Articles: coronavirus.
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Observational Study
Hospital-wide antigen screening for coronavirus disease in a tertiary reference center in Sapporo, Japan: A single-center observational study.
Hospital-wide screenings for coronavirus disease (COVID-19) are important to identify healthcare workers at risk of exposure. However, the currently available diagnostic tests are expensive or only identify past infection. Therefore, this single-center observational study aimed to assess the positivity rate of hospital-wide antigen screening tests for COVID-19 and evaluate clinical factors associated with antigen positivity during a COVID-19 institutional outbreak in Sapporo, Japan. ⋯ The positivity rate was high among rehabilitation therapists (2.1%) and employees in the low-risk contact group (6.1%). Although there was no association between the job titles and the seropositivity rate, those in the low-risk contact group had an increased risk of testing positive for the viral antigen (odds ratio, 8.67; 95% confidence interval, 3.30-22.8). The antigen positivity rate was low during the hospital outbreak, suggesting that risk assessment of exposure to COVID-19 patients may provide more useful information than using job titles to identify infected health care providers.
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Multicenter Study
Sex-related differences in mortality, acute kidney injury, and respiratory failure among critically ill patients with COVID-19.
Although the number of deaths due to coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) is higher in men than women, prior studies have provided limited sex-stratified clinical data. We evaluated sex-related differences in clinical outcomes among critically ill adults with COVID-19. Multicenter cohort study of adults with laboratory-confirmed COVID-19 admitted to intensive care units at 67 U. ⋯ Severe AKI occurred in 590 men (21.8%), and 239 women (15.5%), while respiratory failure occurred in 2255 men (80.7%) and 1234 women (76.5%). After adjusting for age, race/ethnicity and clinical variables, compared with women, men had a higher risk of death (OR, 1.50, 95% CI, 1.26-1.77), severe AKI (OR, 1.92; 95% CI 1.57-2.36), and respiratory failure (OR, 1.42; 95% CI, 1.11-1.80). In this multicenter cohort of critically ill adults with COVID-19, men were more likely to have adverse outcomes compared with women.
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Lung transplantation (LTx) has been discussed as an option for treating irreversible lung fibrosis post-coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19), in selected cases. ⋯ LTx is feasible among these complex patients. Survival over the first 30 days was 100%, and this favors surgical feasibility. Nonetheless, these were critically ill patients.
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Observational Study
Prevalence of SARS-CoV-2 amongst ophthalmologists throughout the first and second waves of the pandemic.
The study aims to investigate the prevalence of severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) infection among ophthalmology unit staff throughout the first and second waves of the outbreak, in order to verify the effectiveness of the measures adopted in containing the contagion. A retrospective observational study was conducted involving staff members, who received a naso/oropharyngeal swab when complaining of SARS-CoV-2 symptoms and once a month as a screening measure. They were tested for SARS-CoV-2 antibodies as a screening measure during the first and the second wave. ⋯ Clinical activities significantly decreased during the first wave compared with the same period in 2019 (3256 vs 10,075, P < .0001, -68% to 2019), but increased during the second wave (8208 vs 3256, P < .0001, +152% to the first wave). Despite the increase in routine activities during the second wave, we did not observe a significant increase in SARS-CoV-2 prevalence. Strict protection measures seemed to contain the rate of contagion among the ophthalmology unit members even in a high-volume clinical setting in one of the most affected area by the coronavirus disease-2019 outbreak.
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A Council of Experts was held in Moscow with the scientific and organizational support of the National Medical Research Center for Therapy and Preventive Medicine and the Russian Society for the Prevention of Noncommunicable Diseases. Leading experts in various fields of medicine discussed the possibility of using antiplatelet drugs as prevention of arterial vascular complications of COVID-19 in different time periods of the disease. The main outcome of the Council of Experts was a resolution reflecting the general view of the scientific community on the possibility of increasing the use of acetylsalicylic acid in patients with coronavirus infection.