Category: Covid-19

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Statement on the outcomes of the ICMRA-WHO joint workshop on COVID-19 vaccines strain change - World Health Organization (WHO)

Michael Gordon Jackson, a Saskatchewan man accused of abducting his daughter to prevent her from getting a COVID-19 vaccine, has been found guilty for contravention of a custody order.

Following two weeks of proceedings, the jurys verdict handed down Friday found Jackson, 55, withheld his then 7-year-old daughter from her mother in late 2021 to early 2022. Police eventually found the pair in Vernon, B.C.

While the motive was undisputed, Crown prosecutor Zoey Kim Zeggelaar said the results of Jackson's actions were in direct contravention of the Order.

"The intent to carry out the act - that being the taking of the child from her mother - is where we directed our attention," she said.

There were 14 jury members selected to hear the two week long case. Prior to deliberations on Friday morning, two members were randomly removed.

I am the judge of the law, Justice Heather MacMillian-Brown told the jury on Friday morning. You are the judge of the facts. It is your duty to judge what the facts are.

What matters is what [Jackson] did. Not the reasons for why [he] did it, she added.

Justice MacMillian-Brown summarized evidence that was presented over the course of the trial and also reiterated advice she gave the jury over the course of the last two weeks.

The torch now passes to you to decide a verdict based on the evidence in its entirety. she said before releasing the jury to deliberate.

The 12 members of the jury were sequestered until their final verdict was reached. They took just two and a half hours to reach their unanimous decision.

I am pleased that at the end of the day, theres an outcome that has generated some accountability. I know that the individuals involved theyve waited a long time for this outcome to happen.Zeggelaar said.

Despite the guilty verdict, Jackson's bail conditions allow him to remain out of custody.

He did not comment to media following the decision.

A date for his sentencing will be decided later.

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Sask. father found guilty of withholding daughter to prevent her from getting COVID-19 vaccine - CTV News Regina

SEOUL: South Korea is set to fully shift to an endemic approach to the Covid-19 pandemic, lifting some last-remaining mandates, including indoor mask requirements for hospitals, from next month, officials said Friday.

The disaster level of Covid-19 will be downgraded to the lowest tier in South Korea in a way that fully returns to a pre-pandemic stage some four years after the outbreak, Yonhap news agency quoted the health authorities

The Central Disaster and Safety Countermeasures Headquarters (CDSCH) said it will lower the four-grade Covid-19 crisis level from the second highest alert to the lowest concern from May 1.

The current epidemic situation itself is very stable, with a low fatality rate and no particularly dangerous variants observed, the CDSCH said.

The decision came more than four years after the country's first case of Covid-19 was reported on Jan 20, 2020.

Consequently, some remaining mandatory indoor mask requirements for hospitals and other facilities will be completely lifted, and government-level response organisations, such as the CDSCH, which has overseen disaster-controlling measures since the Covid-19 outbreak, will be disbanded.

Most of the government's medical assistance will be also brought to an end.

The government will no longer cover Covid-19 testing or hospitalisation costs for some severely ill patients, while patients will have to pay partly for Paxlovid, an oral anti-viral pill.

While the Covid-19 vaccine will continue to be freely available to everyone until the 2023-2024 season, it will subsequently be limited to high-risk groups, such as individuals, aged 65 and above, and those who are immunocompromised.

The health authorities emphasised the importance of personal responsibility despite the downgrade in crisis level.

Although the crisis level has been downgraded, we must prioritise rest when unwell for the betterment of society, said Jee Young-mee, who heads the CDSCH.

If you experience symptoms of Covid-19, please promptly seek medical attention and adhere to personal quarantine practices, including frequent handwashing.

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S. Korea to fully shift to 'endemic' from Covid-19 pandemic in May - theSun

Quarantine officials close a COVID-19 screening clinic in Seoul in this May 31, 2022 file photo. Korea Times photo by Hong Ihn-ki

Korea is set to fully shift to an "endemic" approach to the COVID-19 pandemic, lifting some last-remaining mandates, including indoor mask requirements for hospitals, from next month, officials said Friday.

The disaster level of COVID-19 will be downgraded to the lowest tier in Korea in a way that fully returns to a pre-pandemic stage some four years after the outbreak, health authorities said.

The Central Disaster and Safety Countermeasures Headquarters (CDSCH) said it will lower the four-grade COVID-19 crisis level from the second highest "alert" to the lowest "concern" from May 1.

"The current epidemic situation itself is very stable, with a low fatality rate and no particularly dangerous variants observed," the CDSCH said.

The decision came more than four years after the country's first case of COVID-19 was reported on Jan. 20, 2020.

Consequently, some remaining mandatory indoor mask requirements for hospitals and other facilities will be completely lifted, and government-level response organizations, such as the CDSCH, which has overseen disaster-controlling measures since the COVID-19 outbreak, will be disbanded.

Most of the government's medical assistance will be also brought to an end.

The government will no longer cover COVID-19 testing or hospitalization costs for some severely ill patients, while patients will have to pay partly for Paxlovid, an oral antiviral pill.

While the COVID-19 vaccine will continue to be freely available to everyone until the 2023-2024 season, it will subsequently be limited to high-risk groups, such as individuals aged 65 and older and those who are immunocompromised.

The health authorities emphasized the importance of personal responsibility despite the downgrade in crisis level.

"Although the crisis level has been downgraded, we must prioritize rest when unwell for the betterment of society," said Jee Young-mee, who heads the CDSCH. "If you experience symptoms of COVID-19, please promptly seek medical attention and adhere to personal quarantine practices, including frequent handwashing." (Yonhap)

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Korea to fully shift to 'endemic' from COVID-19 pandemic starting next month -

Well into the COVID-19 pandemic, the World Health Organization (WHO) and US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) were reluctant to use terms like "airborne," "airborne transmission," and "aerosol transmission" to describe the spread of the virus through the air, while other experts used various definitions to describe the phenomenon, sowing confusion about how the disease was circulating.

An international group has been grappling with the issue, and today the experts laid out their deliberations in a report and proposed new agreed-on terminology for pathogens that transmit "through the air," which include not only SARS-CoV-2, but also influenza, measles, MERS-CoV (Middle East respiratory syndrome coronavirus), SARS (severe acute respiratory syndrome), and tuberculosis.

The group included the WHO, consulting experts, and representatives from four major health groups: the Africa Centres for Disease Control and Prevention, the Chinese Center for Disease Control and Prevention, the European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control, and the US CDC.

In the press release, the WHO said the terminology challenge stemmed from a lack of common terminology across several scientific disciplines, a problem that became more acute when experts across disciplines were tapped to weigh in with guidance and recommendations.

Jeremy Farrar, MD, the WHO's chief scientist, said, "We are pleased to have been able to address this complex and timely issue and reach a consensus." He added that agreed-on terminology for pathogens that spread through the air will help pave the way for new research agendas and to implement public health interventions designed to identify, communicate, and respond to current and new pathogens.

Along with the through-the-air terminology, the group introduced other common descriptors.

People infected with respiratory pathogens can generate and expel infectious particles while breathing, talking, singing, or coughing, for example. The group agreed that those particles should be called "infectious respiratory particles" (IRPs). Since IRPs have different sizes, the group steered away from defined cutoff points such as "droplets" and "aerosols" that scientists have used to distinguish larger particles from smaller particles.

The experts also proposed two descriptors to characterize transmission through the air, with "airborne transmission or inhalation" used when IRPs are expelled into the air and inhaled by another person no matter what the distance and "direct deposition" for when IRPs are directly deposited on the mouth, nose, or eyes of another person.

Yuguo Li, PhD, who co-chaired the technical working group and a building environment expert in the department of mechanical engineering at the University of Hong Kong, said reaching consensus was unprecedented and wasn't easy. "Completing this consultation gives us a new opportunity and starting point to move forward with a better understanding and agreed principles for diseases that transmit through the air."

The WHO said the terminology discussions and agreement represent the first phase of discussions on the topic. I added that the next steps include more technical and multidisciplinary research and exploring the wider implications of using the updated terms.

In the 52-page report, the group acknowledged some sticking points and concerns about practical implications regarding use of the new terms. They stopped short of recommending full airborne precautions to mitigate the risk of short-range airborne transmission.

And while discussions were based on the best available science, the group agreed on the importance of balancing scientific insights with availability, access, affordability, and other practical realities to minimize health inequity and avoid potential consequences, such as the ability to access personal protective equipment such as respirators.

Some experts not involved in the report have said the WHO is on the right path and are welcoming the terminology clarifications. Others, however, see a mixed picture and hope the groups are sincere when they say the report is a first step.

Joe Vipond, MD, an emergency department physician in Calgary, Alberta, and clinical assistant professor at the University of Calgary, said on X today that the report finally acknowledges that short-range airborne transmission is an integral part of all airborne transmission and explicitly says COVID is airborne. He is the cofounder of a Masks4Canada, a grassroots group with a goal of the Canadian government and public knowing about the critical role of masks for reducing COVID transmission.

"This is huge," he wrote, noting that the acknowledgement means workers, especially in healthcare, need respirators when caring for patients in concerning situations. (Respirators fit snugly to the face and filter out the smallest IRPs, as opposed to medical masks, which leave gaps.)

Vipond, however, noted several shortcomings, such as no mention of air filtration or sterilization in the list of suggested public health and social measure implementations. And though he praised the group for having airborne scientists on board, he said key disciplines should also include engineers and occupational hygienists. "We need all brains engaged on wicked problems."

In his other comments, he raised concerns about a lack of consensus on the use of the precautionary principle, which he said was also a problem during the SARS outbreak, and questioned the group's rationale that issues regarding equity preclude recommendations for respirator use. "Equity means everyone gets excellent protections. Not reducing protections to the lowest possible common denominator."

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Global health groups propose new terminology for pathogens that spread through the air - University of Minnesota Twin Cities

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Biomarkers for long COVID that were present in patients at eight months have largely resolved by 24 months among a cohort of people who contracted COVID-19 during Australia's first wave.

Jointly led by the Kirby Institute at UNSW Sydney and St Vincent's Hospital Sydney and published in Nature Communications, the research provides optimistic insights to suggest that long COVID abnormalities can resolve over time.

The ADAPT study followed people who contracted COVID-19 during Australia's first wave, as well as a matched control group, for up to two years. It combines systematic self-reported health information collected from patients with detailed analysis of bloods specimens in the laboratory.

In January 2022, the Kirby Institute research team were the first globally to show that long COVID clinical symptoms were consistent with biomarkers showing a sustained inflammatory response at eight months following infection, providing a clear biological basis for the syndrome of long COVID.

"Almost one and a half years later, we are pleased to see that among this same group, significant improvements were found in blood markers. For the majority of samples we analyzed in the laboratory, the biomarkers previously indicating abnormal immune function have resolved," says Dr. Chansavath Phetsouphanh, first author on the paper and Senior Lecturer at the Kirby Institute.

While the exact scale of the immunological improvements is difficult to quantify as immune function varies significantly from person to person, by 24 months there were no observable differences between the group with long COVID and the control groupwhereas at eight months the two groups had marked differences.

Importantly, this trend in the laboratory data was also visible in the patients' self-reported data, with 62% reporting improvements in health-related quality of life.

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"While this is very encouraging and a reason for optimism, there are still around one third of patients who identify some ongoing impact on their quality of life," says Professor Gail Matthews from the Kirby Institute, lead investigator of ADAPT and Head of Infectious Diseases at St Vincent's Hospital.

"This is likely explained by the reality that patients may have a range of underlying causes for their long COVID symptoms, not all of which are driven by immunological abnormalities and some of which are likely to persist even when the immunological environment has largely returned to normal."

The ADAPT study is globally important as it is one of only a handful of studies that measure clinical data, patient self-reported information and intense biological sampling consistently within the same cohort of people, over a prolonged period of time.

Professor Anthony Kelleher, Director of the Kirby Institute says that while the finding is encouraging, it is important to remember that this is just one cohort who experienced an early strain of COVID-19, and it is a group in which the initial COVID-19 infection was generally considered mild or moderate.

"Immunology is a complex science, and it is impossible to say for certain that outcomes in our unvaccinated clinical cohort will be true for vaccinated people or for people who may have been infected with a different strain of COVID-19.

"What we do know is that for most people with long COVID, both their symptoms and their biomarkers improve significantly over time, and this is a cause for optimism.

"Importantly, we will continue to undertake research to understand more about why some people don't improve, and what can be done for those people."

More information: Chansavath Phetsouphanh et al, Improvement of immune dysregulation in individuals with long COVID at 24-months following SARS-CoV-2 infection, Nature Communications (2024). DOI: 10.1038/s41467-024-47720-8

Journal information: Nature Communications

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Long COVID patients show immunological improvement two years after infection - Medical Xpress

Increased SARS-CoV-2 viral load, an impaired ability to clear the virus, and weaker immune and anti-inflammatory responses may be why older adults are at higher risk for severe COVID-19 and death than younger people, a University of California at San Franciscoled research team posits in Science Translational Medicine.

The researchers also found that markers of illness severity such as the proinflammatory cytokine interleukin-6 were most highly concentrated in the oldest patients.

The team prospectively tracked immune responses to SARS-CoV-2 in 2,523blood, upper airway, and nasal swabs collected over time from 1,031 unvaccinated COVID-19 patients at 20 US hospitals participating in theImmunophenotyping Assessment in a COVID-19 Cohort (IMPACC) study from May 2020 to March 2021.Older adults were considered those 63 years and older.

The study authors point out that previous studies found that mild COVID-19 infection triggers more robust innate and adaptative immune responses in children than in adults. At the same time, among adults hospitalized for COVID-19, a stronger immune response leads to the development of severe disease, suggesting a complicated relationship between aging and host defense.

"Even with primary series vaccination rates above 90%, adults over 75 years of age are 140 times more likely to die if infected with severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2)," the study authors wrote. "Despite these epidemiological associations, the biological mechanisms underlying the impact of aging on COVID-19 remain incompletely understood."

Older age corresponded with greater SARS-CoV-2 viral load at hospital admission, fewer immune cells, delayed viral clearance, increased pro-inflammatory type 1 interferon gene expression in the blood and upper airway, more active innate immune pathways, and a prolonged increase in pro-inflammatory genes and cytokines.

Together, our study finds that aging is associated with impaired viral clearance, dysregulated immune signaling, and persistent and potentially pathologic activation of pro-inflammatory genes and proteins.

The researchers said they saw age-dependent dysregulation of the immune response at the transcriptional, protein, and cellular levels, resulting in an imbalance of inflammatory responses during hospitalization.

"Together, our study finds that aging is associated with impaired viral clearance, dysregulated immune signaling, and persistent and potentially pathologic activation of pro-inflammatory genes and proteins," they wrote.

"These differences raise the possibility that older adults with severe COVID-19 may respond differently, and perhaps more favorably, to immunomodulatory therapies directed at certain inflammatory cytokines," they added. "Delayed viral clearance due to these age-related factors could facilitate the evolution of SARS-CoV-2 variants."

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Severe COVID in older adults may be due to greater viral load, weaker immune response - University of Minnesota Twin Cities

Baltimore mayor says 'White-ran' arts orgs are overfunded, unveils COVID diversity grant

by JULIAN BARON | The National Desk

Baltimore Mayor Brandon Scott speaking to a crowd on Tuesday, April 16, 2024. (CharmTV)

BALTIMORE (TND)

Baltimore City Mayor Brandon Scott shared his disappointment Tuesday that too much public money has gone to arts organizations that "just happen to be White-ran."

The comment came during the announcement of a $3.6 million "Diversity in Arts" grant funded by COVID-19 relief dollars. Capital grant recipients include the The National Great Blacks In Wax Museum on North Avenue and the Reginald F. Lewis Museum.

The mayor went on the thank President Biden and Maryland's congressional delegation for helping ensure the availability of federal funding to promote his efforts.

Baltimore%20Mayor%20Brandon%20Scott%20speaking%20to%20a%20crowd%20on%20Tuesday,%20April%2016,%202024.%20(CharmTV)

Grant funding will also be provided to a list of 24 "project" recipients, including $200,000 for Baltimore Center Stage and $100,000 for Creative Nomads, which brings "African drumming" and "mindfulness" to its partners, according to its website.

Mayor Scott is engaged in a tense Democratic primary race against former Mayor Sheila Dixon. Recent polling shows Mayor Scott holds just a three-point lead on Dixon, who has criticized Scott on a myriad of issues, including his alleged shortcomings on public safety.

A spokesperson for Mayor Scott did not immediately respond to a request for comment from The National Desk and local affiliate FOX45 News on Friday.

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Baltimore mayor says 'White-ran' arts orgs are overfunded, unveils COVID diversity grant - KOKH FOX25

The antiviral drug remdesivir cut death rates 17% to 25% in adults hospitalized for COVID-19 who didn't require supplemental oxygen at admission, suggests a large USstudy published yesterday in Open Forum Infectious Diseases.

The study, led by researchers from remdesivir (Veklury) developer Gilead Sciences, used a multicenter US hospital billing database to compare rates of in-hospital death among 58,188 patients on room air who received at least one dose of remdesivir within the first 2 days of hospital admission and 17,574 matched patients not given the drug. The drug is most effective when given early in infection, when viral replication is most active.

The study period, December 2020 to April 2022, spanned the predominance of the pre-Delta (eg, Alpha, Beta), Delta, and Omicron SARS-CoV-2 variants of concern (VOC).

The study authors noted that previous trials have shown remdesivir to be safe and effective in reducing death rates in hospitalized COVID-19 patients, regardless of the need for supplemental oxygen, and in cutting hospitalization and death rates in nonhospitalized patients at risk for severe illness.

"Nonetheless, much of the evidence relating to remdesivir effectiveness, including real-world studies, is based on data from the early phase of the COVID-19 pandemic," they wrote. "Since then, there has been an emergence of VOC, improvements in standards of care through the approval and authorization of different therapeutics, and widespread initial and follow-up vaccination."

In total, 5.4% of remdesivir-treated and 7.3% of non-remdesivir patients died within 14 days, and 8.0% and 9.8%, respectively, died by 28 days. Remdesivir therapy was tied to a statistically significant reduction in inpatient death relative to remdesivir nonreceipt (14-day adjusted hazard ratio [aHR], 0.75; 28-day aHR, 0.83), translating to a 25% and 17% reduction in risk of death for the two time spans, respectively.

These findings highlight a potential survival benefit when clinicians initiated remdesivir upon admission across the dominant variant eras of the evolving pandemic.

During each VOC period, remdesivir therapy was linked to a significant decline in in-hospital death relative to remdesivir nonreceipt for both 14-day (pre-Delta aHR, 0.73; Delta aHR, 0.80; Omicron aHR, 0.73) and 28-day risk of death (aHRs, 0.83, 0.87, and 0.76, respectively).

"These findings highlight a potential survival benefit when clinicians initiated remdesivir upon admission across the dominant variant eras of the evolving pandemic," the researchers concluded. "Conducting a randomized controlled trial appropriately powered for mortality is impractical in this patient population."

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Remdesivir tied to 25% lower risk of in-hospital death in adults with COVID and no added oxygen - University of Minnesota Twin Cities

Rates of early death and poor health caused by HIV/AIDS and diarrhea have been cut in half since 2010, and the rate of disease burden caused by injuries has dropped by a quarter in the same time period, after accounting for differences in age and population size across countries, based on a new study published in The Lancet. The study measures the burden of disease in years lost to early death and poor health. The findings indicate that total rates of global disease burden dropped by 14.2% between 2010 and 2019. However, the researchers found that the COVID-19 pandemic interrupted these downward trends: rates of disease burden increased overall since 2019 by 4.1% in 2020 and by 7.2% in 2021. This is the first study to measure premature death and disability due to the COVID-19 pandemic globally and compare it to other diseases and injuries.

The study reveals how healthy life expectancy, which is the number of years a person can expect to live in good health, rose from 61.3 years in 2010 to 62.2 years in 2021. Pinpointing the factors driving these trends, the researchers point to rapid improvements within the three different categories of disease burden: communicable, maternal, neonatal, and nutritional diseases; non-communicable diseases; and injuries. Among communicable, maternal, neonatal, and nutritional diseases, the burden of disease declined for neonatal disorders (diseases and injuries that appear uniquely in the first month of life), lower respiratory infections, diarrhea, malaria, tuberculosis, and HIV/AIDS between 2010 and 2021, ranging from reductions of 17.1% for neonatal disorders to 47.8% for HIV/AIDS. In the category of non-communicable diseases, disease burden from stroke dropped by 16.9%, while disease burden from ischemic heart disease fell by 12.0% during this period.

For injuries, the years of healthy life lost due to road injuries was slashed by nearly a quarter (22.9%), while disease burden from falls was reduced by 6.9%. Progress in reducing disease burden varied by countries' Socio-demographic Index a measure of income, fertility, and education underscoring inequities. For example, the burden of disease due to stroke dropped by 9.6% from 2010 to 2021 in countries with the lowest Socio-demographic Index, but it declined faster by 24.9% among countries with higher Socio-demographic Index.

Our study illuminates both the world's successes and failures. It demonstrates how the world made huge strides in expanding treatment for HIV/AIDS and combatting vaccine-preventable diseases and deaths among children under 5. At the same time, it shows how COVID-19 exacerbated inequities, causing the greatest disease burden in countries with the fewest resources, where health systems were strained and vaccines were difficult to secure. Governments should prioritize equitable pandemic preparedness planning and work to preserve the momentum that we've seen in improving children's health."

Dr. Alize Ferrari, Affiliate Associate Professor at the Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation (IHME) at the University of Washington, Honorary Associate Professor at the School of Public Health at the University of Queensland, and co-first author of the study

The research presents updated estimates from the Global Burden of Diseases, Injuries, and Risk Factors Study (GBD) 2021. The GBD 2021 study analyzes incidence, prevalence, years lived with disability (years lived in less-than-ideal health), and disability-adjusted life years (lost years of healthy life) at global, regional, national, and subnational levels. It presents estimates of health and health loss in age-adjusted rates and total rates per 100,000 people. The study provides globally comparable measures of healthy life expectancy and is the first study to fully evaluate burden of disease amid the first two years of the COVID-19 pandemic. COVID-19 was the single leading cause of disease burden worldwide in 2021, accounting for 7.4% of total disease burden globally.

The study also examined how the COVID-19 pandemic affected males and females differently. The researchers found that males were more likely than females to die of COVID-19; the age-standardized disease burden rate for COVID-19 among males was nearly twice that of females. However, the secondary effects of the COVID-19 pandemic, including long COVID and mental disorders, hit females hardest. For example, females were twice as likely as males to develop long COVID. Depression, which increased sharply during the pandemic, was most likely to affect females between ages 15 and 65. Looking at differences between age groups, COVID-19 caused the most disease burden in older adults. For COVID-19, adults 70 years and older had more than double the levels of disease burden compared to adults between the ages of 50 and 69.

The study highlights not only the diseases and injuries that cut life short and cause poor health, and how the burden of disease from different causes has changed over time, but also examines how these patterns differ across countries and regions. "In essence," the authors write, the study "provides a comprehensive toolkit to inform and enhance decision-making processes across various levels of governance and practice."

GBD 2021 shines a light on the different causes of disease burden, showing which ones have improved and which are stagnating or worsening. It also tallies the number of years that people are living healthy lives. Healthy life expectancy rose significantly in 59 countries and territories between 2010 and 2021, with the greatest improvements in countries ranking lowest on the Socio-demographic Index, jumping from 52.2 years in 2010 to 54.4 years in 2021. In contrast, healthy life expectancy showed minimal change among countries in the highest levels of the Socio-demographic Index, decreasing slightly from 68.9 years in 2010 to 68.5 years in 2021. The findings on healthy life expectancy demonstrate that even though people are living longer lives all over the world, they aren't spending all those years in good health. The researchers found that the main causes of poor health were low back pain, depressive disorders, and headache disorders.

"With low back pain, the leading cause of poor health globally, we see that the existing treatments aren't working well to address it," said Dr. Damian Santomauro, Affiliate Assistant Professor of Health Metrics Sciences at IHME; Stream Lead at Queensland Centre for Mental Health Research; Adjunct Fellow at the School of Public Health at the University of Queensland; and co-first author of the study. "We need better tools to manage this major cause of global disease burden."

"In contrast, for depressive disorders, we know what can work: therapy, medication, or both in combination for an adequate period of time. However, most people in the world have little or no access to treatment, unfortunately," he said. "Considering how depression increased dramatically during the COVID-19 pandemic, it's urgent to ensure that everyone with this disorder can get treatment."

Another way to understand what is making people ill is by looking at which diseases are growing fastest. GBD 2021 reveals that diabetes experienced the most rapid growth among the different causes of poor health, what the researchers call years lived with disability. Age-adjusted years lived with disability due to diabetes rose by 25.9% between 2010 and 2021. Poor health from diabetes increased in every country and territory that the researchers studied.

"Diabetes is a major contributor to stroke and ischemic heart disease, which are among the top three causes of disease burden worldwide," said Dr. Theo Vos, Professor Emeritus at IHME and one of the study's senior authors. "Without intervention, more than 1.3 billion people in the world will be living with diabetes by 2050. To counter the threat of diabetes, we must ensure that people in all countries can access preventive care and treatment, including to anti-obesity medications, which can lower a person's risk of developing diabetes."

Source:

Journal reference:

GBD 2021 Diseases and Injuries Collaborators.,(2024) Global incidence, prevalence, years lived with disability (YLDs), disability-adjusted life-years (DALYs), and healthy life expectancy (HALE) for 371 diseases and injuries in 204 countries and territories and 811 subnational locations, 19902021: a systematic analysis for the Global Burden of Disease Study 2021. The Lancet. doi.org/10.1016/S0140-6736(24)00757-8.

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Global disease burden study highlights COVID-19 impact and health inequities - News-Medical.Net