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Covid-19 and non-communicable diseases: evidence from a systematic literature review.
Nikoloski, Zlatko; Alqunaibet, Ada Mohammed; Alfawaz, Rasha Abdulrahman; Almudarra, Sami Saeed; Herbst, Christopher H; El-Saharty, Sameh; Alsukait, Reem; Algwizani, Abdullah.
  • Nikoloski Z; London School of Economics and Political Science, London, UK. z.nikoloski@lse.ac.uk.
  • Alqunaibet AM; Public Health Authority, Riyadh, Saudi Arabia.
  • Alfawaz RA; Public Health Authority, Riyadh, Saudi Arabia.
  • Almudarra SS; Ministry of Health, Riyadh, Saudi Arabia.
  • Herbst CH; Health, Nutrition and Population Global Practice, World Bank Group, Riyadh, Saudi Arabia.
  • El-Saharty S; Health, Nutrition and Population Global Practice, World Bank Group, Kuwait City, Kuwait.
  • Alsukait R; Health, Nutrition and Population Global Practice, World Bank Group, Riyadh, Saudi Arabia.
  • Algwizani A; Public Health Authority, Riyadh, Saudi Arabia.
BMC Public Health ; 21(1): 1068, 2021 06 05.
Article in English | MEDLINE | ID: covidwho-1255924
ABSTRACT

BACKGROUND:

Since early 2020, the Covid-19 pandemic has engulfed the world. Amidst the growing number of infections and deaths, there has been an emphasis of patients with non-communicable diseases as they are particularly susceptible to the virus. The objective of this literature review is to systematize the available evidence on the link between non-communicable diseases and Covid-19.

METHODS:

We have conducted a systematic review of the literature on Covid-19 and non-communicable diseases from December, 2019 until 15th of November, 2020. The search was done in PubMed and in doing so we used a variety of searching terms in order to isolate the final set of papers. At the end of the selection process, 45 papers were selected for inclusion in the literature review.

RESULTS:

The results from the review indicate that patients with certain chronic illnesses such as diabetes, hypertension (and other cardiovascular diseases), chronic respiratory illnesses, chronic kidney and liver conditions are more likely to be affected by Covid-19. More importantly, once they do get infected by the virus, patients with chronic illnesses have a much higher likelihood of having worse clinical outcomes (developing a more severe form of the disease or dying) than an average patient. There are two hypothesized channels that explain this strong link between the chronic illnesses enumerated above and Covid 19 (i) increased ACE2 (angiotensin-converting enzyme 2) receptor expressions, which facilitates the entry of the virus into the host body; and (ii) hyperinflammatory response, referred to as "cytokine storm". Finally, the literature review does not find any evidence that diabetes or hypertension related medications exacerbate the overall Covid-19 condition in chronic illness patients.

CONCLUSIONS:

Thus, the evidence points out to 'business as usual' disease management model, although with greater supervision. However, given the ongoing Covid-19 vulnerabilities among people with NCDs, prioritizing them for the vaccination process should also figure high on the agenda on health authorities.
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Full text: Available Collection: International databases Database: MEDLINE Main subject: Noncommunicable Diseases / COVID-19 / Hypertension Type of study: Observational study / Prognostic study / Reviews / Systematic review/Meta Analysis Topics: Vaccines Limits: Humans Language: English Journal: BMC Public Health Journal subject: Public Health Year: 2021 Document Type: Article Affiliation country: S12889-021-11116-w

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Full text: Available Collection: International databases Database: MEDLINE Main subject: Noncommunicable Diseases / COVID-19 / Hypertension Type of study: Observational study / Prognostic study / Reviews / Systematic review/Meta Analysis Topics: Vaccines Limits: Humans Language: English Journal: BMC Public Health Journal subject: Public Health Year: 2021 Document Type: Article Affiliation country: S12889-021-11116-w