December 28, 2022 – For any number of reasons, since the COVID pandemic began, most of us wish we could either set the clock back to 2018 or that we had a magic wand and just ONE wish we could make come true.
The effects of the COVID pandemic make this especially true of patient health and the impact on life expectancy and the leading causes of death in the U.S. Both have had disturbing trends. Life expectancy is down sharply, and the leading causes of death are on the rise after many years of declines for most of them.
Let us take a closer look. Up until 2019, the U.S. healthcare system was experiencing significant decreases in the morbidity and mortality associated with the 10 leading causes of death. As I have reported before, most of the 10 leading causes of death declined noticeably up to 2019. Cancer and heart disease dropped significantly. Stroke and influenza also dropped, and it looked like we were in rather decent shape overall. Life expectancy was up to 78.8 years in 2019, but it slipped to 77.3 years in 2020. The decline of 1.5 years was the largest decline since World War II.
So, what happened? As in so many cases of healthcare issues, COVID happened. It resulted in over 1 million deaths in the U.S. and shined a light on the most vulnerable populations and the co-morbidities most likely to be associated with serious illness and death from COVID. Minorities, the elderly, and those with existing comorbidities fared the worst. Diabetes was the leading comorbidity to correlate with mortality from COVID. Four out of 10 COVID-related deaths were associated with patients having diabetes.
What does this have to do with the magic wand situation? While we do not yet know to what extent the respiratory season ahead of us will see a resurgence of COVID, that is not where the magic wand can make the most difference. In this column I plan to encourage you to wave the magic wand over diabetes to see how we can really make a major impact on the U.S. healthcare system and the health of millions. As you will see, diabetes is a factor not just for COVID but for many of the 10 leading causes of death in the U.S. But, between changes in lifestyle and newer medications, there is hope that we are beginning to turn the corner on management of diabetes, particularly type 2 diabetes.
Read more in the latest issue of Repertoire Magazine.