Indian J Med Res
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The PregCovid registry was established to document the clinical presentations, pregnancy outcomes and mortality of pregnant and post-partum women with COVID-19. ⋯ The study demonstrates the adverse outcomes including severe COVID-19 disease, pregnancy loss and maternal death in women with COVID-19 in Maharashtra, India.
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The healthcare system across the world has been overburdened due to the COVID-19 pandemic impacting healthcare workers (HCWs) in different ways. The present study provides an insight into the psychosocial challenges faced by the HCWs related to their work, family and personal well-being and the associated stigmas. Additionally, the coping mechanisms adopted by them and their perceptions on the interventions to address these challenges were also explored. ⋯ The study demonstrates the psychological burden of HCWs engaged with COVID-19 care services. The study findings point to need-based psychosocial interventions at the organizational, societal and individual levels. This includes a conducive working environment involving periodic evaluation of the HCW problems, rotation of workforce by engaging more staff, debunking of false information, community and HCW involvement in COVID sensitization to allay fears and prevent stigma associated with COVID-19 infection/transmission and finally need-based psychological support for them and their families.
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Infection fatality ratio (IFR) is considered a more robust and reliable indicator than case fatality ratio for severity of SARS-CoV-2 infection. Age- and sex-stratified IFRs are crucial to guide public health response. Infections estimated through representative community-based serosurveys would gauge more accurate IFRs than through modelling studies. We describe age- and sex-stratified IFR for COVID-19 estimated through serosurveys conducted in Chennai, India. ⋯ Our findings suggested that the IFR increased with age and was high among the elderly. Therefore, elderly population need to be prioritized for public health interventions including vaccination, frequent testing in long-term care facilities and old age homes, close clinical monitoring of the infected and promoting strict adherence to non-pharmaceutical interventions.
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Vaccination against SARS-CoV-2 is a recommendation from the World Health Organization as the foremost preference in the current situation to control the COVID-19 pandemic. BBV152 is one of the approved vaccines against SARS-CoV-2 in India. In this study, we determined SARS-CoV-2-specific antibody levels at day 0 (baseline, before vaccination), day 28 ± 2 post-first dose (month 1) and day 56 ± 2 post-first dose (month 2) of BBV152 whole-virion-inactivated SARS-CoV-2 recipients, and compared the antibody responses of individuals with confirmed pre-vaccination SARS-CoV-2 infection to those individuals without prior evidence of infection. ⋯ Our preliminary data suggested that a single dose of BBV152-induced humoral immunity in previously infected individuals was equivalent to two doses of the vaccine in infection-naïve individuals. However, these findings need to be confirmed with large sized cohort studies.
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Observational Study
Performance of second-trimester maternal biochemistry screening (quadruple test vs. triple test) for trisomy 21: An Indian experience.
Down syndrome (DS) is one of the most common causes of developmental delay. In India, there is no protocol for prenatal screening of DS. Second-trimester biochemical screening is still being done by triple test. Quadruple test is with better sensitivity and specificity but is not advised routinely. So, the objective of this study was to evaluate the sensitivity and accuracy of the second-trimester screening (quadruple test with genetic sonogram) for trisomy 21 as compared to biochemical testing. ⋯ Best screening for trisomy 21 is provided with quadruple test with genetic sonogram which can lower the rates of unnecessary amniocentesis in high-risk population.