Impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on other health issues

The COVID-19 pandemic has had many impacts on global health beyond those caused by the COVID-19 disease itself. It has led to a reduction in hospital visits for other reasons. There have been 38 per cent fewer hospital visits for heart attack symptoms in the United States and 40 per cent fewer in Spain.[1] The head of cardiology at the University of Arizona said, "My worry is some of these people are dying at home because they're too scared to go to the hospital."[2] There is also concern that people with strokes and appendicitis are not seeking timely treatment.[2] Shortages of medical supplies have impacted people with various conditions.[3]

In several countries there has been a marked reduction of spread of sexually transmitted infections, including HIV/AIDS, attributable to COVID-19 quarantines, social distancing measures, and recommendations to not engage in casual sex.[4][5][6] Similarly, in some places, rates of transmission of influenza and other respiratory viruses significantly decreased during the pandemic.[7][8][9] In addition, the B/Yamagata lineage of influenza B might have become extinct in 2020/2021 due to COVID-19 pandemic measures,[10][11] and there have been no naturally occurring cases confirmed since March 2020.[12][13] In 2023, the World Health Organization concluded that protection against the Yamagata lineage was no longer necessary in the seasonal flu vaccine, reducing the number of lineages targeted by the vaccine from four to three.[12][13]

The pandemic has also negatively impacted mental health globally, including increased loneliness resulting from social distancing[14] and depression and domestic violence from lockdowns.[15] As of June 2020, 40% of U.S. adults were experiencing adverse mental health symptoms, with 11% having seriously considered to attempt suicide.[16] The research data suggest that the pandemic has negative effects on both weight loss and food health monitoring but the effects were short lived results.[17]

Paying attention and taking measures to prevent mental health problems and post-traumatic stress syndrome, particularly in women, is already a need.[18]

  1. ^ Garcia S, Albaghdadi MS, Meraj PM, Schmidt C, Garberich R, Jaffer FA, et al. (June 2020). "Reduction in ST-Segment Elevation Cardiac Catheterization Laboratory Activations in the United States During COVID-19 Pandemic". Journal of the American College of Cardiology. 75 (22): 2871–2872. doi:10.1016/j.jacc.2020.04.011. PMC 7151384. PMID 32283124.
  2. ^ a b 'Where are all our patients?': Covid phobia is keeping people with serious heart symptoms away from ERs, Stat News, Usha Lee McFarling, 23 April 2020.
  3. ^ Faust JS (April 28, 2020). "Medication Shortages Are the Next Crisis". The Atlantic. Retrieved May 17, 2020.
  4. ^ "Sexually transmitted infections surveillance reports - Reports". www.health.nsw.gov.au. Retrieved May 9, 2020.
  5. ^ Wareham J. "U.K. Lockdown Has 'Broken HIV Chain' With Huge Reduction In New STI Cases". Forbes. Retrieved May 9, 2020.
  6. ^ Chow, Eric P F; Hocking, Jane S; Ong, Jason J; Phillips, Tiffany R; Fairley, Christopher K (January 1, 2021). "Sexually Transmitted Infection Diagnoses and Access to a Sexual Health Service Before and After the National Lockdown for COVID-19 in Melbourne, Australia". Open Forum Infectious Diseases. 8 (1): ofaa536. doi:10.1093/ofid/ofaa536. ISSN 2328-8957. PMC 7665697. PMID 33506064.
  7. ^ Cowling BJ, Ali ST, Ng TW, Tsang TK, Li JC, Fong MW, et al. (May 2020). "Impact assessment of non-pharmaceutical interventions against coronavirus disease 2019 and influenza in Hong Kong: an observational study". The Lancet. Public Health. 5 (5): e279–e288. doi:10.1016/S2468-2667(20)30090-6. PMC 7164922. PMID 32311320.
  8. ^ Klein A. "Australia sees huge decrease in flu cases due to coronavirus measures". New Scientist. Retrieved May 9, 2020.
  9. ^ "Weekly U.S. Influenza Surveillance Report (FluView)". U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). May 8, 2020. Retrieved May 9, 2020.
  10. ^ Alhoufie, Sari T.; Alsharif, Naif H.; Alfarouk, Khalid O.; Ibrahim, Nadier A.; Kheyami, Ali M.; Aljifri, Alanoud A. (November 2021). "COVID-19 with underdiagnosed influenza B and parainfluenza-2 co-infections in Saudi Arabia: Two case reports". Journal of Infection and Public Health. 14 (11): 1567–1570. doi:10.1016/j.jiph.2021.09.005. PMC 8442300. PMID 34627054.
  11. ^ Koutsakos, Marios; Wheatley, Adam K.; Laurie, Karen; Kent, Stephen J.; Rockman, Steve (December 2021). "Influenza lineage extinction during the COVID-19 pandemic?". Nature Reviews Microbiology. 19 (12): 741–742. doi:10.1038/s41579-021-00642-4. PMC 8477979. PMID 34584246.
  12. ^ a b World Health Organization (September 29, 2023). "Questions and Answers: Recommended composition of influenza virus vaccines for use in the southern hemisphere 2024 influenza season and development of candidate vaccine viruses for pandemic preparedness" (PDF). Retrieved October 26, 2023.
  13. ^ a b Schnirring L (September 29, 2023). "WHO advisers recommend switch back to trivalent flu vaccines". CIDRAP. Retrieved October 26, 2023.
  14. ^ Brooks SK, Webster RK, Smith LE, Woodland L, Wessely S, Greenberg N, Rubin GJ (March 2020). "The psychological impact of quarantine and how to reduce it: rapid review of the evidence". Lancet. 395 (10227): 912–920. doi:10.1016/S0140-6736(20)30460-8. PMC 7158942. PMID 32112714.
  15. ^ Surkova E, Nikolayevskyy V, Drobniewski F (December 2020). "False-positive COVID-19 results: hidden problems and costs". The Lancet. Respiratory Medicine. 8 (12): 1167–1168. doi:10.1016/S2213-2600(20)30453-7. PMC 7524437. PMID 33007240.
  16. ^ Czeisler MÉ, Lane RI, Petrosky E, Wiley JF, Christensen A, Njai R, et al. (August 2020). "Mental Health, Substance Use, and Suicidal Ideation During the COVID-19 Pandemic - United States, June 24-30, 2020". MMWR. Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report. 69 (32): 1049–1057. doi:10.15585/mmwr.mm6932a1. PMC 7440121. PMID 32790653.
  17. ^ Bullard, Tiffany; Medcalf, Adam; Rethorst, Chad; Foster, Gary D. (2021). "Impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on initial weight loss in a digital weight management program: A natural experiment". Obesity. 29 (9): 1434–1438. doi:10.1002/oby.23233. ISSN 1930-739X. PMC 8456790. PMID 34009723.
  18. ^ Castellanos-Torres E, Tomás Mateos J, Chilet-Rosell E (March 3, 2021). "[COVID-19 from a gender perspective]". Gaceta Sanitaria (in Spanish). 34 (5): 419–421. doi:10.1016/j.gaceta.2020.04.007. PMC 7190475. PMID 32423661.