scholarly journals Insight into the Attitudes and Experiences of Adults with Non-Communicable Diseases a Year into the COVID-19 Pandemic: The Malta Experience

2021 ◽  
pp. 1-7
Author(s):  
Sarah Cuschieri ◽  
Stephan Grech ◽  
Victor Grech

<b><i>Introduction:</i></b> Non-communicable diseases (NCDs) have been a global epidemic long before the advent of COVID-19. Understandably, with the onset of COVID-19, health priorities shifted. The aim of this study was to explore the impact of COVID-19 through attitudes and experiences on the health and well-being of the Malta adult population suffering from NCDs, a year into COVID-19. <b><i>Methods:</i></b> An anonymous survey was distributed online between February 1 and 26, 2021 using Google Forms<sup>®</sup>. This assessed the impact of COVID-19 on medical care, intention to take a COVID-19 vaccine, and whether COVID-19 was acquired. Quantitative and qualitative analyses were performed. <b><i>Results:</i></b> Out of the 1,034 participants, 34.82% (95% CI, 31.97–37.77; <i>n</i> = 360) reported to suffer from NCDs (single NCD, <i>n</i> = 276; 2 NCDs, <i>n</i> = 56; 3 NCDs, <i>n</i> = 28) with 6.94% (95% CI, 4.71–10.09) of these reported acquiring COVID-19. Since COVID-19, the NCD population visited the general practitioners less (47%) than those without NCDs (32%) (<i>p</i> ≤ 0.001). With a consensus of concern and fear, “I rather skip check-ups than risk getting COVID-19 in waiting room or clinic.” Postponement and cancellations of medical appointments were reported: “had to do blood tests privately as health centre was not doing them” and “delayed treatment and still awaiting further appointments that were postponed more than once.” The majority intended to take COVID-19 vaccine. <b><i>Conclusions:</i></b> It is clear that individuals with NCDs have experienced a general negative effect on their medical care. It’s recommended that a dual action strategy is embraced to ensure that both NCDs and COVID-19 are treated simultaneously, leaving no one behind.

Author(s):  
Priyanka Mishra ◽  
◽  
Amborish Nath ◽  
Surbhi Sharma ◽  
Ajit Kumar ◽  
...  

The rapidly evolving health concern for COVID-19 has considerably overshadowed the non-COVID ailments. Ranging from delays in diagnosis and treatment, neglect of mild-moderate diseases resulting into their progression, adverse pregnancy outcomes and many others, an array of the collateral damage of this pandemic is still evolving. We have performed this systematic review about the impact of COVID pandemic on patients suffering from other ailments. Our search was conducted through PubMed, Cochrane and Google scholar databases. We included systematic reviews and meta- analysis, and randomized controlled trials, observational studies, case series and case reports to ensure comprehensiveness of our search. We excluded abstract only articles, news articles, the non-scientific commentaries and reports from the review. Primary outcome was assessment of the impact of COVID pandemic on non-COVID diseases and management strategies for tackling the same. This review showed that this crisis has resulted into a significant delay in routine diagnostic procedures and workup with p value < 0.00001 (OR of 0.36; 95% CI, 0.24 to 0.55). The highest impacts will be seen with preexisting major health priorities like HIV, tuberculosis, malignancy, various non-communicable diseases, reproductive and child health. The chief culprits for this include inadequate supplies of medicines, healthcare staff, diagnostics and other technologies. Expansion of the health care workforce, enhanced health financing and supply chain resilience can help us override this pandemic. Hence, the intersection of COVID-19 with other non- COVID ailments can have drastic effects. To minimize this surplus morbidity and mortality, we need to adopt comprehensive strategies and maintain the momentum even after this pandemic is surpassed. Keywords: COVID-19; neglect; non-COVID; non-communicable diseases; communicable diseases; management.


Obesity Facts ◽  
2021 ◽  
pp. 1-6
Author(s):  
Michele O. Carruba ◽  
Luca Busetto ◽  
Sheree Bryant ◽  
Antonio Caretto ◽  
Nathalie J. Farpour-Lambert ◽  
...  

The Milan Charter on Urban Obesity highlights the challenges of urban environments as a battleground for human health, as cities are often organized to subvert public health goals, and promote rather than prevent the development of obesity and consequent non-communicable diseases. The Charter articulates ten principles which detail actions and strategies through which general practitioners, diverse medical specialists, related healthcare professionals, administrators and healthcare practice managers, policy actors – within health systems and at a national level – along with experts across disciplines, and citizens, can work in cooperation to meet this challenge and improve public health. The Charter urges the adoption of decisions that deliver the following: (i) policies which enable our cities to become healthier and less obesogenic, more supportive of well-being and less health-disruptive in general, and (ii) policies that fully support primary prevention strategies, that address social stigma, and that ensure fair access to treatment for people living with obesity. The Milan Charter on Urban Obesity aims to raise awareness of our shared responsibility for the health of all citizens, and focuses on addressing the health of people living with obesity – not only as a challenge in its own right, but a gateway to other major non-communicable diseases, including cardiovascular diseases, type 2 diabetes, and some cancers.


2021 ◽  
Vol 79 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Periklis Charalampous ◽  
Elena Pallari ◽  
Stefanos Tyrovolas ◽  
Nicos Middleton ◽  
Mary Economou ◽  
...  

Abstract Background Non-communicable diseases (NCDs) accounted for over 90% of all deaths in the Cypriot population, in 2018. However, a detailed and comprehensive overview of the impact of NCDs on population health of Cyprus over the period of 1990 to 2017, expressed in disability-adjusted life years (DALYs), is currently not available. Knowledge about the drivers of changes in NCD DALYs over time is paramount to identify priorities for the prevention of NCDs in Cyprus and guide evidence-based decision making. The objectives of this paper were to: 1) assess the burden of NCDs in terms of years of life lost (YLLs), years lived with disability (YLDs), and DALYs in Cyprus in 2017, and 2) identify changes in the burden of NCDs in Cyprus over the 28-year period and assess the main drivers of these changes. Methods We performed a secondary database descriptive study using the Global Burden of Disease (GBD) 2017 results on NCDs for Cyprus from 1990 to 2017. We calculated the percentage change of age-standardized DALY rates between 1990 and 2017 and decomposed these time trends to assess the causes of death and disability that were the main drivers of change. Results In Cyprus in 2017, 83% (15,129 DALYs per 100,000; 12,809 to 17,707 95%UI) of total DALYs were due to NCDs. The major contributors to NCD DALYs were cardiovascular diseases (16.5%), neoplasms (16.3%), and musculoskeletal disorders (15.6%). Between 1990 and 2017, age-standardized NCD DALY rates decreased by 23%. For both males and females, the largest decreases in DALY rates were observed in ischemic heart disease and stroke. For Cypriot males, the largest increases in DALY rates were observed for pancreatic cancer, drug use disorders, and acne vulgaris, whereas for Cypriot females these were for acne vulgaris, psoriasis and eating disorders. Conclusion Despite a decrease in the burden of NCDs over the period from 1990 to 2017, NCDs are still a major public health challenge. Implementation of interventions and early detection screening programmes of modifiable NCD risk factors are needed to reduce occurrence and exacerbation of leading causes of NCDs in the Cypriot population.


2018 ◽  
Vol 41 (3) ◽  
pp. e253-e260 ◽  
Author(s):  
Leandro Fórnias Machado de Rezende ◽  
Leandro Martin Totaro Garcia ◽  
Grégore Iven Mielke ◽  
Dong Hoon Lee ◽  
Edward Giovannucci ◽  
...  

ABSTRACT Background Studies on the impact of counterfactual scenarios of physical activity on premature deaths from non-communicable diseases (NCDs) are sparse in the literature. We estimated preventable premature deaths from NCDs (diabetes, ischemic heart disease, stroke, and breast and colon cancers) in Brazil by increasing population-wide physical activity (i) to theoretical minimum risk exposure levels; (ii) reaching the physical activity recommendation; (iii) reducing insufficient physical activity by 10%; and (iv) eliminating the gender differences in physical activity. Methods Preventable fractions were estimated using data from a nationally representative survey, relative risks from a meta-analysis and number of premature deaths (30–69 years) from the Brazilian Mortality Information System. Results Physical activity could potentially avoid up to 16 700 premature deaths from NCDs in Brazil, corresponding to 5.75 and 3.23% of premature deaths from major NCDs and of all-causes, respectively. Other scenarios suggested the following impact on premature deaths: reaching physical activity recommendation (5000 or 1.74% of major NCDs); 10% reduction in insufficient physical activity (500 or 0.17% of major NCDs); eliminating gender differences in physical activity (1000 or 0.33% of major NCDs). Conclusions Physical activity may play an important role to reduce premature deaths from NCD in Brazil.


Author(s):  
Rohit Dhaka ◽  
Ramesh Verma ◽  
Ginni Agrawal ◽  
Gopal Kumar

India in a state of epidemiological health transition i.e shifting from communicable to non-communicable diseases. The annually 3.2% Indians falling below the poverty line and three forth Indians spending their entire income on health care and purchasing drugs. The government of India announced a Ayushman Bharat Yojana- National Health Protection Scheme (AB-NHPM) in the year 2018.  The aim of this programme is to providing a service to create a healthy, capable and content new India and two goals are to creating a network of health and wellness infrastructure across the nation to deliver comprehensive primary healthcare services and to provide health insurance cover to at least 40% of India's population which is deprived of secondary and tertiary care services. This Yojana will be implemented through Health and Wellness Centres that are to be developed in the primary health centre or sub-centre in the village and that will provide preventive, promotive, and curative care for non-communicable diseases, dental, mental, geriatric care, palliative care, etc. These centres would be equipped with basic medical tests for hypertension, diabetic and cancer and they are connected to the district hospital for advanced tele-medical consultations. The government has aims to set up 1,50,000 health and wellness centres across the country by the year 2022.


2020 ◽  
Vol 21 ◽  
Author(s):  
Tiago Gabriel Tasca ◽  
Roberta De Freitas Campos

Non-communicable diseases (NCDs) are one of the main challenges to the development and well-being of populations. Based on the documents issued by the United Nations system (FAO, ECOSOC, UNGA, and WHO), it is argued that the 2030 Agenda is partially harmonized with the recommendations of these organizations. This partial harmonization is explained through political coherence by illustrating explanatory vectors from 2005 to 2019 for products associated with NCDs risk factors: alcohol, pesticides, ultra-processed foods, and tobacco. 


Author(s):  
Amos Mailosi ◽  
Christina Miller ◽  
Catherine Hodge ◽  
Serah Msimuko

Within the community-orientated primary care module for training family physicians at the Kamuzu University of Health Sciences in Malawi, a relationship was formed between Nkhoma Mission Hospital’s Family Medicine Department and the Diamphwe Community Health Centre (HC) to strengthen the continuity of healthcare and capacity team building. The initial focus was on improving the management of hypertension and diabetes in terms of diagnosis, tracking of the patients in a registry and timely referral to secondary care facilities The relationship has received positive support from Diamphwe healthcare workers, which then improved the management of non-communicable diseases and patient care at Diamphwe. It has also shown how family medicine physicians can improve HC capacity through support and mentorship.


2019 ◽  
Vol 61 (3) ◽  
pp. 133-137
Author(s):  
V. B. Ziatdinov ◽  
G. M. Trukhina ◽  
Gulnara G. Badamshina ◽  
L. V. Krestnikova

The retrospective epidemiological study was carried out concerning infections related to medical care support registered in population on the territory of the Republic of Tatarstan in 2002-2015. The reason of such a study was because of late identification and registration of infections related to medical care support, significant damage to population health, development of complications in significant percentage of hospitalized patients and necessity of investigation of patterns of development and outspread of nosocomial infections. The epidemiological analysis was implemented using report form of the Federal statistical observation № 2 of the Federal service of control of sector of defense of rights of consumers and human well-being “The data of infectious and parasitic infections”. The dynamics, structure of many years morbidity and main parameters of manifestation of epidemic process were investigated. The derived data was used as a basis to provide epidemiological characteristic of many years' dynamics of various classes of infections related to medical care support. The indices of morbidity are calculated with consideration for average annual population size. The priority nosologic forms of infections related to medical care support were established concerning newborns (pyodermatitis, conjunctivitis, pneumonia, omphalitis, sepsis, etc.), puerpera (pyo-septic infections, mastitis, sepsis), adult population (postoperative and post-injection complications, infections of urinary tracts, nosocomial pneumonia, viral hepatitis, etc.) which dynamics was characterized by positive and negative rate of increment of indicator. The obtained data was compared with indices represented in national and foreign publications. The implemented study testifies the necessity of development of measures epidemiological monitoring of decreasing of morbidity because of infections related to medical care support in medical organizations.


2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Wafa K. Alnakhi ◽  
Heba Mamdouh ◽  
Hamid Y. Hussain ◽  
Gamal M. Ibrahim ◽  
Amar Sabri Ahmad ◽  
...  

Abstract Background: Non-communicable diseases (NCDs) are the leading causes of death worldwide. In the UAE, NCDs account for nearly 77% of all deaths. There is limited empirical research on this topic in the UAE. We aim to examine this association among the adult population in the Emirate of Dubai.Method: This study used data from the Dubai Household Health Survey (DHHS), 2019. In this survey, 2,247 families were interviewed and only adults aged 18+ were included for the analysis. The self-reported chronic disease was defined as reporting any chronic morbidities occurred during the past year that required ongoing medical attention and medical care. Sociodemographic characteristics covariates were age group, marital status, nationality, gender, education and working status. The quasi-binomial distribution was used to identify factors associated with chronic disease.Results: The prevalence of chronic diseases among the adult population of Dubai was 15.01%. Individuals aged 60+, local Arabs (Emirati), divorced and widowed individuals, and individuals who were not currently working reported a chronic disease more than the other groups. In the regression analysis, age (years) was the strongest predictor (OR 3.6, 95% CI: 2.8, 4.7). Males were more likely to report a chronic disease (OR 1.61, 95% CI: 1.277, 2.035). Unmarried individuals were less likely to report a chronic disease (OR 0.11, 95% CI: 0.02, 0.70). However, older individuals who were unmarried were more likely to report a chronic disease compared to the reference group (OR 2.8, 95% CI: 1.2, 6.1). Emiratis were more likely to report a chronic disease (OR 2.08, 95% CI: 1.62, 2.67).Conclusion: The self-reported rate of chronic disease was shown to be higher in older individuals, males, Emiratis, and older individuals who were unmarried. This is one of the few studies related to chronic diseases in Dubai. It is important to translate the current study findings into policies to help reduce the incidence of chronic diseases in Dubai and to minimize the negative impact of these illnesses, particularly among those with the sociodemographic risk factors identified here. In addition, healthcare services and resources should be reallocated to the population groups with greater health needs.


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