01/04/2020
*Warning Corona Virus Post*
I want to talk about something that has been a big topic as of late and has been dwelling on my mind as we all get a chance to and . COVID-19 or Sars-Cov-2 has impacted every facet of daily life and its really hard to get on any social media and not see it mentioned somewhere. One aspect of this dreaded virus is its risk to those with Comorbidities. Now I see lots of news outlets saying these words but I'm not sure many people understand their actual impact on the everyday American. I am going to break this down in hopes of helping people get a better understanding of what is going on and why we as Americans should be paying very close attention to the situation. Its not all doom and gloom though, because I also want to help people understand that there are things you can do to prevent these things as well (So be sure to read to the end). First off I want to say that I am no expert, I am a soon to be college graduate from Bowling Green State University with a bachelors in exercise science. I am in no way an authority on the subject of COVID-19 or an Immunologist, and I do not claim to be such. What I am is a person (just like you) with access to the internet and the ability to fact check myself as well as provide sources. If you believe I've interpreted something incorrectly I implore you to respond, but please provide sources so I can learn too.
Comorbidities can be defined as "the presence of one or more additional conditions co-occurring with a primary condition." These chronic conditions can vary as well from being mental/behavioral to being cardiovascular or even metabolic. Depression, anxiety, diabetes, and cardiovascular disease can all be considered comorbidities.
I will now be using statistics from a study called "An Empirical Study of Chronic Diseases in the United States: A Visual Analytics Approach to Public Health"
- Nearly half (approximately 45%, or 133 million) of all Americans suffer from at least one chronic disease
- Persistent conditions are the nation’s leading cause of death and disability
- More than two thirds of all deaths are caused by one or more of these five chronic diseases: heart disease, cancer, stroke, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, and diabetes.
These following statistics will have their sources cited with the entry
- The ADA (American Diabetes Association) reports that 10.5% of the population or 34.2 million people had diabetes in 2018. 210,000 Americans under age 20 are estimated to have diagnosed diabetes
- in 2015 88 million Americans aged 18 or older fell into the pre-diabetic category
- The CDC reports About 647,000 Americans die from heart disease each year—that’s 1 in every 4 deaths.
- About 18.2 million adults age 20 and older have CAD (about 6.7%).
- High blood pressure, high blood cholesterol, and smoking are key risk factors for heart disease. About half of Americans (47%) have at least one of these three risk factors.
This should give you a pretty good idea of what we were already facing here in America. COVID-19 is already showing us that these are people who are at risk.
I will now use statistics from a meta-analysis titled "Prevalence of comorbidities in the novel Wuhan coronavirus (COVID-19)infection: a systematic review and meta-analysis". Eight studies were included in the meta-analysis, including 46248 infected patients.
- The most prevalent comorbidity was hypertension at 14-22%, followed by diabetes 6-11%, Cardiovascular disease 4-7% and respiratory system disease 1-3%.
- chronic disease may be linked to the pathogenisis of COVID-19 (individuals with chronic disease being more susceptible to infection)
- Finding that these underlying conditions may be a risk factor for severe patients
Now, I promised things wouldn't be all bad. Through our efforts of social distancing and isolation we can continue to fight this. Scientists are working around the clock to develop ways to treat the patients we already have. Vaccines are in development to prevent a future outbreak of COVID-19 (They will take a substantial amount of time). Lastly you do have the ability to improve yourself in ways that can make you less susceptible in the future. Many of the comorbidities we face here in America are partially preventable. Type II diabetes, Cardiovascular disease, and osteoarthritis can't be completely avoided, but you can take steps to lower your risk by making major lifestyle change. Daily exercise, proper nutrition, limiting of alcohol consumption and smoking, and education and care of existing conditions are all ways you can lower your risk of developing a comorbidity.
I hope we can come out of this a more educated and aware society. I hope we can value our health and improve our lives. I hope we can listen to our healthcare providers and support them. And I hope that you all will stay strong, things are weird right now and more than ever we need to support each other. We need to come together as a community to fight this.
"Let's stay distant today, to hug with more warmth tomorrow"
