Articles: pandemics.
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This paper discusses the rapidly evolving healthcare risk landscape and considers how emerging trends-such as advancement of medical technology, cyber security, pandemic risks, increasing prevalence of noncommunicable health conditions, and the shift towards patient autonomy-are shaping the nature of liabilities faced by doctors and healthcare professionals. Then it discusses practical ways to mitigate clinical risks and resolve the medico-legal claims or inquiries that arise while addressing the role that indemnity providers should play.
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It is not yet entirely clear to what extent vaccine-induced or hybrid immunity offers protection from death during the omicron wave of the COVID-19 pandemic in Germany. ⋯ Among elderly persons in Bavaria, a higher immunity level was associated with a substantial degree of protection against death during the Omicron wave; however, the strength of protection may have diminished somewhat over time.
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The national response to COVID-19 has had a significant impact on cancer services. This study investigated the effect of national lockdown on diagnosis, management, and outcomes of patients with oesophagogastric cancers in Scotland. ⋯ This national study has highlighted the adverse impact of COVID-19 on oesophagogastric cancer outcomes in Scotland. Patients presented with more advanced disease and a shift towards treatment with non-curative intent was observed, with a subsequent negative impact on overall survival.
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Tohoku J. Exp. Med. · Mar 2023
A Follow-up Report on the Diagnosis of Gastrointestinal Cancer during the COVID-19 Pandemic in Akita Prefecture, Japan in 2021.
We recently reported the decrease in the number of gastrointestinal (GI) cancer diagnoses in 2020 due to disturbance of the healthcare system by the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic, using a hospital-based cancer registration system in Akita prefecture, Japan. In this study, we extended the research by showing the latest data (2021) on the number of cancers and examinations. Information on the occurrence and stage of esophageal, gastric, and colorectal cancers was collected from the same database. ⋯ However, the rebound increase in 2021 was largely due to an increase in early-stage cancers, and there was no apparent trend toward the increased predominance of more advanced cancers. It therefore seems that we managed to escape from the worst-case scenario of disturbance of the healthcare system due to pandemic (i.e., an increase in the number of more advanced cancers due to delayed diagnoses). We need to continue to watch the trends in Akita prefecture, which has the highest rate of mortality from the 3 major GI cancers in Japan.