Articles: coronavirus.
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Case Reports
Equal incidence of COVID-19 among homeless and non-homeless ED patients when controlling for confounders.
The World Health Organization (WHO) declared severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) a pandemic in March 2020. Theoretically, homeless patients could have disproportionately worse outcomes from COVID-19, but little research has corroborated this claim. This study aimed to examine the demographics and incidence of COVID-19 in homeless vs non-homeless emergency department (ED) patients. ⋯ Previous literature has indicated that higher disease burden, lack of access to social distancing, and poor hygiene would increase the risk of homeless individuals contracting COVID-19 and experiencing serious morbidity. However, this study found that homelessness was not an independent risk factor for COVID-19 infection.
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Comparative Study
Differences in Inflammation, Treatment and Outcomes between Black and non-Black Patients Hospitalized for COVID-19: A Prospective Cohort Study.
Racial disparities in coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) outcomes have been described. We sought to determine whether differences in inflammatory markers, use of COVID-19 therapies, enrollment in clinical trials, and in-hospital outcomes contribute to racial disparities between Black and non-Black patients hospitalized for COVID-19. ⋯ Racial differences in outcomes of patients with COVID-19 may be related to differences in inflammatory response and differential use of therapies.
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Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic has implacably stricken on the wellness of many countries and their health-care systems. The aim of the present study is to analyze the clinical characteristics of the initial wave of patients with COVID-19 attended in our center, and to identify the key variables predicting the development of respiratory failure. Prospective design study with concurrent data retrieval from automated medical records of all hospitalized adult patients who tested positive for severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) rRT-PCR assay performed on respiratory samples from March 2nd to 18th, 2020. ⋯ Age, peripheral pulse oximetry, lymphocyte count, lactate dehydrogenase and C-reactive protein were the selected variables. The model has a good discriminative capacity with an area under the ROC curve of 0.85 (0.82-0.88). The application of a simple and reliable score at admission seems to be a useful tool to predict respiratory failure in hospitalized COVID-19 patients.
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During the Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic, the United Kingdom government imposed public health policies in England to reduce social contacts in hopes of curbing virus transmission. We conducted a repeated cross-sectional study to measure contact patterns weekly from March 2020 to March 2021 to estimate the impact of these policies, covering 3 national lockdowns interspersed by periods of less restrictive policies. ⋯ In this study, we observed that recorded contacts reduced dramatically compared to prepandemic levels (as measured in the POLYMOD study), with changes in reported contacts correlated with government interventions throughout the pandemic. Despite easing of restrictions in the summer of 2020, the mean number of reported contacts only returned to about half of that observed prepandemic at its highest recorded level. The CoMix survey provides a unique repeated cross-sectional data set for a full year in England, from the first day of the first lockdown, for use in statistical analyses and mathematical modelling of COVID-19 and other diseases.
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Postgraduate medicine · Mar 2022
EditorialWhat should a family physician know about nutrition and physical exercise rehabilitation' advices to communicate to "long-term COVID-19" patients?
In real practice, there is a paradox in the management of patients with 'long-term Covid-19.' Indeed, Family physicians (FPs) are on the front line in the management process of these patients. For 'long-term Covid-19' patients, and according to the World Health Organization guideline, the cardiopulmonary rehabilitation (CPR) should be provided not only at tertiary- or secondary care but mainly at primary care with a real implication of FPs. However, specific guidelines/recommendations were addressed for FPs. ⋯ Thus, this paper aimed to report the CPR 'minimal advice' that should be provided by FPs managing 'long-term Covid-19' patients with incapacity (i.e.; alteration of the cardiorespiratory and muscular chain). According to the authors, FPs should be more cautious in the prescription of exercise and nutrition program and informed about the minimal advices related to nutritional and physical exercise rehabilitation guidelines when taking care of 'long-term Covid-19' patients, and how these guidelines can relieve the mental and physical problems, improve immunity, and accelerate the recovery process of the patients. With the occurrence of new variants of the severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2, the nutritional and exercise rehabilitation guidelines implemented by FPs become indispensable to promote the recovery of Covid-19 patients and support a return to normal life.