By now, it has been established that COVID-19 infection leaves long-lasting impacts on the physical as well as mental well being of a patient. However, some individuals and group are more vulnerable to the virus than the other. This includes pregnant women, people with underlying health conditions, diabetics, cancer patients, and the elderly. Now, a study has also studied the impact of COVID in individuals with disabilities. 

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The study noted that people with disabilities who contract the coronavirus disease, are five times more likely to be hospitalised and eight times more likely to succumb to COVID-19 than the general population of England.

The research was conducted by English researchers and was published in BMJ Journal. It also found that among those with disabilities, people with learning issues like Down’s syndrome and cerebral palsy are particularly more vulnerable to COVID-19.

The team of researchers analysed the data for 14,312,023 adults and 2,627,018 children across both waves of the coronavirus pandemic to study its effect on people with disabilities. 

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The results of the study for the 90,307 adults on the disability register were as follows: 538 (or 0.6%) were hospitalised after being infected with COVID, while 222 or  (0.25%) dies due to COVID and 602 or 0.66% of fatalities were not related to COVID infection.

While the statistics of the individuals with no disability were as follows, 29,781 (or 0.20%) had a COVID-related hospitalisation, there were 13,737 deaths (0.1%) due to the viral disease and 69,837 fatalities (0.5%) fatalities were not related to it.

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However, the researchers clarified that these were observational findings and, as such, have some limitations, including focusing only on severe COVID-19 outcomes and the inability to identify everyone with a learning disability from medical records alone.

Conclusively, the study said that in addition to obvious ways like vaccination, it is important for the authorities to take some additional efforts to protect people with disabilities from COVID-19. It also called for further research on the excess coronavirus risks on people with Down’s Syndrome and cerebral palsy.