COVID-19 Pandemic Escalated to “Syndemic” for Chronic Disease Patients

Review by Emily Henderson, Bachelor of ScienceOctober 23, 2020

The COVID-19 pandemic has escalated into a “syndemic” for people with chronic illnesses. This is shown in a new UNSW study that analyzed data from low- and middle-income countries.

For people with non-communicable diseases (NCDs) such as diabetes, cancer, respiratory illness, and cardiovascular disease, there has never been a more dangerous time than the COVID-19 pandemic. A new UNSW Sydney study has discovered.

Among the negative effects of pandemics on people with NCD, studies have identified NCD risk factors such as substance abuse, social isolation, and unhealthy diets, while they are more vulnerable to infection and death from COVID-19. I found that my exposure was increasing. Pandemic.

Researchers also found that COVID-19 disrupted the essential public health services that people with NCDs rely on to control their condition.

Research published in Public health frontier We recently reviewed the literature on the synergistic effects of COVID-19 on NCD patients in low- and middle-income countries such as Brazil, India, Bangladesh, Nepal, Pakistan and Nigeria.

Analyzing nearly 50 studies, this paper was a collaborative effort between UNSW and public health researchers in Nepal, Bangladesh, and India.

Uday Yadav, a lead author candidate for the doctoral program at UNSW Medicine’s professor of science Mark Harris, said with NCD that global data showed disproportionately high COVID-19-related deaths among people with NCD. He said it was important to study the interaction of COVID-19-reconfirmed by researchers as UNSW.

This shows the negative effects of COVID-19 “Syndemic” (also known as “Synergistic Epidemic”). It is a term coined by the medical anthropologist Merrill Singer in the 1990s to describe the relationship between HIV / AIDS, substance abuse, and violence.

Applying this term, we have described the interrelationship between COVID-19 and the various biological and socio-ecological factors behind NCDs.

Therefore, people are familiar with COVID-19 as a pandemic, but analyzed it through a syndemic lens to determine the impact of both COVID-19 and future pandemics on people with NCD. “

Uday Yadav, lead author

Yadav said the COVID-19 syndemic will continue, just as NCD has had a long-term impact on people.

“NCDs are the result of a combination of genetic, physiological, environmental and behavioral factors, and there are no quick solutions such as vaccines or treatments,” he said.

“Therefore, during a pandemic, NCD patients’ exposure to NCD risk factors increased and against catching COVID-19 due to syndemic interactions between biological and socio-ecological factors. Not surprisingly, it turned out to be more vulnerable.

“The evidence we analyzed also showed that NCD self-management at the community level was inadequate and that COVID-19 disrupted the critical public health services on which people with NCDs depend. . “

Initiatives for NCD in the COVID-19 era

According to researchers’ findings, Yadav said that in the light of the COVID-19 syndemic, healthcare professionals such as decision makers, policy makers, and front-line healthcare professionals can better manage people with NCDs. He said he began to recommend a series of strategies to those who did.

“Healthcare systems like Australia are implementing some of these strategies, but they need improvement,” he said.

The highlights of the recommended strategies are:

• Plan how best to provide medical services from the moment people with non-communicable diseases are evaluated to treatment and alleviation.
• Develop digital campaigns to bring about positive behavioral changes and disseminate information on how to better self-manage NCDs and COVID-19s.
• Decentralize healthcare delivery to people with NCDs: Involve local healthcare districts and invest in community health worker programs to mitigate future outbreaks. In addition, it coordinates self-management interventions for people with NCDs.
• Effective social and economic for people with NCDs vulnerable to COVID-19 infection, especially indigenous, rural, culturally and linguistically diverse (CALD) and refugee communities, and people with severe mental illness Secure support.
• Evaluate technical assistance medical interventions to improve medical services as complex case management, evaluation, and support are increasingly done through telemedicine appointments or other technologies.

Why Healthcare Should Focus on Prevention

Yadav said high-income countries can also learn from the findings of researchers.

“COVID-19 was a major threat to people with NCDs in developed countries. For example, according to new UK statistics, in 2020, many people in the UK and Wales will be at home after evading the medical system. He died of NCD. Pandemic. “

“In Australia, COVID-19 increases inequality and poses a risk to some high- and middle-income earners, but for other people such as indigenous peoples, rural areas, CALD, refugee communities, and people with severe mental illness. Is a double threat-as reflected in our paper. “

Yadav said 89% of deaths are associated with 10 chronic illnesses, according to the latest data available in Australia in 2018.

“Australia’s healthcare system needs to focus more on preventive care to improve outcomes for NCD patients and prevent more people from developing these diseases in the COVID-19 pandemic.” He said.

Yadav said making serious preventive medical investments in backburners could lead to personal, social and financial turmoil in the long run.

“If this trend continues, Australia will struggle to reach its Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) Goal 3.4, which reduces premature deaths from NCDs to one-third of 2015 levels. It’s about reducing and promoting mental health and welfare, “he said.

“Investing in prevention today helps save long-term health care costs, reduce the incidence of NCDs, and increase resilience to future pandemics.”