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NCD Pandemic

Dr. Dawn Scantlebury (Internet Photo)


By Tonisha Rock-Yaw

Barbados cannot afford to let up on the fight against Non-Communicable diseases especially in light of the Covid-19 pandemic.

This was a point articulated by Medical director of the Heart & Stroke Foundation of Barbados Dr. Dawn Scantlebury, who said because the Coronavirus and NCD’s go hand-in-hand the focus must be geared to reducing the risk of NCD’s.

“Focus on reducing the impact of NCD’s by taking care of it so if you have the high blood pressure please continue to take your blood pressure medication, please continue to keep active. I know it’s curfew time, I know it’s difficult to get out there and exercise but there are so many things we can do to remain active within the confines of a 2x2 living room…. So there is no excuse, we all have to be mindful of our health,” she said.

Early reports coming out of China at the peak of the impact of the virus there, between January into February, showed that patients who had high blood pressure, diabetes, heart disease and obesity were at a higher risk of death from coronavirus.

The doctor stressed: “The overall message is, if you have an underlying illness you are at a higher risk of severe coronavirus [complications]. A report from the American College of Cardiology said the fatality rate for the Covid-19 cases from China were 10.5% in patients with cardiovascular disease; 7% with patients with diabetes; and 6% in patients with hypertension compared to an overall case fatality rate of 2 per cent.”

 Scantlebury also mentioned that there was a death rate of five times higher with patients with heart disease, four times diabetes and three times hypertension. 

“I think one of the reasons why obesity is such a problem is that obesity is a big risk factor for all of these conditions. So if you’re obese and healthy you are also at risk of severe coronavirus disease. Patients with these conditions need to be careful. We all need to be staying home, except those of us who are working in health care taking care of patients, but in general patients who have underlying health problems need to be extremely careful. 

“Barbadians need to realise that our population in general is not that healthy from the view point of the NCD’S, so this is what will put us at risk of more severe coronavirus disease,” she added.

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