In view of the concern regarding the medium to long-term adverse outcomes following acute coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19), researchers herein examined if there is a rise in the risks of hospital admission and death, overall and by specific cause, following discharge from a COVID-19 hospitalization.

• Researchers conducted systematic quantification of the extent to which the risk of dying or being readmitted to hospital is higher for people who have been in hospital with COVID-19 (n = 24,673) compared with people with similar demographic characteristics in the 2019 general population (n = 123,362), and people who had been hospitalized with influenza in 2017 to 2019 (n = 16,058).

• People who had had a COVID-19 hospitalization were noted to be more than twice as likely to be rehospitalized or die more than a week after discharge compared with people in the general population; there were higher risks overall and for a range of specific causes.

• Compared with influenza patients, broadly similar or lower risk of several outcomes were recorded for COVID-19 patients, however, there was a higher risk of death overall, readmissions or death due to the initial infection, and dementia death in COVID-19 patients.