severe COVID-19 and comorbidities. mental disorders

1. 
   The CDC has added mental disorders, including depression, to the list of diseases that increase the severity and death from COVID-19.
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   According to WHO estimates, more than 260 million people worldwide suffer from depression, in Poland – up to 1.5 million.
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   It is important that people with “mood disorders, including depression and schizophrenia spectrum disorders” are vaccinated against COVID-19 and follow health system rules
4. 
   It also means that millions of Americans with these problems are eligible for booster doses
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   More information can be found on the Onet homepage

Diseases that increase the risk of severe COVID-19 infection and death. CDC . List

Almost from the start of the epidemic COVID-19 It is known that its course and diagnosis exacerbate the presence of so-called comorbidities. It is for people of all ages. In such a situation, the risk of hospitalization, the need for intensive care and the use of a respirator increases. Unfortunately, the risk of death is also increasing.

It is also known that the elderly are more likely to contract severe COVID-19 disease. According to statistics, more than 81 percent. Deaths from SARS-CoV-2 occur in people over 65 years of age. In the group of subjects under 65 years of age, there was an 80-fold higher mortality rate than in patients aged 18-29 years. There is also no doubt that the risk of severe COVID-19 infection increases as the number of illnesses a patient suffers from increases. What specific diseases are they talking about?

The list can be found on the website of the CDC (Centers for Disease Control and Prevention; an agency of the US federal government) – the world’s leading epidemic control organization.

Diseases that increase the risk of developing a severe course of COVID-19 include, among others (the following are not listed by the degree of risk they pose): cancer, chronic kidney disease, chronic liver disease, and chronic lung disease (incl. crisisAnd cystic fibrosisAnd chronic obstructive pulmonary diseasePulmonary hypertension), dementia or other neurological disorders, type 1 or 2 diabetes mellitus, Down syndrome, heart disease (incl. Heart failurecoronary artery disease), HIV infection, weakened immune system, weight gain and obesityAnemia, stroke or cerebrovascular disease, tuberculosis.

The CDC states that a person with a disease not on the list may be at greater risk of transmitting severe COVID-19 than people of the same age who do not have the disease. It is recommended to consult a doctor.

Second, the world is constantly learning about SARS-CoV-2 and COVID-19 itself. Therefore, the list does not include all comorbidities and is updated with the development of science.

Mental disorders and the severe course of COVID-19. CDC . decision

We have been through such a situation recently. On October 14, the CDC added another group of diseases to its list of high-risk COVID-19 – mood disorders, including depressionbipolar disorder Schizophrenia. The decision comes after evidence accumulated that mental disorders make people of all ages more susceptible to severe Covid-19 infection. Doctors were not surprised by this, it has long been known how much the breath affects the health of the body. Long-term mental health conditions are also known to take a physical toll, making patients more susceptible to disease.

For example, one study conducted in January of this year found that patients with schizophrenia who contracted the coronavirus were three times more likely to die from the infection.

Two comprehensive analyzes published in the Journal of the American Medical Association confirmed that people with severe mental illness are more likely to contract coronavirus infection.

Conditions like depression can “wreak havoc on the body’s immune system,” Kristen Crawford, MD, associate medical director of the National Alliance on Mental Illness told the New York Times.

Some experts point out that there is still insufficient information about the biology of mental illness and the coronavirus to understand why the meeting of these two factors has such dire repercussions.

Hundreds of millions of people join the groups most vulnerable to severe COVID-19 infection

The inclusion of mental disorders in the list of diseases associated with the high-risk COVID-19 virus causes hundreds of millions of people around the world to join the group of people at risk. According to data from the World Health Organization, only 264 million people in the world suffer from depression (more women than men). In Poland, there may be 1.5 million people suffering from depression. To make matters worse, an estimated 2020 pandemic caused 53 million new cases of depression worldwide.

1. 
   Doctors are concerned about the mental state of the Poles. What is happening to us? Psychiatrists say

The change means that it is extremely important for people with “mood disorders, including depression and schizophrenia spectrum disorders” to get vaccinated against COVID-19 and take preventive measures such as wearing face masks, social distancing, and cancer washing. All of this also means that all of these people in the United States are eligible for booster doses of the COVID-19 vaccine.

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