Study of demographic factors and effect of high protein diet on Severity of patients with Covid-19 at a tertiary healthcare center in Northern Maharashtra: An analytical study

Abstract

Background: In general eating habits and lifestyle modification always seen to threaten our health. Maintaining a correct nutrition status is crucial, especially in a period when the immune system might need to fight back. Covid-19 pandemic is a global health emergency, and therefore it’s prevention and treatment is an important priority of world health. The dietary patterns of people play an important role in health aspects of people. The present study was conducted to assess the effect of high protein diet, age and its co-relation with severity of COVID-19 disease. Material & Methods: The present study was a cross-sectional study. Data was collected from people in rural areas of Dhule district. Outcome measures were symptoms, RTPCR result, HRCT score, hospital stay, diet during and after infection, intake of protein powder and multivitamins, that was evaluated with a questionnaire. Results: Study included 42 patients. All patients had history of Covid-19 infection or were suspected cases. The vegetarian diet was compared with severity of Covid-19 (p=0.0023) thus there is an association between vegetarian diet and more severity of disease. There is significant association between age of the participants and breathlessness (P=0.042). There was significant association between consuming protein powder and multivitamins with lesser duration of post Covid-19 weakness (p=0.002) and (p= 0.036). Conclusion: The study tells that severity of Covid-19 is higher in people of advanced age, poor consumption of protein in diet, reduced intake of multivitamins during and after the infection. Those who have taken high protein diet have less severity of Covid-19 infection and it helped in early recovery.