ByJERUSALEM POST STAFF

People diagnosed with certain severe learning disabilities may be at a significantly higher risk of suffering severe COVID-19 symptoms and dying – should they become infected, a new academic study claimed on Thursday. 

Published in the academic journal The BMJ, the study examined people with learning disabilities as well as cerebral palsy and Down's syndrome were as much as five times as likely to need hospitalization due to COVID-19 and eight times more likely to die, when compared to the rest of the population of England.
Though the statistics do point to an obvious higher risk for people with learning disabilities, this does not indicate a causal link between the disabilities themselves and the severity of the virus, though the presence of comorbidities do exist. Rather, the correlation is believed to be linked to this demographic being especially vulnerable and disadvantaged in medical care. 

Those with disabilities often struggle to receive care, and often need lifelong support. However, as acknowledged in 2019 as part of the National Health System's (NHS) Long Term Plan, there was already existing inequality in the system.

But what is especially notable, and disturbing, was the study's noting of the use of DNACPR (Do Not Attempt Cardiopulmonary Resuscitation) orders during the pandemic, as they noted many feared that prioritization for care would be given based on age and the extent of one's cognitive impairment.

Though the study itself has some limitations, such as being unable to identify all people with learning disabilities based purely on medical records, it does hold water with preexisting medical literature, with the study noting that people in the UK with learning disabilities die on average 20 years earlier than others.

To combat this, the study's authors, Ken Courtenay at the Royal College of Psychiatrists and Vivien Cooper at the Challenging Behaviour Foundation, noted how essential it was to research into helping those with learning disabilities from being at such high risk of hospitalization and death from the ongoing pandemic.