Hospital staff transfer deceased COVID-19 patients from a makeshift morgue to funeral home vehicles on April 22, 2020 in Brooklyn, behind Brooklyn Hospital in Brooklyn, New York. (Photo by Andrew Lichtenstein/Corbis via Getty Images)
NEW YORK - According to a new study, a majority of the people hospitalized for coronavirus in New York City had one ore more underlying health issues.
The study, which was published in the Journal of the American Medical Association, looked at health records from 5,700 patients who were hospitalized within the Northwell Health System.
Researchers found that roughly 94 percent of those patients had one or more underlying health conditions.
Data used in the research showed that the median age for patients was 63 years old, and about 53 percent of all patients had hypertension.
The study also found that a majority of patients who were on ventilators died, and those who did, more often had diabetes.
According to a recent state survey by New York health officials, 21 percent of the people tested in New York City had antibodies that suggested they had been exposed to the coronavirus.
Experts say that having antibodies is not necessarily proof that someone is immune to the virus.
At least 263,000 people statewide, including about 142,000 people in New York City, have tested positive for the coronavirus.