Lancet Study Says Underlying Health Conditions Puts One In Five People At Covid-19 Risk

A new study claims with those with an underlying health condition are at a higher risk of getting COVID-19.

(Representational Image: PTI)

New Delhi: A new study claims that older people and those with underlying health conditions are at a higher risk of getting COVID-19, which puts at least 1.7 billion people at the risk. This study was published in the leading medical journal  The Lancet Global Health Journal.  According to the study, an estimated 349 million people (4% of the global population) are at high risk of severe COVID-19 and would require hospital admission if infected (including 20% of those aged 70 years or older). The researchers based their estimates on disease prevalence data from the Global Burden of Diseases, Injuries and Risk Factors Study (GBD) 2017, UN population estimates for 2020, and the list of underlying health conditions relevant to COVID-19 as drawn in current guidelines. They analysed the number of people with an underlying condition by age group, sex, and country for 188 countries. Although, the researchers pointed out that the focus in this study is on underlying chronic conditions and didn't include other possible risk factors for COVID-19 that are not yet included in all guidelines. For example, ethnicity and socioeconomic deprivation. Their estimates are therefore unlikely to be exhaustive but serve as a starting point for policy-makers and “should inform the design of possible strategies to shield or vaccinate those at highest risk.” According to an IANS report, Andrew Clark from the London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine (LSHTM) said "We hope our estimates will provide useful starting points for designing measures to protect those at increased risk of severe disease.” Dr. Clark added saying “This might involve advising people with underlying conditions to adopt social distancing measures appropriate to their level of risk, or prioritising them for vaccination in the future.” According to the study, globally, less than five percent of people aged under 20 years, but more than 66 percent of those aged 70 and above, have at least one underlying condition that could increase their risk of severe COVID-19. Among the working-age population (15 to 64 years), 23 percent are estimated to have at least one underlying condition. This risk varies from less than one percent of people under 20 to nearly 20 percent of those aged 70 or older, rising to more than 25 percent in males over 70. In all groups under 65, around twice the number of men as women would require hospitalisation. Since women have a longer life expectancy the ratio is less marked as women are over-represented.