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]

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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] Similarly, in some places, rates of transmission of influenza and other respiratory viruses significantly decreased during the pandemic.[6][7][8]

The pandemic has also negatively impacted mental health globally, including increased loneliness resulting from social distancing[9] and depression and domestic violence from lockdowns.[10] As of June 2020, 40% of U.S. adults were experiencing adverse mental health symptoms, with 11% having seriously considered trying to kill themselves in the past month.[11]

Mental health
Main article: Mental health during the COVID-19 pandemic

The COVID-19 pandemic has impacted the mental health of people around the world.[12] Similar to the past respiratory viral epidemics, such as the SARS-CoV, MERS-CoV, and the influenza epidemics, COVID-19 pandemic had caused anxiety, depression, and post-traumatic stress disorder symptoms in different population groups, including the healthcare workers, general public, and the patients and quarantined individuals.[13] The Guidelines on Mental Health and Psychosocial Support of the Inter-Agency Standing Committee of the United Nations recommends that the core principles of mental health support during an emergency are "do no harm, promote human rights and equality, use participatory approaches, build on existing resources and capacities, adopt multi-layered interventions and work with integrated support systems."[14] COVID-19 is affecting people's social connectedness, their trust in people and institutions, their jobs and incomes, as well as imposing a huge toll in terms of anxiety and worry.[15]

COVID-19 also adds to the complexity of substance use disorders (SUDs) as it disproportionately affects people with SUD due to accumulated social, economic, and health inequities.[16] The health consequences of SUDs (for example, cardiovascular diseases, respiratory diseases, type 2 diabetes, immunosuppression and central nervous system depression, and psychiatric disorders) and the associated environmental challenges (e.g., housing instability, unemployment, and criminal justice involvement) increase risk for COVID-19. COVID-19 public health mitigation measures (i.e., physical distancing, quarantine and isolation) can exacerbate loneliness, mental health symptoms, withdrawal symptoms and psychological trauma. Confinement rules, unemployment and fiscal austerity measures during and following the pandemic period can affect the illicit drug market and drug use patterns.

Childhood vaccinations

UNICEF estimates that 117 million children across 37 countries may not receive their immunizations in time to prevent a measles outbreak. Pediatricians in the United States are worried about childhood vaccination rates. In April, the CDC reported that 400,000 fewer doses of measles vaccine were ordered in 2020 compared to the same time last year.[17]

Mosquito-borne diseases

Although it is highly unlikely that COVID-19 can be transmitted by mosquitoes,[18] the pandemic nevertheless has a large impact on the control of mosquito-borne diseases such as malaria or dengue fever. Reasons are disruptions in medical supply chains, patients avoiding hospitals, and halted mosquito control campaigns such as removal of breeding sites or distribution of insecticide treated bed nets.[19][20][21]

Health insurance
See also: Health insurance coverage in the United States

Millions of Americans lost their health insurance after losing their jobs.[22][23][24][25] The Independent reported that Families USA "found that the spike in uninsured Americans – adding to an estimated 84 million people who are already uninsured or underinsured – is 39 per cent higher than any previous annual increase, including the most recent surge at the height of the recession between 2008 and 2009 when nearly 4 million non-elderly Americans lost insurance."[26]

Recommendations

UNFPA recommends that governments maintain sexual and reproductive health and rights (SRHR) information and services, protect health workers and limit spread of COVID-19. This includes a comprehensive approach to SRHR information and services encompassing antenatal care (ANC), care during childbirth, postnatal care (PNC), contraception, safe abortion care, prevention, testing and treatment of HIV, where relevant, as well as sexually transmitted infections (STI), detection and treatment of GBV, and sexual health services and information.[27]

See also

References
  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. '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. 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.
  7. Klein A. "Australia sees huge decrease in flu cases due to coronavirus measures". New Scientist. Retrieved May 9, 2020.
  8. "Weekly U.S. Influenza Surveillance Report (FluView)". U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). May 8, 2020. Retrieved May 9, 2020.
  9. 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. Archived from the original on March 13, 2020. Retrieved March 20, 2020.
  10. Surkova E, Nikolayevskyy V, Drobniewski F (September 2020). "False-positive COVID-19 results: hidden problems and costs". The Lancet. Respiratory Medicine: S2213260020304537. doi:10.1016/S2213-2600(20)30453-7. PMC 7524437. PMID 33007240.
  11. 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.
  12. CDC (February 11, 2020). "Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19)". Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Retrieved May 17, 2020.
  13. Luo, Yang; Chua, Cher Rui; Xiong, Zhonghui; Ho, Roger C.; Ho, Cyrus S. H. (November 23, 2020). "A Systematic Review of the Impact of Viral Respiratory Epidemics on Mental Health: An Implication on the Coronavirus Disease 2019 Pandemic". Frontiers in Psychiatry. 11: 565098. doi:10.3389/fpsyt.2020.565098. PMC 7719673. PMID 33329106.
  14. "Inter-Agency Standing Committee Guidelines on Mental Health and Psychosocial support" (PDF). MH Innovation. Archived (PDF) from the original on March 31, 2020. Retrieved March 28, 2020.
  15. "OECD". read.oecd-ilibrary.org. Retrieved May 7, 2020.
  16. Jemberie, W. B.; Stewart Williams, J.; Eriksson, M.; Grönlund, A-S.; Ng, N.; Blom Nilsson, M.; Padyab, M.; Priest, K. C.; Sandlund, M.; Snellman, F.; McCarty, D.; Lundgren, L. M.; et al. (July 21, 2020). "Substance Use Disorders and COVID-19: Multi-Faceted Problems Which Require Multi-Pronged Solutions". Frontiers in Psychiatry. 11: 714. doi:10.3389/fpsyt.2020.00714. PMC 7396653. PMID 32848907. S2CID 220651117.
  17. Larsen K (May 13, 2020). "UCSF doctor warns 'measles is way more infectious than COVID,' concerned children aren't being vaccinated during pandemic". ABC7 San Francisco.
  18. "WHO Mythbusters". Retrieved September 23, 2020.
  19. The potential impact of health service disruptions on the burden of malaria: A modelling analysis for countries in sub-Saharan Africa. World Health Organization. 2020. ISBN 978-92-4-000464-1.
  20. Hogan AB, Jewell BL, Sherrard-Smith E, Vesga JF, Watson OJ, Whittaker C, et al. (September 2020). "Potential impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on HIV, tuberculosis, and malaria in low-income and middle-income countries: a modelling study". The Lancet. Global Health. 8 (9): e1132–e1141. doi:10.1016/s2214-109x(20)30288-6. PMC 7357988. PMID 32673577.
  21. "WHO Director-General on the double challenge of malaria and COVID-19, 4th September". Retrieved September 23, 2020.
  22. "Millions Have Lost Health Insurance in Pandemic-Driven Recession". The New York Times. July 13, 2020.
  23. "5.4 million Americans have lost their health insurance. What to do if you're one of them". CNBC. July 14, 2020.
  24. "27 million Americans could lose health insurance as Congress proposes industry 'bailout'". The Independent. May 13, 2020.
  25. "Up to 43m Americans could lose health insurance amid pandemic, report says". The Guardian. May 20, 2020.
  26. "Coronavirus: 5.4m Americans lost health insurance during pandemic, report says". The Independent. July 15, 2020.
  27. Continuing essential Sexual, Reproductive, Maternal, Neonatal, Child and Adolescent Health services during COVID-19 pandemic (PDF). World Health Organization, UNFPA, UNICEF. 2020.
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