American scientists made a surprising discovery: the majority of fatalities during the COVID-19 pandemic were caused not by the virus itself, but by its complications. Specialists from Northwestern University utilized artificial intelligence to examine patient medical data and determined that the primary cause of death stemmed from complications, rather than coronavirus.
Researchers analyzed medical records of over 500 individuals, 190 of whom were hospitalized with a confirmed COVID-19 diagnosis. Many of them already suffered from chronic respiratory system ailments.
Artificial intelligence aided in separating patients into groups and demonstrated that fatal outcomes were most often unrelated to cytokine storm, but were triggered by other factors.
Among the main reasons for death were ventilator-associated pneumonia—an inflammation of the lungs arising from prolonged use of a mechanical ventilation apparatus (MVL)—as well as secondary bacterial infections, which frequently developed in patients connected to respiratory support.
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