The new tool uses algorithms to analyze factors such as a person’s age, ethnicity, and any pre-existing health conditions to determine the risk of death if the virus is contracted, as Covid-19 has been shown to affect people differently.
“The tool provides an assessment of individualized mortality rates by Covid-19 using the best publicly available information on risks associated with various predisposing factors,” the website explains.
The calculator, which is intended to be used by individuals in the US who are not currently infected, starts by asking users for their age, zip code, race or ethnicity they most identify with, the gender assigned at the birth and their height. and weight.
The tool then asks individuals to indicate whether they have smoked before asking users if they have been diagnosed with pre-existing conditions such as asthma, hypertension or diabetes.
After completing the questions, the calculator identifies a person’s risk category from one of the following categories: near or below average, moderately high, substantially elevated, high, or very high.
To continue to accurately determine a risk level, the calculator is updated weekly with community and state level statistics, giving users a broader view.
“People can broadly understand that with a pre-existing condition, such as obesity or diabetes, they are at higher risk, but with our calculator they should be able to understand their risk in a way that takes into account multiple factors,” Professor Nilanjan Chatterjee, senior author of the study and Bloomberg’s leading professor of biostatistics and genetic epidemiology, said in a statement.
According to the researchers, who presented the tool in a paper published in the journal Nature Medicine, the calculator can also be vital in determining who gets the vaccine first – by identifying who has the highest risk of death.