Covid: 83% Punjab victims had comorbidities

Vishav Bharti

Tribune News Service

Chandigarh, May 20

Punjab seems to be paying a heavy price for being among states with a high load of population suffering from comorbidities. Of the over 3,500 people who died of Covid in the last 20 days, a majority had comorbid conditions.

Health experts say the state’s 2.4 per cent Covid fatality rate, the highest in the country, is because of the high load of patients with non-communicable diseases, including hypertension and diabetes.

A government analysis of the second wave has found that 83 per cent of the over 6,000 victims were suffering from comorbidities.

Dr JS Thakur, Professor, School of Public Health, PGIMER, Chandigarh, said a global study had put Punjab among five states with people having the highest burden of comorbidities. “The high case fatality rate is undoubtedly due to the highest burden of comorbidities,” he said.

A Health Department report had earlier found that Punjab had 35.7% “unadjusted prevalence” of hypertension compared to 25.3% nationally. The state was also found to be having the highest prevalence of high systolic blood pressure, high total cholesterol and high fasting plasma glucose.

Highest fatality rate in country

• At 2.4%, Punjab has the highest Covid fatality rate in the country
• The count stood at 2.95% during the first wave
• 91% of victims in first wave had comorbidities, including hypertension, diabetes and heart disease
• Over 12,500 have succumbed to virus since March last year