Covid-19 and non-communicable diseases: evidence from a systematic literature review

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

Effect of non-pharmaceutical interventions in the early phase of the COVID-19 epidemic in Saudi Arabia

Non-pharmaceutical interventions have been widely employed to control the COVID-19 pandemic. Their associated effect on SARS-CoV-2 transmission have however been unequally studied across regions. Few studies have focused on the Gulf states despite their potential role for global pandemic spread, in particular in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia through religious pilgrimages. We study the association between NPIs and SARS-CoV-2 transmission in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia during the first pandemic wave between March and October 2020. We infer associations between NPIs introduction and lifting through a spatial SEIR-type model that allows for inferences of region-specific changes in transmission intensity. We find that reductions in transmission were associated with NPIs implemented shortly after the first reported case including Isolate and Test with School Closure (region-level mean estimates of the reduction in R0 ranged from 25–41%), Curfew (20–70% reduction), and Lockdown (50–60% reduction), although uncertainty in the estimates was high, particularly for the Isolate and Test with School Closure NPI (95% Credible Intervals from 1% to 73% across regions). Transmission was found to increase progressively in most regions during the last part of NPI relaxation phases. These results can help informing the policy makers in the planning of NPI scenarios as the pandemic evolves with the emergence of SARS-CoV-2 variants and the availability of vaccination

The economic burden of overweight and obesity in Saudi Arabia

ContextThe prevalence of overweight and obesity in Saudi Arabia has been rising. Although the health burden of excess weight is well established, little is known about the economic burden.AimsTo assess the economic burden-both direct medical costs and the value of absenteeism and presenteeism-resulting from overweight and obesity in Saudi Arabia.Settings and designThe cost of overweight and obesity in Saudi Arabia was estimated from a societal perspective using an epidemiologic approach.Methods and materialsData were obtained from previously published studies and secondary databases.Statistical analysis usedOverweight/obesity-attributable costs were calculated for six major noncommunicable diseases; sensitivity analyses were conducted for key model parameters.ResultsThe impact of overweight and obesity for these diseases is found to directly cost a total of $3.8 billion, equal to 4.3 percent of total health expenditures in Saudi Arabia in 2019. Estimated overweight and obesity-attributable absenteeism and presenteeism costs a total of$15.5 billion, equal to 0.9 percent of GDP in 2019.ConclusionsEven when limited to six diseases and a subset of total indirect costs, results indicate that overweight and obesity are a significant economic burden in Saudi Arabia. Future studies should identify strategies to reduce the health and economic burden resulting from excess weight in Saudi Arabia

Population, Family Planning and Reproductive Health Policy Harmonization in Bangladesh

Over the past 30 years, Bangladesh has achieved significant economic and human development progress, and demonstrated impressive policy as well as programmatic commitment to lowering the fertility level. However, its future socioeconomic prospects may be hampered by its population growth rate, depending on how quickly the fertility rates decline and at which point they stabilize. Projections estimate that the total population of Bangladesh in 2051 could increase to 218.1 million under a laissez faire projection scenario and 201.3 million under an accelerated fertility transition (AFT) scenario. This difference would have significant impacts on public spending, public services, and job creation. An AFT scenario would enable the country to improve the dependency ratios possibly resulting in economic benefits from harnessing the demographic dividend for several decades. To accelerate the demographic transition, the government will need to revitalize high-level coordination to ensure multisectoral engagement in population policies, including increasing the age at marriage, and improving education, skills development, job creation, and social safety nets for the vulnerable population groups. In addition, a sustained decline in fertility through increased access and coverage of family planning (FP) services is crucial, mainly by focusing on lagging regions and hard-to-reach areas, and by expanding the supply and provision of FP long acting and permanent methods. Strengthening the synergy and coordination of service delivery between the Health and FP directorates by building capacity for systems strengthening; promoting cross-referral between programs; and efficient provisioning of FP and reproductive health services through community clinics need to remain at the forefront of the government s health improvement efforts in Bangladesh

Tackling Noncommunicable Diseases in Bangladesh: Now is the Time

This report is organized in such a way that the key policy options and strategic priorities are based on the country context, including the burden of non-communicable diseases (NCDs) and associated risk factors and the existing capacity of the health system. Chapter one describes the country and regional contexts and the evidence of the demographic and epidemiological transitions in Bangladesh; chapter two outlines the disease burden of major NCDs, including the equity and economic impact and the common risk factors; chapter three provides an assessment of the health system and its capacity to prevent and control major NCDs; chapter four summarizes ongoing NCD interventions and activities in Bangladesh and highlights the remaining gaps and challenges; and chapter five presents key policy options and strategic priorities to prevent and control NCDs

Capitalizing on the Demographic Transition: Tackling Noncommunicable Diseases in South Asia

Increasing life expectancy in South Asia is resulting in a demographic transition that can, under the right circumstances, yield dividends through more favorable dependency ratios for a time. With aging, the disease burden shifts toward noncommunicable diseases (NCDs)1 which can threaten healthy aging. However, securing the gains expected from the demographic dividend—where developing countries’ working and nondependent population increases and per capita income thus rises— is both achievable and affordable through efficiently tacking NCDs with prevention and control efforts.dependency ratio, aging, developing countries, demographic dividend, per capita income, NCDs, population, healthy, south asia, life expentancy, demographic transition, disease burden

The impact of seven major noncommunicable diseases on direct medical costs, absenteeism, and presenteeism in Gulf Cooperation Council countries

10.1080/13696998.2021.1945242Journal of Medical Economics241828-83

Effect of non-pharmaceutical interventions in the early phase of the COVID-19 epidemic in Saudi Arabia.

Non-pharmaceutical interventions have been widely employed to control the COVID-19 pandemic. Their associated effect on SARS-CoV-2 transmission have however been unequally studied across regions. Few studies have focused on the Gulf states despite their potential role for global pandemic spread, in particular in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia through religious pilgrimages. We study the association between NPIs and SARS-CoV-2 transmission in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia during the first pandemic wave between March and October 2020. We infer associations between NPIs introduction and lifting through a spatial SEIR-type model that allows for inferences of region-specific changes in transmission intensity. We find that reductions in transmission were associated with NPIs implemented shortly after the first reported case including Isolate and Test with School Closure (region-level mean estimates of the reduction in R0 ranged from 25-41%), Curfew (20-70% reduction), and Lockdown (50-60% reduction), although uncertainty in the estimates was high, particularly for the Isolate and Test with School Closure NPI (95% Credible Intervals from 1% to 73% across regions). Transmission was found to increase progressively in most regions during the last part of NPI relaxation phases. These results can help informing the policy makers in the planning of NPI scenarios as the pandemic evolves with the emergence of SARS-CoV-2 variants and the availability of vaccination