Almost 45% of Americans may suffer from possible coronavirus due to the 'silent killer' disease. The silent killer, or most commonly known as high blood pressure, is one of the highest causes of death in the United States. The study finds that coronavirus and high blood pressure may result in a more dangerous effect on patients. They also found out that most of the COVID-19 patients inside ICUs were diagnosed with underlying conditions like hypertension.
Here's the 'silent killer' that may worsen COVID-19 cases
According to ABC News, patients that have high blood pressure or hypertension have higher risks of acquiring Coronavirus at a faster speed than without these diseases.
High blood pressure is when a patient gets blood pressure higher than 120/80. It was found that half of the population in America have hypertension due to unhealthy habits or even eating junk or fatty food.
The Journal of the American Medical Association, the Lancet, and the Centers for Disease Control, said that 63% of patients that have the virus and under ICU treatment had underlying conditions related to blood pressure.
"While pneumonia is the most common complication of the virus, it can also damage the cardiovascular system. That's why people with high blood pressure, heart disease, and heart failure are at risk ... and [may be] less likely to weather the storm of COVID," said Craig Smith, MD, an interventional cardiologist and medical director of the Cardiac Intensive Care Unit at UMASS Memorial Medical Center.
Unknown by some, hypertension does not just have damaging effects on the blood pressure of the heart arteries, but on blood vessels, lungs, brain, and kidneys. This means that almost all necessary functioning parts in the body are affected once a person gets hypertension.
This might also be why it is more dangerous for people to acquire Coronavirus after being diagnosed with high blood pressure.
This is not the only problem
Having a high blood pressure is not the only problem amid pandemic. Even the health services needed by patients suffering from this disease are now lacking due to everyone's focus on Coronavirus patients. Most of them skipped screening, treatments, and such to give priority to virus patients.
"We all know that the impacts of Covid-19 extend well beyond the death and disease caused by the virus," Dr. Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, director-general of the WHO, told a virtual press briefing on Monday, June 1. "The pandemic has forced countries to make difficult choices about suspending some health services."
The World Health Organization said that the number of people skipping medicinal treatments for other non-communicable diseases was extremely lower than before.
"We have never seen such a deadly relationship between infectious disease and NCDs. Some of the data is truly alarming, especially for our region where NCDs are pervasive," said Dr. Carissa Etienne, director of the Pan-American Health Organization (PAHO).
