COVID deadly for dialysis patients
The Hindu
Infections, hospitalisations and mortality significantly reduced among people who had taken at least one dose of vaccine: study
Conversion of dialysis centres into COVID centres during the devastating second wave has greatly affected treatment and discouraged patients from attending dialysis sessions. This has resulted in an increase in mortality among the dialysis population within the period from 15% in 2019 to 20% in 2020, said a study conducted by dialysis network NephroPlus on Thursday.
The study sampled 17,662 patients in the second wave; 1,111 or 6.2% of the screened patients were infected with COVID-19 and a staggering mortality of 32.76% was observed amongst these patients. This is far greater than mortality recorded in 2019 within the same period. Age is another important variable that comes to bear in the study. The mean age of COVID-infected people was 53.63, with 45% of all infected persons above the age of 55.
NephroPlus undertook the research to understand the impact of COVID on dialysis patients in terms of infections, hospitalisations and mortality as also the benefits of vaccination, and stated that the vaccines are truly effective. The work has been published in the reputed international “Nephrology Journal, Kidney International Reports”, said a press release.
The election authorities are gearing up for the counting of votes cast in the simultaneous elections to Lok Sabha and Assembly seats in Andhra Pradesh, scheduled to be held on June 4. The Collectors and Election Officers of Visakhapatnam, Anakapalli and Alluri Sitharama Raju (ASR) districts said on May 23 (Thursday) that their teams were ready for the counting of votes.
Responding to the prolonged water scarcity, the residents of the area took to the streets in protest on Wednesday. The protest, which drew attention to their plight, stopped only after the intervention of the police. It was not until 1.30 p.m. that a 4000-litre tanker was finally delivered by BWSSB, providing relief to the water-starved residents.