New York, March 18 (IANS) As the global pandemic COVID-19 continues and its impact increasingly disrupts daily life, a new survey revealed that at least 73 per cent people with chronic illnesses in the US feel that these conditions make them more susceptible to the novel coronavirus.

The survey reveals specific concerns about the novel coronavirus among people living with chronic illnesses, who feel these conditions make them more susceptible to the virus (73 per cent) and are beginning to turn to each other (58 per cent) and their doctors (36 per cent) for more information.

According to the study, epidemiologists have identified people with serious chronic medical conditions as one of the two key demographic groups (along with older adults) that are at high risk for poor outcomes from COVID-19.

Health Perspectives Group in US fielded the first of a series of ongoing surveys this week among 1,300 members of its Health Stories Project social sharing community who are living with or caring for chronic conditions, tracking their awareness of and concerns about the novel coronavirus pandemic.

"As we repeat the survey over the next days and weeks, we will analyse and share the result across categories and diseases as quickly as possible to provide a real-time snapshot of how the COVID-19 situation is evolving, and hopefully resolving, for these patients," said Cheryl Lubbert, President and CEO of Health Perspectives Group in the US.
Survey participants span age groups (18-92), genders, race/ethnicities, education level, location (urban, suburban, rural) and 17 chronic disease areas.

According to the study, people living with chronic health conditions are alert and concerned about both broad and personal impacts of COVID-19.

Among respondents, 33 percent watch, read or listen to the news daily, 35 per cent several times a day and 20 per cent almost constantly, across a wide range of sources, including TV (75 per cent), news websites (64 per cent), news apps (53 per cent) and social media (75 per cent).

When considering general impact of the pandemic, 56 per cent of respondents think there will be a widespread outbreak of COVID-19 this year (19 per cent said that sometime in the future and 12 per cent are not sure), and 89 per cent of respondents expressed concern that the outbreak will hurt the economy.

--IANS bu/sdr/