TY - JOUR T1 - COVID-19 highlights health promotion and chronic disease prevention amid health disparities JF - British Journal of General Practice JO - Br J Gen Pract SP - 372 LP - 373 DO - 10.3399/bjgp20X711785 VL - 70 IS - 697 AU - Arch G Mainous III AU - Sonia Saxena AU - Valery M Beau de Rochars AU - Donald Macceus Y1 - 2020/08/01 UR - http://bjgp.org/content/70/697/372.abstract N2 - With no identified vaccine and no clearly effective treatment, COVID-19 healthcare systems around the world have placed an extreme focus on strategies to prevent transmission of COVID-19 and prioritising, triaging, and treating these patients. Many patients have been told not to come to the doctor unless they have flu-like illness. By focusing almost exclusively on strategies to decrease transmission of the COVID-19 pandemic are we missing the important role of primary care in protecting the health of those with chronic disease? Moreover, by de-emphasising chronic disease management are we potentially increasing the impact of COVID-19 and the likelihood of severe outcomes?Chronic disease appears to play a huge role in COVID-19 severity and outcomes. It has been estimated that many US adults are at increased risk for COVID-19 hospitalisation because of ambulatory care sensitive conditions (ACSCs), such as existing cardiovascular disease, diabetes, respiratory disease, and hypertension.1 People with underlying medical conditions such as heart disease and diabetes were hospitalised six times more than otherwise healthy individuals infected with COVID-19 during the first 4 months of the pandemic, and were 12 times … ER -