BBCI survey shows hypertension most common comorbidity – Times of India

The age of participants ranged from 21 to 70 years. Of them, the vast majority (72%) were from cities like Guwahati, Bengaluru, New Delhi, Gurugram and Hyderabad. While 22% of the participants were from smaller towns, 6% of the respondents were village dwellers.

Medical officer at BBCI, Dr Manigreeva Krishnatreya, said, “We noted that a significant number of the respondents faced difficulty in the treatment of hypertension, cancer during the pandemic. The lateral integration of healthcare is the need of the hour during the pandemic. It was seen from the survey that 60.7% of the respondents who have had Covid-19, are absolutely fit now.” He felt that there should be a balance between mitigation of risk for Covid-19 and loss of livelihoods during pandemics.

It was observed during the survey that 28.4% participants were infected with Covid-19 and of them, 56.5% were infected by the virus in 2020 and 39.4% in 2021 in the second wave. “Strikingly, 3.9% of the respondents were infected in both 2020 and 2021,” stated the report by the renowned cancer care institute that was formally taken over by the department of atomic energy in November 2017 as a unit of the Tata Memorial Centre, Mumbai.

Fever alone or in combination with body ache or cough accounted for 67.1% of the cases. Loss of taste or smell was the key symptom in 61.8% of the respondents. Of all the Covid-19 patients surveyed, only 1.3% required ICU admission and 14.4% required care in a hospital. But the vast majority of respondents, accounting for 78.9%, recovered in home isolation.

A total of 9.2% respondents were admitted to private hospitals. “The cost of treatment in private hospitals ranged from Rs 30,000 to as high as Rs 3 to 5 lakh,” the report said.

In the case of 7.5% of the respondents, more than three family members were affected with Covid-19, whereas 34.3% of the respondents lost a near and dear one to Covid.

Nearly 85.4% of those surveyed have received the Covid-19 vaccine. Of this, 60.8% were from cities, 20.1% from towns and 4.4% from villages.

Of all the vaccinated respondents, 50.2% have received the first dose and 49.8% have been inoculated with both the jabs. Of the vaccinated participants, 8.7% have got infected with Covid-19, and only 0.7% required hospitalization. “From this survey and an earlier survey among healthcare workers, it is significant that vaccines reduce the need for hospitalization and protects beneficiaries from severe diseases,” said director of BBCI, Dr Amal Chandra Kataki.

He informed that from this survey it was observed that 36.9% of the respondents faced difficulty in regular consultation and treatment of their pre-existing diseases. “Nearly 66% felt that the lockdown resulted in psycho-social issues among children and elders,” he added. Furthermore, 50.3% of the respondents faced financial hardships due to the lockdown.