Volume 29, Number 3—March 2023
Research Letter
New Postmortem Perspective on Emerging SARS-CoV-2 Variants of Concern, Germany
Fabian Heinrich1
, Tobias Huter1, Sophie Mertens, Philine Lange, Jessica Vering, Axel Heinemann, Dominik Sebastian Nörz, Armin Hoffmann, Martin Aepfelbacher, Benjamin Ondruschka1, Susanne Krasemann1, and Marc Lütgehetmann1
, Tobias Huter1, Sophie Mertens, Philine Lange, Jessica Vering, Axel Heinemann, Dominik Sebastian Nörz, Armin Hoffmann, Martin Aepfelbacher, Benjamin Ondruschka1, Susanne Krasemann1, and Marc Lütgehetmann1
Table
Baseline characteristics of persons whose deaths were associated with SARS-CoV-2 infection, grouped according to SARS-CoV-2 virus variant in study of new postmortem perspective on emerging SARS-CoV-2 variants of concern, Germany*
| Variable | Non-VOC lineages | B.1.1.7† | B.1.617.2† | B.1.1.529† | p value | Cohort total |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| No. corpses |
23 |
7 |
4 |
15 |
NA |
49 |
| Age, y, median (IQR) |
76.0 (70.0–85.0) |
75.0 (52.0–77.0) |
50.5 (42.5–70.0) |
75.0 (58.0–87.0) |
0.29 |
75.0 (63.0–85.0) |
| Sex | 0.31 | |||||
| M | 15 (65.2) | 4 (57.1) | 2 (50.0) | 5 (33.3) | NA | 26 (53.1) |
| F |
8 (34.8) |
3 (42.9) |
2 (50.0) |
10 (66.7) |
NA |
23 (46.9) |
| BMI, kg/m2, median (IQR) |
25.3 (20.7–31.9) |
29.5 (26.1–34.8) |
38.4 (16.5–42.9) |
22.6 (18.8–23.6) |
0.02 |
24.8 (20.7–31.0) |
| COVID-19 deaths |
20 (87.0) |
6 (85.7) |
3 (75.0) |
3 (20.0) |
<0.0001 |
32 (65.3) |
| No. underlying conditions, median (IQR) |
4.0 (3.0–4.0) |
2.0 (2.0–3.0) |
3.0 (2.0–5.0) |
4.0 (2.0–5.0) |
0.24 |
3.5 (2.0–4.0) |
| Place of death | 0.23 | |||||
| Home | 5 (21.7) | 3 (42.9) | 0 (0.0) | 5 (33.3) | NA | 13 (26.5) |
| Normal ward | 9 (39.1) | 2 (28.6) | 2 (50.0) | 2 (13.3) | NA | 15 (30.6) |
| ICU | 5 (21.7) | 2 (28.6) | 2 (50.0) | 2 (13.3) | NA | 11 (22.4) |
| Other |
4 (17.4) |
0 (0.0) |
0 (0.0) |
6 (40.0) |
NA |
10 (20.4) |
| PMI, d, median (IQR) |
1.0 (0.0–1.0) |
3.0 (1.0–6.0) |
1.0 (1.0–1.5) |
0.0 (0.0–1.0) |
0.03 |
1.0 (0.0–2.0) |
| Vaccination | 0 (0.0) | 1 (7.7) | 1 (7.7) | 11 (84.6) | <0.0001 | 13 (27.1) |
*Corpses were admitted to the Institute of Legal Medicine, University Medical Center Hamburg-Eppendorf, Hamburg, Germany, for autopsy during 2020–22. Values are no. (%) unless otherwise noted. BMI, body mass index; ICU, intensive care unit; IQR, interquartile range; NA, not applicable; PMI, postmortem interval (time elapsed from death until cooling at 4°C); VOC, variant of concern. †VOC lineages B.1.1.7 (Alpha), B.1.617.2 (Delta), and B.1.1.529 (Omicron).
1These authors contributed equally to this article.
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