One out of four adult Filipinos has hypertension, while a large portion of the population are not aware that they have persistently high blood pressure. How does the COVID-19 pandemic impact adult Filipinos with heart disease?
Heart disease and COVID-19 is the topic of the eighth installment in the UP Webinar series “STOP COVID DEATHS: Clinical Management Updates,” which is produced in partnership with the Philippine Health Insurance Corporation (PhilHealth) and the UP Manila NIH National Telehealth Center.The webinar is scheduled every Friday from 12nn to 2pm.
People with hypertension or heart disease are at risk for developing more severe forms of COVID-19, compared to people without heart disease. A report from China among 136 COVID-19 patients shows that 26% of them required cardiovascular intensive care, while a more recent report from the Chinese Centre of Disease Control shows a mean death rate of 2.3%, which increases to 5% in patients with cardiovascular disease and to 7.3% in those with diabetes.
Collated data from England and Wales, the Netherlands, Italy and New York State have also highlighted notable levels of excess mortality, not all attributable to COVID-19. What is not clear is whether these excess deaths are due to unconfirmed or unsuspected COVID-19 infection in a high-risk population or if more people are suddenly dying of heart attacks because they are afraid of going to hospitals.
Resource person for this very important topic is Dr. Chito C. Permejo, Medical Specialist III in Cardiology-Intensive Care of the Philippine Heart Center. The webinar is open to all health and medical frontliners, practitioners, hospital administrators, public officials and the general public.
The webinar is set this Friday, June 12, from 12 nn to 2 p.m. Registration slots are limited, so sign up NOW: bit.ly/StopCOVIDDeathsWebinar8.
