ICMR studiying on Sudden Deaths’ of youngsters in post COVID world

The Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR), which is the top organization for medical research in India, is doing two important studies to figure out why young people are dying suddenly after Covid.

Dr. Rajiv Bahl, who is the head of ICMR, is studying the deaths of people aged 18 to 45 years. He explained, "We are investigating cases where young people are dying suddenly without any known reasons." He said this while talking to News18 during the WHO Global Traditional Medicine Summit in Gandhinagar, Gujarat.

Dr. Bahl added, "These studies will help us understand if there are any effects of the Covid-19 outbreak that might be causing these deaths. They might also help us prevent such deaths in the future."

When they say "sudden deaths," they mean cases where a person who seemed healthy and didn't have any known health problems suddenly dies. The ICMR has already studied 50 cases like this at the All India Institute of Medical Sciences in New Delhi. They're planning to study 100 more cases in the next few months.

Dr. Bahl explained, "We're trying to find out what's different in the results of these autopsies compared to what we saw in previous years before Covid."

The ICMR is trying to understand if there have been any changes inside the bodies of young people that could be causing these sudden deaths after Covid. Dr. Bahl said that the study might discover patterns, like if there are more sudden deaths because of heart or lung problems.

In another study, the ICMR is looking at sudden deaths in the past year for people aged 18 to 45 years. They're collecting data from 40 centers across India that have been following up with Covid patients for a year after they left the hospital. These centers have information about who got admitted for Covid, when they left the hospital, and if they passed away later.