Immune System's Natural Aging Process Explains Why COVID-19 Is More Dangerous for Seniors

A study in Lancet Infectious Diseases estimates the fatality rate for people 80 years and older who contract COVID-19 to be 13.4 percent, reports Philly Voice . Moreover, up to 18.4 percent of people over 80 in the study needed hospital care compared to 12 percent of those in their 60s and 3.4 percent of those in their 30s. According to health experts, higher vulnerability to COVID-19 also is driven by comorbidities. "Having multiple chronic diseases and frailty is in many ways as or more important than chronological age," said the University of Connecticut's George Kuchel. "An 80-year-old who is otherwise healthy and not frail might be more resilient in fighting off infection than a 60-year-old with many chronic conditions." The body's immune system also loses effectiveness as we age, marked by decreasing production of T cells. Declining production of leukocytes, which instruct the T cells on what pathogens to attack, also is a factor.