OSU Researchers Develop Tool To Predict COVID-19 Risk

Researchers at Oklahoma State University are testing a program to evaluate a patient’s risk of severe illness after contracting COVID-19. 

Dr. Zhuqi Miao, the health data science program manager at the OSU Center for Health Systems Innovation, said the program could help doctors predict if someone is likely to react fatally to the virus. 

“I think this is especially important at this point, when hospitals are under tremendous pressure to take care of so many patients,” he said. 

Using anonymous data from more than 18,000 patients, Miao said the program was able to predict if the patient would die from the virus with a rate of accuracy of nearly 75%. 

The technology is not in use at any hospital yet, Miao said, as the university is still testing in order to receive authorization from the U.S. Food and Drug Administration. 

Several conditions can increase the chance of someone having a fatal reaction to COVID-19 according to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, including obesity, serious heart conditions, diabetes, and more.  

Miao said their preliminary modeling also found other conditions and demographic information linked to a higher mortality rate. 

“The Hispanic demographics and also males seem to have a higher risk,” Miao said. “Of course, those risk factors need to be further validated with more data and more trials.”