The phrase "a state of severe" is correct and usable in written English.
It can be used to describe a condition or situation that is intense or extreme in nature, often followed by a noun that specifies what is severe.
Example: "The region is experiencing a state of severe drought, leading to water shortages and crop failures."
Alternatives: "a condition of extreme" or "a situation of intense".
Secondly, the most likely explanation is that older people in this setting die before they reach a state of severe disability, or soon after becoming severely disabled.
Background: Short-bowel syndrome is a state of severe malabsorption resulting from absence or removal of the small bowel for several causes.
Haze's mother, "in a state of severe vulnerability", went along with it.
"I started rehearsing in a state of severe exhaustion — mental, physical, moral, and theatrical.
Furthermore, those in a state of severe sadness would probably lack the high, hopeful motivation that characterizes Barlow's anxiety patients.
Indianapolis Coach Jim Mora sat staring at the television minutes before his Colts would defeat Miami today, sending the Dolphins franchise into a state of severe shock.
In a state of more severe iron deficiency, skin iron losses may also decrease.
The combination of decreased core body temperature and lower circulating levels of serum triiodothyronine, leptin, and anabolic hormones (i.e. testosterone, insulin) is a clear indication that these individuals are in a state of "sensing" severe energy restriction.
A newborn who survives in a state of such severe impairment and suffering that the child's life is not worth living has been harmed by a decision to prolong his or her life (Feinberg 1986; Benatar 2006, 20 22; McMahan 1998).
Here in a swing state of severe economic hurt — a leader in foreclosures where empty offices now litter strip malls — there are signs that Mr. Obama is gaining ground.
In 1967, Shepard wrote his first full-length play, La Turista, centering on an unfortunate vacation in Mexico during which he and his then girlfriend, the actor Joyce Aaron, were holed up in "a tiny sweltering motel room in the Yucatan", stricken by "a semidelirious state of severe dysentery".
