Thread by @DearPandemic

1/ Q. People with underlying conditions like #hypertension (high blood pressure) and #diabetes seem to be at higher risk for complications and death from #Covid_19. Can you tell me more about this? Is there anything I can do to minimize complications if I become infected?

2/ A. This is a very important: the @CDCgov estimates that nearly HALF of all Americans have hypertension and 10.5% have diabetes. Americans are also developing these conditions at much younger ages, even adolescence.
cdc.gov/bloodpressure/…
cdc.gov/diabetes/pdfs/…

3/ Studies from the CDC and others show that although having an underlying health condition doesn’t increase your chance of CATCHING #COVIDー19, people with one or more of these conditions are at a higher risk for severe illness, hospitalization and death.

4/ Even #youngpeople seem to be at higher risk for worse disease if they have these chronic conditions, which is concerning given how many younger Americans are now burdened by hypertension and diabetes.

5/ This article illustrates a map where U.S residents are at greater risk for severe #coronavirus illness based on the proportion of residents with diabetes, hypertension, heart disease, and/or chronic lung disease: nytimes.com/interactive/20…

6/ So this sounds like a lot of bad news. Is there any good news???
Some studies show that people with well-managed chronic conditions, especially hypertension and diabetes, may be able to reduce their risk of complications/poor outcomes from #COVID.

7/ Research is still ongoing to determine if this holds true in other studies and for other conditions.

Regardless, we recognize how hard it is to manage chronic diseases in the BEST of times, let alone in the middle of a #pandemic!

8/ Strategies to manage many chronic diseases – medication adherence, healthy diet, and physical activity – depend not just on individual will, but on factors like access to care, availability/affordability of healthy food, and safe spaces and time to be active.

10/ Here are some resources to help people with hypertension and diabetes manage their conditions and to prepare for the possibility of becoming infected:

heart.org/en/coronavirus…

med.stanford.edu/content/dam/sm…