The existing non-communicable diseases, responsible for 72 percent deaths globally, have been an aggravating factor for COVID-19 adverse outcome, according to an expert with the PGI Hospital, on March 31.

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To counter the COVID-19 pandemic, there is need to decrease its transmission by imposing travel restrictions, said J.S. Thakur, professor with the PGIMER's Department of Community Medicine and School of Public Health. Thakur, who is the World NCD Federation president, stressed the need to accurately evaluate all original comorbidities of people with COVID-19, because it had been seen that these patients often died due to their original comorbidities.

The percentage of deaths in COVID-19 patients with pre-existing conditions, such as cardiovascular disease, diabetes, chronic respiratory disease, hypertension and cancer, was 13.2, 9.2, 8, 8.4 and 7.6, respectively, at the global level. This is low in comparison to deaths of COVID-19 patients with no pre-existing condition at 0.9 percent.

Quoting another study in China on 1,590 patients with COVID-19, he said, of all patients 25.1 percent were having at least one comorbidity, where as 16.9 percent were hypertensive and 8.2 percent were diabetics. These pre-existing conditions and their susceptibility condition i.e. old age might be associated with the pathogenesis of COVID-19, Thakur said.

Chronic ailments, like hypertension, cardiovascular diseases, diabetes and respiratory system diseases share various features with infectious diseases, such as depletion of the inherent immunity and pro-inflammatory response of the body. Coronavirus is also leading to lot of stress, anxiety and obsessive-compulsive disorders, thereby affecting mental health. At present, there are no such dedicated guidelines available at the global level to combat the comorbid condition of COVID-19 and NCDs, he said.