Underlying conditions drive rising COVID deaths in Clark County
Deaths among COVID-19 patients are rising again in Clark County, and those most affected continue to be people above age 65 living with underlying medical conditions.
Eighty-seven deaths have been reported this month as of Wednesday, more than during the entire month of June.
More than 500 county residents have died after contracting the respiratory disease caused by the coronavirus since the outbreak began in March, according to Southern Nevada Health District data. More than three-quarters of those who died had one or more underlying medical conditions. Men account for 61 percent of the deaths.
The most common chronic diseases among those who died have been diabetes and high blood pressure. Both are believed to affect tens of millions of Americans, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
“All these problems tax your bodies in many different ways,” said Dr. Luis Medina-Garcia, an infection disease specialist for University Medical Center in Las Vegas. “They have different mechanisms, but they both put you at a disadvantage.”
High blood pressure was the single most common ailment associated with more severe outcomes in local COVID-19 patients. Almost half of everyone who died after contracting the virus in Clark County was diagnosed with hypertension.
Medina-Garcia said unmanaged hypertension can damage the arteries in a person’s heart, lungs and other organs over time. COVID-19 can exacerbate those problems because it can inflame organ tissue, including heart muscles, leading to failure.
High blood sugar in diabetic people can damage blood vessels in a person’s organs, including their heart. The chronic disease can also weaken a person’s immune system, causing their body to mount a less effective response to fighting against COVID-19, said Dr. Lamont Tyler, medical director with CareNow Urgent Care in Las Vegas.
While COVID-19 is a respiratory disease, it’s important to remember that the lungs and heart work in tandem to deliver oxygen throughout the body, Tyler said. A damaged heart can be a major hindrance, and oxygen deprivation can lead to death in some patients.
“These people are getting sick with COVID but they already have underlying organ damage from hypertension that makes it harder to fight the virus,” he said. “If the heart has to work harder, then your lungs have to work harder.”
The compounded effect has led to disproportionately severe outcomes among Black people infected with COVID-19 throughout the U.S., as those populations often have higher rates of heart disease and diabetes than their white counterparts. In April, the Review-Journal reported COVID-19 was disproportionately killing Black and Asian Clark County residents.
Medical researchers around the globe are working at unprecedented rates to study COVID-19 and determine the best ways to prevent and treat the disease, Medina-Garcia said. But it will likely be years before significant progress is made.
One trend that scientists are still trying to understand is why COVID-19 appears to be killing more men than women.
“We’ve known about tuberculosis for hundreds of years, and we’re still studying it,” he said. “This war on COVID-19 is won by not getting infected. It’s not won in a hospital.”
To see how the coronavirus has impacted Nevada, go to the Review-Journal’s updating data page.
Contact Michael Scott Davidson at sdavidson@reviewjournal.com or 702-477-3861. Follow @davidsonlvrj on Twitter.
