Omicron-infected persons are 36 percent less likely to be hospitalized than Delta-infected people, according to a study in Denmark.

The study also discovered that both vaccinated and unvaccinated patients had a lower risk of hospitalization for Omicron, implying that the lower risk is due to Omicron’s milder severity. Overall, vaccination was connected to a 76 percent decreased chance of hospitalization, according to the study.

People infected with the omicron variant of SARS-CoV-2 are 36 percent less likely to be hospitalized than those infected with the delta variant, according to new research presented at this year’s ECCMID 2022, and published in The Lancet Infectious Diseases. Dr. Peter Bager of the Statens Serum Institut in Copenhagen, Denmark, and colleagues conducted the research.

The authors included all PCR confirmed cases of SARS-CoV-2 infection in Denmark in this observational cohort analysis, using samples taken between Nov 21 (date of first omicron-positive sample) and Dec 19, 2021. Individuals were identified using information from the national COVID-19 surveillance system database, which contained findings from a variant-specific PCR test that found omicron cases as well as information on SARS-CoV-2-related hospitalizations.

38 669 (20.5 percent) of the 188 980 SARS-CoV-2 infected people had the omicron variant. Overall, 124 313 (66 percent) of 188 980 people were vaccinated, and vaccination was linked to a 76 percent lower risk of hospitalization (71 percent lower risk for omicron cases, 76 percent lower risk for delta cases) as compared to those that received no vaccine or only one dose (in this research, patients with zero or only one dose of vaccine were classified in one group as unvaccinated because very few were infected or hospitalized after only one dose).

A total of 222 (0.6 percent) of the 38 669 omicron cases were hospitalized, compared to 2213 (1.5 percent) of the 150 311 delta cases. When confounding factors were taken into account, omicron infection was linked to a 36 percent lower risk of hospitalization compared to the delta variant. When the authors looked at the effect of immunization, they discovered that those who had zero or one dose of vaccine had a 43 percent lower chance of hospitalization for omicron versus delta, 29 percent for those who received two doses, and 50 percent for those who received three doses.

Individuals with omicron were younger, had fewer comorbidities, and were more likely to have been infected with SARS-CoV-2 than those with delta. In terms of age, comorbidities, and reinfection, omicron compared to delta showed a similar pattern in hospitalized cases. More women (61 percent) than men (39 percent) were hospitalized omicron cases, whereas 51 percent of men and 49 percent of women were hospitalized delta cases (see table 1 in full paper).

The team “found a significantly lower risk of hospitalisation with omicron infection compared with delta infection among both vaccinated and unvaccinated individuals, suggesting an inherent reduced severity of omicron. Our results could guide modelling of the effect of the ongoing global omicron wave and thus health-care system preparedness.”

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