is an ode to his indomitable spirit and a healthy and active lifestyle which he led previously.”
Dr Rajamanya emphasised that apart from a skilled multidisciplinary approach, comprising of orthopedicians, intensivists, physicians, pulmonologists, anesthetists, cardiologists and physiotherapists, the presence of a motivated mind and a prior healthy and active lifestyle in a geriatric patient is of paramount importance in the post-surgical recovery period.
Mortality rate of 70+ age group close to double of average
According to data compiled in the BBMP COVID-19 War Room, out of all the COVID-19 cases, 4.68% are from the 70+ years age category. As of October 13, Bengaluru has 2,88,831 cumulative positive cases meaning the number of patients in the 70+ category is 13,517, states the War Room report dated October 13. In terms of fatalities, Bengaluru has 3,391 patients who have died from COVID-19 and comorbidities. And going by the same data, 290 (8.55%) are from the 70+ group. This put the case fatality ratio of the 70+ age group at 2.1% meaning for every 100 positive patients, 2.1 patients succumb to the virus. This when the mortality rate of the entire Bengaluru population as of date is at 1.17%.
A study in March done by the Imperial College London in March had found that the mortality rate drastically increased in the 80+ age group. The study had found that the mortality was at 13.4% for patients over 80 compared to 1.25% for patients in their 50s.