Revista da Associacao Medica Brasileira (1992)
-
Rev Assoc Med Bras (1992) · Jan 2020
Clinical and socioeconomic characteristics of older adults with COVID-19: A protocol for a rapid systematic review.
The aim of this rapid systematic review is to analyze the prevalence of clinical, socioeconomic, and demographic characteristics, laboratory and imaging findings, diagnostic tests, and treatment information of older adults with COVID-19. To conduct this systematic review, the Cochrane Handbook recommendations will be followed. Patients aged 60 years or older with a confirmed diagnosis of SARS-CoV-2 infection will be included. ⋯ The meta-analysis will be performed using R software. We believe this rapid systematic review will be able to summarize the currently available evidence on clinical, socioeconomic characteristics, and management of COVID-19 in older adults. Therefore, it will help implement adequate strategies to fight the pandemic and assist in understanding the clinical profile of older patients with COVID-19, providing data with due scientific support upon which to base future choices of procedures and interventions.
-
Rev Assoc Med Bras (1992) · Jan 2020
Renal changes and acute kidney injury in covid-19: a systematic review.
We aimed to present a review of renal changes in patients with COVID-19. ⋯ Although COVID-19 affects mainly the lungs, it can also impact the kidneys. Increased serum creatinine and BUN, hematuria, proteinuria, and AKI were frequent findings in patients with severe COVID-19 and were related to an increased mortality rate. Further studies focusing on renal changes and their implications for the clinical condition of patients infected with the novel coronavirus are needed.
-
Rev Assoc Med Bras (1992) · Jan 2020
COVID-19 and health literacy: the yell of a silent epidemic amidst the pandemic.
The emergence of a new form of Coronavirus (SARS-CoV-2) exposed weaknesses of health services in several countries, with overcrowding of hospitals, and lack of supplies and professionals in combating the disease, which sometimes contributed to the installation of social, political, and economic chaos. The critical situation experienced made the subject widely publicized so that the current pandemic also deals with an information epidemic. ⋯ The exponential increase in the number of confirmed cases shows the world population's inadequacy and difficulty in understanding basic prevention guidelines. The COVID-19 pandemic warns of gaps in the health literacy levels of the world population and exposes the need for a comprehensive mapping to identify the overall health literacy status in more countries.
-
Rev Assoc Med Bras (1992) · Jan 2020
Impact of antihypertensive agents on clinical course and in-hospital mortality: analysis of 169 hypertensive patients hospitalized for COVID-19.
Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) is an emerging health threat caused by a novel coronavirus named severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-COV-2). Previous studies have noted hypertension is associated with increased mortality due to COVID-19; however, it is not clear whether the increased risk is due to hypertension itself or antihypertensive agents. We aimed to evaluate the impact of antihypertensive agents on the clinical outcomes of hypertensive patients with COVID-19. ⋯ The type of antihypertensive agent being used had no effect on the clinical course and mortality in hypertensive patients with COVID-19. The use of these agents should be maintained for the treatment of hypertension during hospitalization.
-
Rev Assoc Med Bras (1992) · Jan 2020
Ethical dilemmas in COVID-19 times: how to decide who lives and who dies?
The respiratory disease caused by the coronavirus SARS-CoV-2 (COVID-19) is a pandemic that produces a large number of simultaneous patients with severe symptoms and in need of special hospital care, overloading the infrastructure of health services. All of these demands generate the need to ration equipment and interventions. Faced with this imbalance, how, when, and who decides, there is the impact of the stressful systems of professionals who are at the front line of care and, in the background, issues inherent to human subjectivity. ⋯ The ethical values for the rationing of health resources in an epidemic must converge to some proposals based on fundamental values such as maximizing the benefits produced by scarce resources, treating people equally, promoting and recommending instrumental values, giving priority to critical situations. Naturally, different judgments will occur in different circumstances, but transparency is essential to ensure public trust. In this way, it is possible to develop prioritization guidelines using well-defined values and ethical recommendations to achieve fair resource allocation.