Severe COVID-19 and comorbidities. New entry on the CDC list. It affects hundreds of millions of people

The list of diseases that increase the risk of severe COVID-19, including hospitalization and death, is long and unfortunately still open. The American CDC has recently entered another, or actually more, on it – disorders related to mood / psyche, including depression, which affects over 260 million people in the world, in Poland even 1,5 million. What could be the consequences?

1. The CDC added mental disorders, including depression, to the list of diseases increasing the severity of COVID-19 and death from it.
2. According to WHO estimates, over 260 million people worldwide are struggling with depression, in Poland – even 1,5 million
3. It is important that people with “mood disorders, including depression and schizophrenia spectrum disorders” get vaccinated against COVID-19 and follow the rules of a sanitary regime
4. It also means that millions of Americans with these problems qualify for booster doses
5. More information can be found on the Onet homepage

Diseases that increase the risk of severe COVID-19 and death. CDC List

Almost from the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic, it has been known that its course and prognosis are worsened by the existence of the so-called comorbidities. And that’s for people of all ages. In such a situation, the risk of hospitalization, the need for intensive patient care and the use of a ventilator increases. Unfortunately, the risk of death is also growing.

It is also known that the elderly are at a higher risk of severe COVID-19 disease. According to statistics, over 81 percent. deaths from SARS-CoV-2 occur in people 65+. In the group of people under 65, there were 80 times more deaths than among patients aged 18-29. There is also no doubt that the risk of severe COVID-19 is greater the more diseases a patient has. What specific diseases are they talking about?

The list can be found on the website of the CDC (Centers for Disease Control and Prevention; an agency of the US federal government) – a leading global organization fighting epidemics.

Diseases that increase the risk of a severe course of COVID-19 include, among others (the following diseases are not listed in order of the degree of risk they pose): cancer, chronic kidney disease, chronic liver disease, chronic lung disease (including but not limited to asthma, cystic fibrosis, COPD, pulmonary hypertension), dementia or other neurological conditions , type 1 or 2 diabetes, Down syndrome, heart disease (including heart failure, coronary artery disease), HIV infection, weakened immune system, overweight and obesity, anemia, stroke or cerebrovascular disease, tuberculosis.

The CDC reminds that a person with a disease that is not on the list may still be at a higher risk of severe COVID-19 transition than people of a similar age who do not have the disease. Consultation with a doctor is recommended.

Second, the world is constantly learning SARS-CoV-2 and COVID-19 itself. The list does not therefore include all comorbidities and is updated as science develops.

Mental disorders and severe course of COVID-19. CDC Decision

We have experienced such a situation recently. On October 14, the CDC added another group of diseases to the list of high-risk severe COVID-19 – mood disorders, including depression, bipolar disorder, and schizophrenia. The decision comes after evidence has accumulated that mental disorders make people of all ages more susceptible to severe COVID-19. Clinicians were not surprised by this, it has long been known how much the psyche has an impact on the health of the body. It is also known that long-term mental health conditions take a physical toll, making patients more susceptible to disease.

For example, one study in January this year found that schizophrenic patients who contracted the coronavirus were almost three times more likely to die from the infection.

Two comprehensive meta-analyzes published in the Journal of the American Medical Association confirmed that people with severe mental illness are at higher risk of suffering from severe coronavirus infection.

Conditions like depression can “wreak havoc on the body’s immune system,” Christine Crawford said in the New York Times.

Some experts point out that there is still not enough known about the biology of mental illness and the coronavirus to understand why the meeting of these two factors has such dire ramifications.

Hundreds of millions of people join the most exposed to severe COVID-19

The inclusion of mental disorders in the list of diseases associated with high-risk COVID-19 means that hundreds of millions of people around the world join the group at risk. According to WHO data, only 264 million people in the world suffer from depression (more women than men). In Poland, there may be 1,5 million people with depression. Worse, an estimated 2020 pandemic triggered 53 million new cases of depression worldwide.

1. Doctors concerned about the mental state of Poles. What’s happening to us? Psychiatrists say

The change means that it is all the more important that people with “mood disorders, including depression and schizophrenia spectrum disorders” get vaccinated against COVID-19 and take preventive measures such as the use of face masks, social distancing and washing cancer. It all also means that all of these people in the U.S. are eligible for booster doses of the COVID-19 vaccine.

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