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Why COVID-19 strengthens the case to scale up assault on non-communicable diseases: role of health professionals including physical therapists in mitigating pandemic waves

As SARS-CoV-2, the virus responsible for COVID-19, spread globally, the most severely affected sub-populations were the elderly and those with multi-morbidity largely related to non-communicable diseases (NCDs), e.g., heart disease, hypertension, type 2 diabetes, obesity. NCDs are largely preventabl...

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Autores principales: Dean, Elizabeth, Skinner, Margot, Yu, Homer Peng-Ming, Jones, Alice YM, Gosselink, Rik, Söderlund, Anne
Formato: Online Artículo Texto
Lenguaje:English
Publicado: AIMS Press 2021
Materias:
Acceso en línea:https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC8116194/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/34017898
http://dx.doi.org/10.3934/publichealth.2021028
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author Dean, Elizabeth
Skinner, Margot
Yu, Homer Peng-Ming
Jones, Alice YM
Gosselink, Rik
Söderlund, Anne
author_facet Dean, Elizabeth
Skinner, Margot
Yu, Homer Peng-Ming
Jones, Alice YM
Gosselink, Rik
Söderlund, Anne
author_sort Dean, Elizabeth
collection PubMed
description As SARS-CoV-2, the virus responsible for COVID-19, spread globally, the most severely affected sub-populations were the elderly and those with multi-morbidity largely related to non-communicable diseases (NCDs), e.g., heart disease, hypertension, type 2 diabetes, obesity. NCDs are largely preventable with healthy nutrition, regular activity, and not smoking. This perspective outlines the rationale for health professionals' including physical therapists' role in reducing COVID-19 susceptibility. Evidence is synthesized supporting the pro-inflammatory effects of the western diet, increasingly consumed globally, inactivity, and smoking; and the immune-boosting, anti-inflammatory effects of a whole food plant-based diet, regular physical activity, and not smoking. An increased background of chronic low-grade systemic inflammation associated with unhealthy lifestyle practices appears implicated in an individual's susceptibility to SARS-CoV-2. It is timely to re-double efforts across healthcare sectors to reduce the global prevalence of NCDs on two fronts: one, to reduce SARS-CoV-2 susceptibility; and two, to reduce the impact of subsequent waves given high blood pressure and blood sugar, common in people with multi-morbidity, can be improved within days/weeks with anti-inflammatory healthy lifestyle practices, and weight loss and atherosclerosis reduction/reversal, within months/years. With re-doubled efforts to control NCD risk factors, subsequent waves could be less severe. Health professionals including physical therapists have a primary role in actively leading this initiative.
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spelling pubmed-81161942021-05-19 Why COVID-19 strengthens the case to scale up assault on non-communicable diseases: role of health professionals including physical therapists in mitigating pandemic waves Dean, Elizabeth Skinner, Margot Yu, Homer Peng-Ming Jones, Alice YM Gosselink, Rik Söderlund, Anne AIMS Public Health Perspective As SARS-CoV-2, the virus responsible for COVID-19, spread globally, the most severely affected sub-populations were the elderly and those with multi-morbidity largely related to non-communicable diseases (NCDs), e.g., heart disease, hypertension, type 2 diabetes, obesity. NCDs are largely preventable with healthy nutrition, regular activity, and not smoking. This perspective outlines the rationale for health professionals' including physical therapists' role in reducing COVID-19 susceptibility. Evidence is synthesized supporting the pro-inflammatory effects of the western diet, increasingly consumed globally, inactivity, and smoking; and the immune-boosting, anti-inflammatory effects of a whole food plant-based diet, regular physical activity, and not smoking. An increased background of chronic low-grade systemic inflammation associated with unhealthy lifestyle practices appears implicated in an individual's susceptibility to SARS-CoV-2. It is timely to re-double efforts across healthcare sectors to reduce the global prevalence of NCDs on two fronts: one, to reduce SARS-CoV-2 susceptibility; and two, to reduce the impact of subsequent waves given high blood pressure and blood sugar, common in people with multi-morbidity, can be improved within days/weeks with anti-inflammatory healthy lifestyle practices, and weight loss and atherosclerosis reduction/reversal, within months/years. With re-doubled efforts to control NCD risk factors, subsequent waves could be less severe. Health professionals including physical therapists have a primary role in actively leading this initiative. AIMS Press 2021-04-16 /pmc/articles/PMC8116194/ /pubmed/34017898 http://dx.doi.org/10.3934/publichealth.2021028 Text en © 2021 the Author(s), licensee AIMS Press https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/This is an open access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0 (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/) )
spellingShingle Perspective
Dean, Elizabeth
Skinner, Margot
Yu, Homer Peng-Ming
Jones, Alice YM
Gosselink, Rik
Söderlund, Anne
Why COVID-19 strengthens the case to scale up assault on non-communicable diseases: role of health professionals including physical therapists in mitigating pandemic waves
title Why COVID-19 strengthens the case to scale up assault on non-communicable diseases: role of health professionals including physical therapists in mitigating pandemic waves
title_full Why COVID-19 strengthens the case to scale up assault on non-communicable diseases: role of health professionals including physical therapists in mitigating pandemic waves
title_fullStr Why COVID-19 strengthens the case to scale up assault on non-communicable diseases: role of health professionals including physical therapists in mitigating pandemic waves
title_full_unstemmed Why COVID-19 strengthens the case to scale up assault on non-communicable diseases: role of health professionals including physical therapists in mitigating pandemic waves
title_short Why COVID-19 strengthens the case to scale up assault on non-communicable diseases: role of health professionals including physical therapists in mitigating pandemic waves
title_sort why covid-19 strengthens the case to scale up assault on non-communicable diseases: role of health professionals including physical therapists in mitigating pandemic waves
topic Perspective
url https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC8116194/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/34017898
http://dx.doi.org/10.3934/publichealth.2021028
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