Women’s health status before and during the COVID-19 pandemic in rural Bangladesh: A prospective longitudinal study

Abstract

The coronavirus disease (COVID-19) pandemic has widely spread worldwide since 2020. Several countries have imposed lockdown or stay-at-home policies to prevent the infection. Bangladesh experienced a lockdown from March 2020 to May 2020, and internal travel was restricted. Such long and strict confinement may impact women’s health. Herein, we aimed to assess the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on women’s health by comparing their health status before and during the pandemic. We conducted a prospective longitudinal study in two zones in the Chhaygaon union, rural district Shariatpur, Bangladesh. The study population comprised non-pregnant women aged 15–49 years. We visited the household of all eligible women and invited them for health checkups. The survey staff examined their health status at the checkup camps and conducted questionnaire interviews. In total, 121 non-pregnant women received health checkups both from June 2019 to July 2019 and in October 2020, before and during the COVID-19 pandemic, respectively. Compared with those during the 2019 health checkup, the medians of body mass index, systolic blood pressure, and diastolic blood pressure were significantly higher (22.7 kg/m2 to 23.6 kg/m2; 110.0 mmHg to 111.0 mmHg; and 73.0 mmHg to 75.0 mmHg, respectively, p<0.05) during the 2020 health checkup. In contrast, urine glucose levels were significantly lower (10.1% to 3.4%, p = 0.021). The lack of physical activity and other inconvenience accumulation caused by the prolonged confinement might have affected their health status. This necessitates local health workers to promote physical activity to prevent health deterioration during the pandemic.

Long-term impact of COVID-19 pandemic on secular changes in metabolic parameters in Japanese workers : Tokushima Cohort Study

“…It was obvious that individuals became less active due to the preventive measures against SARS-CoV-2 transmission during the COVID-19 pandemic (15,16). Consistent with our findings, similar results were reported that SBP, DBP, and BMI during the pandemic were significantly increased in women's health checkups in Bangladesh (17). Incidentally, the frequency of antihypertensive medication use did not significantly increase during the COVID-19 pandemic in this study, as patients with hypertension may have become more reluctant to visit clinics because of the risk of COVID-19 infection in the early stage of the pandemic, although people may have paid more attention to their health conditions because comorbidity of hypertension (18), diabetes (19), heart disease (20,21), hepatic cirrhosis (22), obesity (23), chronic kidney disease (24), cancer (25) and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (26) may be associated with more severe COVID-19 outcomes.…”

Food and family care during the COVID-19 pandemic: A study of women’s domestic workload during the first wave in Chile

“…These findings align with several studies conducted during the pandemic in quarantine periods, showing that people experienced the worst level of health, especially women. The lower access to medical checkups, the changes in diet due to confinement and lower access to healthy food, and the high sedentary lifestyle and low level of physical activity could explain this worst level of health in women [21,55]. In our study, a negative perception of mental and general health status was also associated with a worse perception of domestic work.…”

“…This also increases the risk of causing deterioration in women's physical and mental health [17][18][19]. Data showed that women had a higher level of stress than men [20], and compared to the pre-pandemic period, during the pandemic, they could increase their BMI and blood pressure [21]. This way, the pandemic crisis and women's responsibilities could also affect their general wellbeing.…”

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