And Australia's covid guidelines taskforce says inhaled corticosteroids should be considered in adults at risk of severe disease.
Welcome to The Medical Republic’s Covid Catch-Up.
It’s the latest covid-19 news in one convenient post. Email bianca@biancanogrady.com with tips, comments or suggestions.
7 March
- Women have experienced greater economic set-backs during pandemic than men.
- Consider inhaled corticosteroids in adults with covid and risk factors for severe disease, updated guidelines suggest.
- Beware the dodgy ivermectin, TGA warns … or just stay away from it altogether.
The effects of the pandemic have been felt particularly keenly by women around the world, who were more likely to lose their job, give up work to care for another, or drop out of school.
A study published in The Lancet collected and analysed data from 193 countries to explore the effects of the pandemic on health, social, and economic indicators for women and men.
Across all countries, but particularly in north Africa and the Middle East, women were more likely to suffer employment loss than men: 26% of women versus 20.4% of men. They were also more likely to forgo work to care for someone, and that difference increased from the start of the pandemic to September 2021 when the study ended.
Women and girls were 21% more likely to drop out of school for reasons other than school closures, and more women than men felt there was an increase in gender-based violence in their community during the pandemic.
Overall, women fared the worst in the Sub-Saharan region, where there were the greatest disparities in income loss, disruptions to healthcare access, employment loss and increase in gender-based violence.
The study also looked at vaccine hesitancy, and found that while women initially had higher rates of vaccine hesitancy than men, by September 2021 there was little difference between the genders. There was also no significant difference globally in vaccination rates between men and women, but there were some regional differences – for example, women were more likely to be vaccinated than men in Latin American, Sub-Saharan Africa and high-income countries, but less likely in south Asia, north Africa and the Middle East.
Adults with covid who don’t require oxygen but have risk factors for disease progression can be treated with inhaled corticosteroids, as it may decrease the risk of hospitalisation or the need for oxygen, according to the latest update to Australia’s covid management guidelines.
The National Covid-19 Clinical Evidence Taskforce advises that inhaled corticosteroids can be considered in people within 14 days of symptom onset, based on data from a clinical trial of twice-daily inhaled budesonide in adults over 50 years with at least one relevant comorbidity.
The taskforce has also released updated flowcharts on the use of disease-modifying treatments for children and adults with covid, and an update flowchart on respiratory support.
As if it wasn’t bad enough that people are using ivermectin to treat covid, given the lack of evidence for its efficacy, the TGA is now warning about counterfeit ivermectin being sold online.
Two ivermectin products sold online – Iverheal-12 and Iverjohn-12 – have been found to contain lower amounts of the drug than was claimed on the label.
The TGA also reiterated its warning against self-medicating with ivermectin as a treatment for covid.
