What’s YOUR chance of getting hospitalized by COVID? 23andMe’s online tool tells you your risk of a severe infection based on age, height, weight, ethnicity and exercise

• The COVID-19 Severity Calculator was developed by genetic testing company 23andMe and was launched on Wednesday
• Users are asked to enter their age, sex, ethnicity, weight, height, how often they exercise and if they have any pre-existing conditions 

DNA testing company 23andMe has launched an online tool that suggests whether you are at a heightened risk of getting a severe case of coronavirus.

The COVID-19 Severity Calculator asks your age, sex, ethnicity, weight, height, how often they exercise and if they have any pre-existing conditions.   

From there, the calculator tells you how likely you are with these characteristics were hospitalized with the virus.

Click on the link here to find out how likely you are to be hospitalized with the virus.

For example, a 30-year-old white man who weighs less than 200lbs, is 5ft 10in tall, exercises up to four times a week and has no underlying health conditions has between 1 to 5 percent chance of being hospitalized. 

A black man of the same age, weight and height with no underlying health conditions who exercised more than five times a week has a 6 percent chance. 

The COVID-19 Severity Calculator was developed by genetic testing company 23andMe and was launched on Wednesday

Users are asked to enter their age, sex, ethnicity, weight, height, how often they exercise and if they have any pre-existing conditions

Based on data looking at 10,000 COVID-19 patients, the tool reveals how likely someone is to be hospitalized with the virus

For example, if you are Hispanic male in his 60s who is 5’2′ and weighs 150 pounds with fatty liver disease, the risk of hospitalization is around 22%

If you are a white female in her 20s who weighs about 160 pounds and is 5ft 7ins with high blood pressure, you have a one to five percent risk of being hospitalized with COVID-19. 

An African-American woman in her 40s who weighs 150lbs, is 5ft 5ins, has high blood pressure and does no weekly exercise has a 9 percent chance of a severe reaction.

A 70-year-old Hispanic or Latino man who weighs 170lbs, is 6ft 1ins and has Type 2 diabetes has a 19 percent chance of a bad infection.  

If you are an African-American male in his 40s who weighs 210 pounds, is 5ft 11in and has Type 2 diabetes, the risk is around 13 percent.

In addition, if you are Hispanic male in his 60s who is 5’2′ and weighs 150 pounds with fatty liver disease, the risk of hospitalization is around 22 percent. 

The data the calculator uses comes from a COVID-19 study 23andMe ran with one million participants that began in April.

Of that total, 10,000 tested positive for the disease and approximately 750 of them were hospitalized. 

Researchers then created an algorithm based on the data to determine the likelihood of hospitalization for different groups of people.

The calculator does not look at genetic factors passed down from a parent, such as genetic mutations that lead to disorders like sickle cell anemia or Down Syndrome.  

‘We quickly published the results and sought ways to help people benefit more directly from the research,’ Anne Wojcicki, co-founder and CEO of 23andMe, told Bloomberg. 

‘We’ve found giving people actionable information – like this tool – drives meaningful results.’ 

After years of growing revenue, people stopped buying DNA testing kits, leading 23andMe to lay off 100 employees, or about 14 percent of its workforce, in January 2020, reported CNBC.   

Wojcicki told Bloomberg that the company hopes to become more valuable by bringing its customers ‘useful health information.’

‘More than 75 percent of our customers have told us they’ve taken a positive health action based on their 23andMe results,’ she told the news organization. 

This calculator is not the only work the company has done analyzing COVID-19 risk.

In June 2020, the company published preliminary data suggesting that having a certain blood type may help protect people against coronavirus.

Results showed those with type O blood were up to 18 percent less likely to test positive for COVID-19.

Additionally, oeioke who had the blood type, and had been exposed, were up to 26 percent less likely to contract the disease. 

Researchers identified a variant in the ABO gene, responsible for different blood types, that was associated with a lower risk.

‘The study and recruitment are ongoing, with the hope that we can use our research platform to better understand differences in how people respond to the virus,’ a statement on the 23andMe blog read.

‘Ultimately, we hope to publish our research findings in order to provide more insight into COVID-19 for the scientific community.’

 

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