Medicine
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Observational Study
Clinical course and outcomes of COVID-19 patients with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease: A retrospective observational study in Wuhan, China.
Information about coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) patients with pre-existing chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) is still lacking. The aim of this study is to describe the clinical course and the outcome of COVID-19 patients with comorbid COPD. This retrospective study was performed at Wuhan Huoshenshan Hospital in China. ⋯ Multifactor regression analysis showed COPD was independently correlated with poor clinical outcomes. COVID-19 patients with pre-existing COPD are more vulnerable to AECOPD and subsequent respiratory failure, which is the main culprit for unfavorable clinical outcomes. However, COPD pathophysiology itself is not associated with over-activated inflammation status seen in severe COVID-19.
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Epstein-Barr virus (EBV) is frequently reactivated by coronavirus 2019 (COVID-19), and a high incidence of EBV viremia has been reported in patients with severe COVID-19. However, the impact of EBV viremia on progression to severe COVID-19 is unclear. Therefore, we conducted a study to evaluate the effect of EBV on COVID-19 progression. ⋯ In a cross-sectional study that included patients with both mild and severe COVID-19, the EBV viremia group had more severe pneumonia than the EBV-negative group. However, in the cohort study limited to mild cases (N = 213), EBV viremia was not associated with COVID-19 progression. COVID-19 severity may affect EBV viremia; however, there was no evidence that EBV viremia was a factor in exacerbating pneumonia in patients with mild COVID-19.
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Observational Study
On Covid-19 and mental health: An observational study on depression, anxiety, and loneliness during the second lockdown in patients with Alzheimer disease.
While visiting and socialization restrictions during lockdowns were instituted to cope with the Covid-19 spread and to prolong the life of residents of retirement homes, these measures could have been expected to decrease the quality of life of their residents. We assessed longitudinal effects of the two successive lockdowns, as implemented in France, on mental health (i.e., depression, anxiety, and loneliness) in 62 retirement home residents with Alzheimer disease (AD). ⋯ The increased levels of depression, anxiety, and loneliness during the second lockdown can be attributed to the longer duration of the restrictive measures, especially the restriction of visits, that were implemented in retirement homes. In addition, the increased workload of geriatric healthcare workers leading to higher levels of burnout and decreased quality of care may help explain the increased loneliness, depression, and anxiety of retirement home residents with AD, which were observed during the second Covid-19 era lockdown.
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The objectives of the current study were to assess the severity and clinical characteristics of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) among Saudi adults with type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM) in Jazan region, Saudi Arabia. ⋯ COVID-19 patients with T2DM were associated with a higher risk of admission to the intensive care unit and mortality than COVID-19 patients without T2DM.
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To investigate changes in the corneal shape caused by fluid-gas exchange after vitrectomy. This retrospective case-control study included 43 eyes that underwent a combination of cataract surgery and vitrectomy. The corneal shape was measured using anterior segment optical coherence tomography CASIA2. ⋯ There was also a significant increase in the real K value in the higher-order irregular astigmatism components (Steel-Dwass test; P < .05) for longer periods in the gas versus the nongas group. The shape of the posterior cornea increased in all components in the gas group on the first day after surgery (spherical power -6.35 ± 0.20, regular astigmatism 0.32 ± 0.12, asymmetry 0.22 ± 0.13, and higher-order irregular astigmatism 0.12 ± 0.05, Steel-Dwass test; P < .05). Postoperative changes caused by surgical invasion in the corneal shape appeared to be greater in the gas versus the nongas group, in addition to affecting the time periods of the postoperative corneal shape changes.