Young Adults May Face Severe COVID-19

Smoking Habits Trump Asthma, Obesity in Risk Factors for Otherwise Healthy Population.

As the number of young adults infected with the coronavirus surges throughout the nation, a new study by researchers at UC San Francisco Benioff Children’s Hospitals indicates that youth may not shield people from serious disease.

The study looked at data drawn from a nationally representative sample of approximately 8,400 men and women ages 18 to 25 and concluded that overall “medical vulnerability” was 33 percent for males and 30 percent for females. The impact of smoking surpassed other less common risks, the UCSF researchers reported in their study, which publishes in the Journal of Adolescent Health.