Decreasing median age of COVID-19 cases in the United States-Changing epidemiology or changing surveillance?

Dina N GreeneMichael L JacksonDavid R HillyardJulio C DelgadoRobert L Schmidt

Published in: PloS one (2020)

We confirm that there is a trend toward decreasing age among persons with laboratory-confirmed SARS-CoV-2 infection, but that these trends seem to be specific to the outpatient population. Overall, this suggests that observed age-related trends are driven by changes in testing patterns rather than true changes in the epidemiology of SARS-CoV-2 infection. This calls for caution in interpretation of routine surveillance data until testing patterns stabilize.

Keyphrases

respiratory syndrome coronavirus
public health
sars cov
coronavirus disease
risk factors
electronic health record
clinical practice
machine learning
data analysis