New model can help clinicians to predict 40-day mortality risk in hospitalized COVID-19 patients Researchers from Hackensack Meridian University Medical Center and Berry Consultants, LLC, Austin, Texas have developed a new model to help clinicians predict the risk of death within 40 days in patients who are hospitalized with COVID-19 infection. A new paper describing this retrospective, observational, multicenter cohort analysis, "Development and validation of a prognostic 40-day mortality risk model among hospitalized patients with COVID-19," was recently published in PLOS ONE, a peer-reviewed, open-access scientific journal. The model considers six risk factors: age, respiratory and oxygenation rates, and preexisting conditions such as high blood pressure, coronary artery disease, or chronic kidney disease that play a role in COVID-19 deaths. Older age was determined to be the strongest predictor of death, according to health records of patients who were hospitalized with COVID-19 in a large New Jersey health network between March 1, 2020 and April 22, 2020.