Being known as the sick man of Europe is not the accolade anyone would want. But would it surprise you to learn that since Covid we’ve become even sicker?
The most recent figures from the Office for National Statistics showed that 36 per cent of working-age people had at least one long-term health condition, an increase from 31 per cent pre-Covid.
Even more alarmingly, more than 2.5 million people were economically inactive because of long-term sickness, an increase of over 400,000 since the start of the pandemic.
And yes, there’s no doubt that this is due to the damaging impact of our lifestyle, including obesity, lack of exercise and eating ultra-processed foods (which make up 60 per cent of the average Briton’s diet).
But I want to suggest another factor – the long sting in the tail from Covid.
Now I know that plenty of people think what’s driven the rise in ill health is the vaccine: I get a lot of stick and threats on social media when I write about the benefits of it, with people saying I’m missing the point about the harms and accusing me of being a vaccine zealot.
To a point, I can understand why some people are so overwrought: the mistrust many of us now have about drug companies generally, the failed hope (as I, too, initially believed) that vaccines would prevent you from getting Covid, and the lack of long-term safety data, have led many to question them.
However, the results of a new study finally put that argument to bed.
More than 2.5 million people were economically inactive because of long-term sickness, an increase of over 400,000 since the start of the Covid-19 pandemic
The research was published last month with little fanfare, but buried in the small print of the results section was something quite eye-opening.
Initially, we all thought Covid was just a respiratory illness. Sadly, it’s more complicated, with a greater number of manifestations than any of us could have imagined. For the virus seems unique, as not only does it damage organs, but it can alter our immune response, cause chronic inflammation and change the hormonal controls in our body.
(This uniqueness makes the chances of Covid being manmade – by accident or deliberately, we will never know – in a laboratory a reasonable theory, rather than just insane conspiracy.)
These factors all raise our risks of several long-term illnesses after a Covid infection, ranging from lung clots to strokes and heart attacks and even an increased risk of dementia.
And this new study now reveals it also raises our risk of developing an autoimmune condition.
As someone who has a strong family history of these (my grandmother and cousin had rheumatoid arthritis) and who himself suffers from Crohn’s disease (which got worse after my two episodes of Covid), this paper caught my eye.
Published in the well-respected JAMA Dermatology journal, the study – by researchers in South Korea – was based on the medical records of more than six million people: half of them had had Covid and half were matched as ‘controls’ – which means they had similar characteristics except for not having had Covid.
The Covid patients all became ill before October 2020 (when not all had been offered the vaccine). The results were astonishing.
But what we do know is that Covid vaccines have not contributed to the rise in ill health, just the opposite, writes Professor Rob Galloway
If you had Covid, you had a 35 per cent greater risk of developing Crohn’s and a 15 per cent increased risk of ulcerative colitis (these are both debilitating conditions that cause inflammation of the digestive tract); a 9 per cent increase in rheumatoid arthritis (where your immune system attacks the tissues in the joints); and an 11 per cent increase in ankylosing spondylitis (which causes an inflamed and painful spine).
There was also a 13 per cent increase in Sjögren’s syndrome (where the immune system attacks glands that produce saliva and tears, causing very dry mouth and eyes); and a massive 45 per cent increase in Behcet’s disease (which attacks your blood vessels, causing symptoms ranging from mouth and genital ulcers to joint pain).
The researchers also found that patients who’d been to intensive care with Covid – a marker of a severe infection – were at even greater risk of later developing an autoimmune condition.
But buried deep in the supplementary pages of the results section of the paper was the most important information.
Figure 11 was a table labelled ‘Subgroup Analyses of Autoimmune Connective Tissue Disease Risk by Vaccination Status’.
This innocuous-looking table compared the risks of getting an autoimmune condition if you had Covid in people who had the full vaccine course, an incomplete vaccination course, and no vaccination.
The results were startling. For example, overall there was a 13 per cent increased risk of developing Sjögren’s syndrome after having Covid.
But if you were unvaccinated and developed Covid, you had a 76 per cent increased risk of Sjögren’s. The increased risks were replicated for all other conditions: rheumatoid arthritis went from a 9 per cent to a 55 per cent risk; Crohn’s from 35 per cent to 121 per cent; ulcerative colitis 15 per cent to 191 per cent; and so on.
Even more remarkably, with some conditions such as psoriasis there was no risk if you’d had Covid but were vaccinated – yet if you weren’t vaccinated and caught the virus, you had a 95 per cent increased risk of developing the condition.
The researchers concluded that the results ‘may provide evidence to support the hypothesis that Covid vaccines can help prevent autoimmune diseases’.
No one wants to inject a vaccine into their body, especially one without long-term safety data.
But what we do know is that Covid vaccines have not contributed to the rise in ill health, just the opposite.
Not only would many millions more have died, but the post-Covid burden of ill-health would have been far greater.
So following a pure scientific approach with no conflicts of interest, I’ll continue to take the Covid vaccine.
And if I’m anywhere where I’m at risk of catching Covid, such as a busy A&E department or on an aeroplane, I’ll wear a mask, despite feeling socially uncomfortable about it. I do not want to put myself at risk of getting long-term post-Covid complications – or add to the rising ill health in this country.
But if the evidence changes, so will my opinion and you’ll be the first to know.
That’s not zealotry. That’s putting patient welfare above all else.
@drrobgalloway
My worry about new weight loss drugs
My dad taught me to be suspicious of anything that appears too good to be true. Does that include the new weight-loss jabs?
The first UK death linked to these (in this case Mounjaro) was reported recently. Susan McGowan, 58, an NHS nurse, had two injections in the weeks before she died. The jab was listed as a contributory factor.
And now it’s been reported that there have been 274 hospitalisations due to these drugs, and nearly 15,000 adverse reactions. Worryingly there’s no long-term safety or efficacy data.
Being very overweight or obese is dangerous and most diets fail – so there is a place for these drugs.
But I worry we’re succumbing to the easy lure of Big Pharma telling us that a drug can solve a lifetime of unhealthy living. There is a concerning history of ‘wonder drugs’ going wrong.
For the sake of our patients, I hope my anxiety is misplaced. But until we know more about their safety in the long term, my advice to patients will be first to try safe and healthy alternatives to these injections.
