Articles: pandemics.
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J Nutr Health Aging · Jan 2020
Comparative StudyOlder Adults Hospitalized with Covid-19: Clinical Characteristics and Early Outcomes from a Single Center in Istanbul, Turkey.
Older adults have been continuously reported to be at higher risk for adverse outcomes of Covid-19. We aimed to describe clinical characteristics and early outcomes of the older Covid-19 patients hospitalized in our center comparatively with the younger patients, and also to analyze the triage factors that were related to the in-hospital mortality of older adults. ⋯ Older patients presented with more prevalent chronic comorbidities, less prevalent symptomatology but more severe respiratory signs and laboratory abnormalities than the younger patients. Among the triage assessment factors, the clinical evaluation of pulmonary involvement came in front to help clinicians to stratify the patients for mortality risk.
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The COVID-19 pandemic disproportionately disrupts the daily lives of marginalized populations. Persons with substance use disorders are a particularly vulnerable population because of their unique social and health care needs. ⋯ Hence, we discuss: (1) why persons with substance use disorders are at increased risk for infection with COVID-19 and a severe illness course; (2) anticipated adverse consequences of COVID-19 in persons with substance use disorders; (3) challenges to health care delivery and substance use treatment programs during and after the COVID-19 pandemic; and (4) the potential impact on clinical research in substance use disorders. We offer recommendations for clinical, public health, and social policies to mitigate these challenges and to prevent negative outcomes.
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Rev. Panam. Salud Publica · Jan 2020
Comparing South Korea and Italy's healthcare systems and initiatives to combat COVID-19.
Italy and South Korea have two distinctly different healthcare systems, causing them to respond to public health crises such as the COVID-19 pandemic in markedly different ways. Differences exist in medical education for both countries, allowing South Korean medical graduates to have a more holistic education in comparison to their Italian counterparts, who specialize in medical education earlier on. Additionally, there are fewer South Korean physicians per 1000 people in South Korea compared to Italian physicians per 1000 people in Italy. ⋯ Conversely, Italy is presently considered the epicenter of the outbreak in Europe and has recorded the highest death toll of any country outside of mainland China. This is partially due to the reactionary nature of Italy's public health measures compared to South Korea's proactive response. The different healthcare responses of South Korea and Italy can inform decisions made by public health bodies in other countries, especially in countries across the Americas, which can selectively adopt policies that have worked in curtailing the spread of COVID-19 and learn from mistakes made by both countries.
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Without any pharmaceutical intervention and vaccination, the only way to combat Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19) is to slow down the spread of the disease by adopting non-pharmaceutical public health interventions (PHIs). Patient isolation, lockdown, quarantine, social distancing, changes in health care provision, and mass screening are the most common non-pharmaceutical PHIs to cope with the epidemic. However, there is neither systematic evidence on the effectiveness of non-pharmaceutical PHIs in controlling the COVID-19 nor on how these interventions work in different contexts. Therefore, in this study we will address two main objectives: 1) to assess the effectiveness of the non-pharmaceutical PHIs in controlling the spread of COVID-19 using a systematic review and meta-analyses; 2) to explore why, how, and for whom these interventions work using a realist review. ⋯ CRD42020186855.