The Impact of COVID-19 Control measures on NCD risk factors and Metabolic health: A comparison of 3 Caribbean countries
Medical Research Council
University of the West Indies
Low and middle income countries (LMICs) have a disproportionate burden of noncommunicable diseases (NCDs) and limited resources for prevention and treatment. The COVID-19 pandemic has served to highlight and also exacerbate these disparities. With limited resources for tertiary level care and no evidence-based treatments or effective vaccines, LMIC governments employed a range of public health measures to control the spread of COVID-19, many of which interfered with daily routines and food systems. These control measure may have beneficial and detrimental effects on NCD risk factors, physical measurements (blood pressure and weight), mental & metabolic health. The Caribbean's high NCD burden and heterogeneity in COVID-19 incidence & implementation of COVID-19 control measures provides a unique opportunity to investigate the effect of specific policies on NCD health practices and explore differential effects by gender, urban/rural residence and socioeconomic status. We plan to administer a telephone survey to hospital out-patients who had blood taken for metabolic studies (glucose and lipids) at tertiary hospitals prior to the outbreak in three island territories -Jamaica, Barbados and Trinidad & Tobago (n= 1460) to investigate the effect of COVID-19 control measures on NCD risk factor practices and mental health. Participants will be invited for repeat laboratory testing to evaluate the effect of COVID-19 control measures on metabolic health. Blood pressure and weight will be abstracted from outpatient visit records prior to and following the epidemic. The effect of COVID-19 control measures on NCD risk factors, physical measures, mental and metabolic health has not been examined in the region. Through multi-island comparisons we can investigate the impact of specific government policies and help LMICs limit adverse outcomes in persons at risk of or living with NCDs while containing future COVID-19 outbreaks or other national disasters.
2.4 Surveillance and distribution / Research Grant