The risk of becoming severely ill with COVID-19 appears to increase if a person has a Noncommunicable disease. The NCD Unit, Ministry of Health has compiled recent evidence on the life style related risk factors of NCD and COVID-19.
UNHEALTHY DIET and COVID-19
- Getting a healthy diet (e.g. eating a variety of food, including fruits and vegetables) is important for enhancing the immune system.
- Getting a healthy diet with low salt, low sugar and moderate amounts of fats and oils reduces the likelihood of developing other co-morbidities, including obesity, heart disease and diabetes which can lead to severe morbidity and mortality due to COVID-19.
- Diabetic patients should maintain a diabetic diet as hyperglycemia may lead to higher risk of secondary infection and mortality with COVID-19.
OBESITY and COVID-19
People with obesity are at higher risk of having severe COVID-19 because;
# they may be suffering from underlying NCD such as type 2 diabetes mellitus and cardiovascular diseases
# obesity is associated with decreased expiratory reserve volume, functional capacity, and respiratory system compliance
# respiratory function among the obese could be compromised due to asthma, restrictive lung disease, obstructive sleep apnea, gastroesophageal reflux
# obesity is associated with increased inflammatory cytokines, contributing to increased morbidity
# differences of prevalence of obesity may account for the differences in COVID-19 mortality between countries.
PHYSICAL INACTIVITY and COVID-19
•Physical inactivity is a major risk factor for NCDs which in turn increase the risk of severe COVID-19.
•Physical activity of moderate intensity is found to have positive enhancing effects on immune system responses against viral respiratory infections through increasing neutrophil and natural killer (NK) cell counts and salivary IgA concentration.
•Moderate intensity physical activity increases stress hormones as well, leading to reduction in excessive inflammation, resulting in less severe disease.
•Safe and simple, home-based physical activities of moderate intensity should be performed and promoted during the COVID-19 epidemic such as household chores (e.g. sweeping, washing, cleaning); walking in and around the home; climbing up and down the staircase; gardening; playing with kids; doing exercises using the bodyweight such as squats, pushups, lunges and with improvised weights such as sand/water filled bottles.
•Exercising will not make up for the risk associated with sitting for too long and therefore long spells of seating such as watching screens (TV, computers), using social media, using mobile phone or playing video games should be reduced by taking a 5 minutes breaks every 30 minutes to do an activity including stretching, climbing up and down the stair case, walking in and around the home.
•Exercising in indoor/outdoor gyms should be avoided during this period.
•Moderate intensity aerobic exercise (such as brisk walking) in outdoor environments with special attention to maintaining safe distance with others and surfaces, while practicing respiratory etiquette is an alternative.
ALCOHOL and COVID-19
*Alcohol use, especially if heavy, can weaken the immune system and thus reduce the ability to fight infections.
*Heavy use of alcohol increases the risk of acute respiratory distress syndrome (ARDS), which is a severe complication of COVID-19.
*Ingestion of alcoholic products with toxic substances, hoping that they will protect against COVID-19, has resulted in death in some countries.
*People use alcohol as a social cue for smoking, which could complicate the dangers of corona virus infection and disease
SMOKING and COVID-19
# Smokers more likely to get infected with corona virus as fingers and contaminated cigarettes/pipes could transmit the virus from hand to mouth.
# compared to non-smokers, smokers have a higher probability of needing intensive care, mechanical ventilation and suffering severe health consequences following COVID-19.
# Cardiovascular and respiratory conditions caused by tobacco increase the risk of developing severe COVID-19 infection
# Smoking makes the respiratory system more vulnerable to other respiratory infections resulting in risk of acute respiratory distress syndrome (ARDS), which complicates COVID-19
(NCD Unit, Ministry of Health)