By now most of us know that hospitalization and deaths due to covid were more in those who had comorbidities.

The four main comorbidities leading to Covid-19 deaths were diabetes, hypertension, cancer, and chronic kidney disease, as per a recent research done at Australia’s Griffith University.

A global database of 375,859 participants from 14 countries was analyzed by the researchers at Griffith University and it was found that chronic kidney disease was statistically the most prominent comorbidity linked to death.

It was also found that hypertension, diabetes, and obesity were the most common underlying medical conditions in covid patients. However, obesity did not increase the risk of mortality.

The researchers further said, ‘this is a global study covering all comorbidities reported to be involved in the exacerbation of COVID-19 leading to death. It allows us to identify specific comorbidities that have higher risk in patients and identify COVID-19 high-risk groups.’

Employees working in a company are a captive population and an opportunity should not be let go to manage employee health, including management of comorbidities. This requires the OH physician in a company to convince the management to establish a strong multi-disciplinary case management program.

Establishing a case management, health surveillance and wellness program inhouse in a company by OH physician will not only improve employee health but significantly reduce hospitalization and mortality in the employees generally and during a pandemic or a pandemic-like situation in future.

End-stage kidney disease (ESKD) is a medical condition that requires dialysis or kidney transplant to maintain life. There are many diseases and conditions that lead to kidney disease:

  • diabetes (type-1 and type2),
  • high blood pressure,
  • glomerulonephritis (inflammation of kidney’s filtering units),
  • interstitial nephritis (inflammation of kidney’s tubules),
  • polycystic kidney disease (or other inherited kidney diseases),
  • prolonged obstruction of urinary tract (due to enlarged prostrate, kidney stones, cancer),
  • recurrent kidney infection.

If not all, some of the medical conditions listed above can be managed inhouse in a company by OH (Occupational Health) physician by building a strong multi-disciplinary case management program so that they either they don’t progress to ESKD or are delayed. The risk of mortality was higher in cases with ESKD compared to chronic renal disease  

Additionally, health surveillance and wellness programs will ensure that comorbidities in the employees are kept to the minimum by catching them early on and managing them aggressively.

Establishing a case management, health surveillance and wellness program inhouse in a company by OH physician will not only improve employee health but significantly reduce hospitalization and mortality in the employees generally and during a pandemic or a pandemic-like situation in future.

Employees should understand that such initiatives are extremely beneficial to them, while the management should encourage active employee participation to get the best out of the OH physician’s expertise as comorbidities management in general will help in managing a lot of diseases that employees may have leading eventually to a healthy workforce with less morbidity, lesser sickness absence, high morale and hence improved productivity. 

Those who are not employed in large corporations or are self-employed or work in MSME should proactively get themselves checked frequently and if a problem is detected follow medical advice diligently. Preventing a health problem is cheaper and better than looking for a cure when it is late.

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Dr Ajay Sati is an Occupational Health physician who prefers to describe himself as an Occupationist, to denote, ‘an expert in diseases and other concerns of occupations’. Dr Sati has managed health and wellness programs in industries he worked, like the atomic energy, and energy (oil & gas) in India and overseas. He was involved in many greenfield and brownfield projects providing inputs from health point of view. Known for SOPs and protocols, he is currently involved with an energy MNC in designing protocols to support employees during the covid pandemic, and protocols to safely reopen offices and plants.