The Challenge of Stuffed Diseases, by Elmer Huerta

The dictionary of the Royal Spanish Academy defines’reservoir‘as “a large reservoir that is artificially formed, usually by closing the mouth of a valley a dike or dam, and in which the waters of a river or stream are stored, in order to use them in the irrigation of land, in the supply of populations, in the production of electrical energy, etcetera ”.

During the pandemic, there has been a reservoir of conditions and diseases, and that we could define as the great accumulation of diseases formed artificially by fear of contagion and the closure of health services, and that have been dangerously stored, threatening to originate an overload of advanced and complicated diseases in the near future ”. Two studies, one from the US and the other from Peru, chart the consequences of this reservoir.

-Arterial hypertension-

The US study, published in “Circulation” of December 6, reports on the increase in cases of arterial hypertension during the pandemic. This will aggravate the enormous reservoir of cases of chronic illnesses originated during this time.

Researchers at the Cleveland Clinic in the US analyzed data from a study done from 2018 to 2020, in which the blood pressure and weight of about half a million employees and their partners, who participated in a health program, were measured. occupational, with an average age of 45 years and of which 53.5% were women. The objective was to know if there were changes in the measurement of blood pressure and weight in the course of these three years.

The study showed that medical control of blood pressure decreased during 2020, in both men and women, and was higher in women and older adults, of the pandemic.

On the other hand, blood pressure levels rose between April and December 2020, months in which authorities asked people to stay home, as well as other restrictions in public life.

“It is worrying that only half of women know that mammograms are very important to detect breast cancer early”

During that period of pandemic –And compared to the period from April to December 2019–, systolic blood pressure increased from 1.10 to 2.50 millimeters of mercury (mm Hg), and diastolic pressure increased from 0.14 to 0.53 mm Hg .

In general, the increase in systolic and diastolic blood pressure occurred in men and women, and in all age groups, but specifically women had elevation of both numbers. Older people had elevated systolic; and the youngest, the diastolic.

And although it is true that it seems that this elevation in blood pressure is minimal and unimportant, the authors recall that small increases in blood pressure at the population level are associated, in the long term, with a higher incidence of adverse cardiovascular effects.

—Breast cancer—

The second report is “Attitudes towards the prevention of breast cancer”, from an oncology insurance company in Peru. In a survey of 513 women between the ages of 25 and 70 in metropolitan Lima, carried out between October 1 and 10 of this year, it was found that, regardless of age, most of the women interviewed said that breast cancer and gynecological is the disease that causes them the most fear.

It is worrying that only half of women know that mammograms are very important in detecting breast cancer early.

But the most shocking thing, and that has to do with the reservoir, is that –from the beginning of the pandemic– only 6% of women between 46 and 55 years old and only 2.5% between 56 and 70 years old have had a mammogram. In other words, the reservoir has meant that more than 94% of women at higher risk of developing breast cancer did not have an early detection exam during the pandemic.

-Corollary-

The reservoir of diseases – especially chronic diseases – is enormous throughout the world, including Peru. If there are no clear plans and strategies to deal with the problem, health systems will collapse again, not only because of the thousands of patients with COVID-19 chronic, s

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