- Study suggests that the burden of disability from COVID-19 is greater than cancer
- Doctors told DailyMail.com that the comparison was “irresponsible.”
- Read more: US coronavirus cases double in past month
A study that appeared to suggest that COVID-19 is more debilitating than cancer was branded “irresponsible.”
As with many previous papers, the study was published this week. natural medicine Prolonged COVID-19 infection has been found to increase the risk of heart disease, blood clots, diabetes, memory problems, fatigue and mental health problems.
The academics behind the study then calculated the number of days COVID-19 patients lived with debilitating symptoms and compared that to the average number of days people had symptoms of cancer or heart disease. did.
They concluded that COVID-19 has long caused a “larger burden of disability” than either of these two chronic diseases.
However, a doctor not involved in the study told DailyMail.com that the claim was “irresponsible” because the study had some major flaws that could have skewed the results.
They added that it could lead to overreactions to the protracted coronavirus and a decline in interest in the situation affecting tens of millions of Americans.
New York internist Dr. Stuart Fisher told DailyMail.com that Americans have diseases that are more deadly and debilitating, and pose a greater health and economic burden for both patients and the healthcare system. Told.
“Long-form information about the novel coronavirus ranges from unknown to irresponsible sources,” he added.
“People should worry about obesity, diabetes and high blood pressure instead of emphasizing the longevity of the new coronavirus.
“These are diseases that affect more than a quarter of the population.”
Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) An estimated 1 in 13 U.S. adults has long-term COVID-19, representing more than 16.5 million people.
Many experts have vehemently contested the CDC’s estimates, arguing that the symptoms are often so common that they may be due to other, more common diseases. .
Long-corona is a spectrum of symptoms that include shortness of breath, foggy head, fatigue and depression, which can persist for weeks or even years after recovery from the virus.
The study in question this week was conducted by researchers at the University of Washington in St. Louis, Missouri, and was released Monday.
They analyzed the medical records of 140,000 veterans who tested positive for COVID-19 in 2020, survived for 30 days, and then developed symptoms of COVID-19 over a long period of time.
The researchers then compared their health to that of 6 million other veterans who were not infected with COVID-19.
Participants were followed for 2 years.
Researchers determined the risk of developing at least one of 80 complications associated with prolonged COVID-19, including fatigue and difficulty breathing.
Risks were then summed using a measure called disability-adjusted life years (DALYs). Each DALY represents her 1 year disability.
The study found that the prolonged COVID-19 situation left 1,000 veterans disabled for 80 years.
Meanwhile, heart disease and cancer take 52 and 50 years per 1,000 years, respectively, according to the Global Burden of Disease Study from the Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation.
The researchers wrote that these findings could help address the long-term care needs of long-term COVID-19 patients.
The research team said in their research report that the findings call for “attention to the care needs of people with long-term health effects from COVID-19.”
But Dr. Fisher said: Cancer is more than just a disease, so it would be irresponsible to compare lingering COVID-19 with cancer-like symptoms.
“Skin cancer and lung cancer are not the same disease. The term is very, very vague,” he said.
Cancer threats are also better studied and estimated.
Also, the study only included veterans, a group of people who already have numerous physical and mental health problems, such as alcohol abuse disorder and post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD).
both of these are possible Because the immune system is suppressed, people with this condition are more susceptible to COVID-19 and autoimmune diseases such as rheumatoid arthritis and lupus that mimic long-term COVID-19 symptoms.
Also, the study did not include populations that were diverse in terms of age, sex, or race.
According to VA data, the most common age group for veterans is 60-64. About 90% of veterans are male and over 70% are white.
This means that the study represents only a narrow subset of the total US population and the results may not apply to the general US population.
“This is not an ideal research group,” said Dr. Fisher.
Additionally, the study only looked at 2020 COVID-19 cases, when infections became more severe due to lack of vaccines and treatments. The cases studied were also before the new strain began to spread.
Covid has now mutated multiple times, most recently into Eris and BA.2.86 strains, and the infections are often mild, unlike the original strains.
“That was the original virus,” Dr. Fisher said. “This skews the results.”
There is still debate about the true scale and severity of the lingering COVID-19, and some studies suggest that people who develop the symptoms will likely suffer from them, regardless of COVID-19. It is shown.
The number of long-term COVID-19 sufferers is unclear, but the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention estimates 1 in 13 US adultsor 7.5 percent, have long-term coronavirus infections, defined as having symptoms lasting more than three months after initial exposure to the virus.
A study found that the risk of being diagnosed with long-term COVID-19 increases with each successive infection. University of Nebraska.
In some cases, the condition was fatal. The CDC reported late last year that more than 3,500 Americans have died from long-term COVID-19-related illnesses in the first two and a half years of the pandemic. These conditions include COVID-19 itself, heart disease, cancer, chronic lower respiratory disease, and Alzheimer’s disease.
Thirty percent of documented deaths were in adults aged 75 to 84 years.
