Study links good health care in Canada to higher COVID-19 death rate | CTV News - Cassandra Szklarski, Canadian Press:
July 16, 2020 - "Heart researchers say there's a surprising reason Canada has seen higher COVID-19 deaths than many countries with fewer health-care resources -- more Canadians live longer with chronic disease, putting them at greater risk of dying from COVID-19....
"Lead author Cindy Yip ... principal investigator and director of data knowledge management at Heart & Stroke, formerly known as the Heart and Stroke Foundation ... said Canadians are somewhat vulnerable to pandemics such as COVID-19 because so many have survived other health crises.
"'Because people are living longer with chronic disease like heart conditions and stroke we need to take actions, and we need them to take care of their health in order to avoid the poor outcome from COVID-19.'
"The study notes 11.7 per cent of Canadians suffer from cardiovascular disease, including strokes. That puts us in the top third among 63 countries studied -- worse than the 11.6 per cent found in the United States, 10 per cent in Russia, 7.6 per cent in South Korea, 4.3 per cent in India and 3.8 per cent in Pakistan. When it came to reported death rates from COVID-19, Canada ranked higher than all but 14 of the 65 countries studied.... That included places with poorer health-care resources such as Russia, India, Pakistan, and China....
"Yip acknowledged that countries vary in how they report deaths, but said researchers strove to use comparable numbers. She said the analysis accounted for the wide range in access to health-care services among countries. But a strong relationship between COVID-19 deaths and the prevalence of heart conditions and stroke was still there. For every 1 per cent increase in the number of people with heart problems, the COVID-19 death rate was 19 per cent higher.
"Age was also a factor. For every 1 per cent increase in the number of people aged 65 years and older, the COVID-19 death rate was 9 per cent higher. Nearly 9 per cent of the Canadian population is 65 or older....
"The study also tried to number the heart-related medical procedures that have been postponed by the pandemic, but Yip said data here is limited, forcing researchers to extrapolate.... The report estimates that province-wide, 1,252 procedures are being postponed each month by COVID-19 precautions. Yip said that could easily translate to thousands of patients across the country. And that means health-care providers need 'a very strategic plan' to provide care for people whose conditions may be worsening."
Read more: https://www.ctvnews.ca/health/coronavirus/study-links-good-health-care-in-canada-to-higher-covid-19-death-rate-1.5026480
July 16, 2020 - "Heart researchers say there's a surprising reason Canada has seen higher COVID-19 deaths than many countries with fewer health-care resources -- more Canadians live longer with chronic disease, putting them at greater risk of dying from COVID-19....
"Lead author Cindy Yip ... principal investigator and director of data knowledge management at Heart & Stroke, formerly known as the Heart and Stroke Foundation ... said Canadians are somewhat vulnerable to pandemics such as COVID-19 because so many have survived other health crises.
"'Because people are living longer with chronic disease like heart conditions and stroke we need to take actions, and we need them to take care of their health in order to avoid the poor outcome from COVID-19.'
"The study notes 11.7 per cent of Canadians suffer from cardiovascular disease, including strokes. That puts us in the top third among 63 countries studied -- worse than the 11.6 per cent found in the United States, 10 per cent in Russia, 7.6 per cent in South Korea, 4.3 per cent in India and 3.8 per cent in Pakistan. When it came to reported death rates from COVID-19, Canada ranked higher than all but 14 of the 65 countries studied.... That included places with poorer health-care resources such as Russia, India, Pakistan, and China....
"Yip acknowledged that countries vary in how they report deaths, but said researchers strove to use comparable numbers. She said the analysis accounted for the wide range in access to health-care services among countries. But a strong relationship between COVID-19 deaths and the prevalence of heart conditions and stroke was still there. For every 1 per cent increase in the number of people with heart problems, the COVID-19 death rate was 19 per cent higher.
"Age was also a factor. For every 1 per cent increase in the number of people aged 65 years and older, the COVID-19 death rate was 9 per cent higher. Nearly 9 per cent of the Canadian population is 65 or older....
"The study also tried to number the heart-related medical procedures that have been postponed by the pandemic, but Yip said data here is limited, forcing researchers to extrapolate.... The report estimates that province-wide, 1,252 procedures are being postponed each month by COVID-19 precautions. Yip said that could easily translate to thousands of patients across the country. And that means health-care providers need 'a very strategic plan' to provide care for people whose conditions may be worsening."
Read more: https://www.ctvnews.ca/health/coronavirus/study-links-good-health-care-in-canada-to-higher-covid-19-death-rate-1.5026480
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