HealthDay Reporter
WEDNESDAY, June 16, 2021 (HealthDay Information) — Public well being precautions meant to scale back the unfold of COVID-19 might have had an unintended however blissful facet impact.
They might even have benefited people who’ve chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD), based on a brand new research.
In the course of the pandemic, admissions for COPD flare-ups dropped dramatically — by 53% — at College of Maryland Medical System (UMMS) hospitals.
Researchers on the UM Faculty of Medication suspect this was the results of a drop in circulating seasonal respiratory viruses, resembling influenza. They theorized that stay-at-home orders, social distancing, masks mandates and strict limits on giant gatherings lowered publicity not solely to COVID but additionally to different respiratory infections.
“Our research reveals there is a silver lining to the habits adjustments past defending in opposition to COVID-19,” stated senior writer Dr. Robert Reed, a pulmonologist and professor of drugs.
COPD is a bunch of lung diseases that worsen over time and make it laborious to breathe. Earlier than the pandemic, they had been the fourth-leading reason behind dying worldwide, generally triggered by tobacco smoke and soiled air. Practically half of flare-ups are attributable to seasonal respiratory viruses.
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For the research, the researchers analyzed information from 13 UMMS hospitals, evaluating weekly admissions for COPD in 2018 and 2019, with admissions after April 1, 2020, when COVID-19 public well being measures had been launched. Investigators selected the identical six-month interval in every year for comparability — April 1 to Sept. 30.
The findings had been matched in opposition to U.S. federal information on respiratory viral tendencies between Jan. 1, 2018, and Oct. 1, 2020.
As important as was the system’s 53% drop in COPD admissions in the course of the pandemic, there was additionally a 36% decline in weekly admissions for such severe situations as congestive heart failure, diabetes and heart attack, stated co-lead writer Dr. Jennifer So. She’s an assistant professor of drugs and COPD specialist.
The researchers warned {that a} full return to regular might once more expose COPD sufferers to the acquainted seasonal triggers.
“If we utterly get rid of masks and distancing throughout chilly and flu season, we’ll permit all these viruses which were successfully suppressed to come back raging again,” Reed stated in a college information launch. “There might be quite a lot of sickness.”
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He famous that the research didn’t assess which measures tamed seasonal viruses. However, Reed added, “a easy factor like sporting a masks whereas using on public transit or working from dwelling while you’re sick with a chilly might go an extended option to cut back virus publicity.”
So stated it’s a cultural norm in her native South Korea to put on masks in the course of the winter.
“The COVID-19 pandemic has helped lots of people world wide change into extra conscious of the function of masking and social distancing to scale back the unfold of illness,” she stated within the launch.
The findings had been lately revealed within the preprint server medRxiv and haven’t but been peer-reviewed.
Extra info
The U.S. Facilities for Illness Management and Prevention has extra info on COVID-19 and chronic lung diseases.
SOURCE: College of Maryland Faculty of Medication, information launch, June 14, 2021
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