The COVID-19 and lifestyle nexus: settling the debate

Abstract

A recent debate that has gained our attention is that of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) being referred to as a lifestyle disease by the Royal College of General Practitioners (in the title of an online event) for which they later apologized and withdrew the reference. In this commentary, we demystify diseases related to ‘lifestyle’ and put this in the context of the age-old public health way of classifying diseases as communicable and non-communicable (NCDs). Evidence indicates that unhealthy lifestyles, in addition to causing NCDs, can also result in reduced immunity and/or cause injury to organs predisposing individuals to diseases, and their severity, traditionally defined as ‘communicable’ such as COVID-19. COVID-19 has demonstrated the nexus between communicable and NCDs as never before in no uncertain terms. Two important messages that have emerged from the pandemic are: (1) there is close proximity of communicable diseases to NCDs; and (2) individual personal hygiene-related lifestyles can influence the occurrence, severity and prevention of communicable diseases such as COVID-19.