HYDERABAD: A series of two studies by researchers on the adverse impact of Covid-19 pandemic on the lives of dialysis patients has revealed startling figures. The two studies were conducted on nearly 14,573 in the first wave and 17,662 patients in the second wave, and the mortality amidst the sample groups was a whopping 23 per cent and 33 per cent respectively.
The study was conducted on patients taking services from Nephro Plus dialysis centres and was published in the ‘Kidney International Report.’
During the first wave, of the 14,573 individuals studied, 1,279 subjects were found to be positive for SARS-CoV-2. Of the infected individuals, 99 per cent were hospitalised for an average of 12 days and the mortality rate was 23 per cent.
“The ripple effect on dialysis patients not infected with Covid-19 is also massive. The conversion of dialysis centres to Covid-19 centres greatly affected treatment and discouraged patients from attending dialysis sessions,” found the study.During the second wave, of the 17,662 patients surveyed, 1,111 or 6.2 per cent of the screened patients were infected with Covid-19 and a staggering mortality of 32.76 per cent was observed in a span of just three months.
“We found that Covid infection among dialysis patients was 20-fold greater than the general population,” added Principal Investigator Dr Vivekanand Jha.While the sample sizes from Telangana and AP were much smaller, deaths were reported among the patients in these States too. According to the data, in the first wave, AP saw 542 infections and 119 deaths whereas Telangana had 23 infections and 12 deaths.
Vaccines can halve deaths
Dr Jha said, “We found that those patients on dialysis who had taken even one dose of the vaccine had as much as 33 per cent reduced risk of getting the infection. More notable was the halving of the risk of death.”
247 cases of Covid-19 reported in TS
Telangana recorded 247 cases of Covid-19 on Thursday after conducting 51,521 tests. The State registered 315 recoveries, lowering the number of active cases to 4,877. The highest cases were reported from GHMC limits with 71 cases, followed by Karimnagar with 21 cases and 17 cases in Khammam. The day also saw one death due to Covid-19, taking the toll to 3,909
2 succumb to virus in ggh, nizamabad
Two persons have died in two days while undergoing treatment in the Covid ward of Government General Hospital (GGH), Nizamabad. The deceased persons, a 70-year-old woman and 35-year-old man, are from Kammarpally mandal. However, GGH Superintendent Dr Prathima Raj said that rarely one or two serious patients may die and this was not a usual occurrence