ABSTRACT
Cardiovascular diseases (CVDs) contribute to most of the potentially preventable burden through early risk assessment. Nurse-led CVD risk assessment is an effective strategy to address the human resource crisis for CVD prevention. An interventional study was conducted in medicine wards of a tertiary care hospital in North India to train nurses in CVD risk assessment and its communication. All bedside nurses (n = 30) of selected wards were enrolled and trained in CVD risk assessment and communication using WHO/ISH risk prediction charts. Once fully trained, each nurse enrolled patients (>40 years of age) from their respective wards to assess and communicate CVD risk. To calculate the reliability of risk assessment, investigator simultaneously assessed CVD risk with nurses. The mean age of nurses was 32.07 ± 6.31 years. The results revealed that training significantly increased the knowledge of nursing personnel (P < 0.001). There was perfect inter?rater reliability agreement (Cohen’s k = 0.929) between nurses and investigators while assessing CVD risk. Nurses demonstrated good communication skills. The study concluded that nurses can be trained successfully in CVD risk assessment and communication. The study recommends the task shifting of CVD risk assessment to nurses after providing proper training
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Purpose: Gastrointestinal (GI) manifestations have been well documented in patients with coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19), but its clinical impact on the course of the disease is debatable. Majority of the available data is retrospective, and hence this prospective study was planned to study the impact of GI symptoms on COVID-19 outcome. Methods: All COVID-19 patients admitted in a tertiary care centre from August–October 2020 were screened and patients without pre-existing GI diseases were included. A detailed history of the various symptoms including duration was documented. Various baseline laboratory investigations and inflammatory markers were conducted as per the protocol. Patients with and without diarrhea were compared for the various disease outcome parameters. Results: Of the 244 patients screened, 203 patients (128 males; 63.1%) were included. Respiratory symptoms alone were present in 49 (24.1%), GI symptoms alone in 20 (9.9%) and 117 (57.6%) had both. Overall GI symptoms was noted in 137 (67.5%) cases with the commonest being diarrhea (61; 30.0%). Patients with both respiratory and any GI symptoms showed a lower trend towards need for mechanical ventilation (12.2% vs 7.7%; p ¼ 0.35) and mortality (10.2% vs 4.3%; p ¼ 0.14) compared to respiratory symptoms alone, although not statistically significant. Patients with diarrhea (n ¼ 61) had no mortality (0% vs 7.7%; p ¼ 0.036) or need for mechanical ventilation and shorter hospital stay compared to those who did not have diarrhea. Conclusion: GI symptoms are frequent in patients with SARS-CoV-2 infection and the commonest is diarrhea. Diarrhea is a harbinger of better outcome with lower mortality among COVID-19 positive patients.
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BACKGROUND It is reported that patients who have recovered from Covid-19 continue to experience various symptoms and adverse outcomes. However, this aspect has not been studied well. We aimed to evaluate these variables and the perceived impact of Covid-19 among patients discharged from a Covid hospital in northern India. METHODS We conducted this study among patients discharged from a Covid-19 hospital in northern India in June 2020. As per the official policy at that time, patients detected to have Covid-19 (symptomatically or via contact tracing) were mandatorily admitted. A sequential, mixed-methods design was followed. Patients discharged from the hospital were contacted telephonically, and the cross-sectional prevalence of symptoms, the prevalence of depression and anxiety and the social consequences of admission were assessed. A subgroup of patients was interviewed for qualitative assessment of their experience. RESULTS A total of 274 patients provided consent and were assessed, of which 8 patients underwent detailed interviews. The prevalence of somatic symptoms was 3.4%; 36.2% of the patients had depressive and 12% of the patients had anxiety symptoms. A majority of patients experienced adverse social and economic consequences of hospitalization for Covid-19. These themes were reinforced by a qualitative analysis of in-depth interviews. CONCLUSIONS Our study population experienced a high prevalence of adverse psychosocial consequences of Covid-19. These included depression and anxiety symptoms, stigma and economic and occupational consequences. These deserve more recognition and study.
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Background: Although hydroxychloroquine (HCQ) lacks benefit in patients with moderate-to-severe COVID-19, its role in asymptomatic and mildly symptomatic disease needs better elucidation. Methods: This multi-centre cohort study included asymptomatic and mildly symptomatic, RT-PCR confirmed COVID-19 cases between 30 March and 20 May, 2020. Patients were categorized into two groups (HCQ-treated and untreated) based on exposure to HCQ. Dose of HCQ used was 400 mg twice daily (day one) followed by once daily for seven days. HCQ-untreated patients were managed supportively without any active antiviral or immunomodulatory therapy.h Nasopharyngeal SARS-CoV-2 clearance by RT-PCR (primary outcome) was compared between HCQ-treated and untreated patients using Kaplan-Meier analysis and Cox proportional-hazards regression. Clinical efficacy and safety profile of HCQ were assessed (secondary outcomes). Results:162 patients [84 (51·9%) males; mean age 38·2 (15·2) years] were included. Forty-four (27·2%) patients had mild disease, rest 118 (72·8%) were asymptomatic. Seventy-five (46·3%) patients received HCQ. Median time to virological negativity was lesser in HCQ-treated (13 days) versus untreated patients (15 days) (log- rank<0·001) in both asymptomatic and mildly symptomatic patients. Treatment with HCQ was the only independent predictor of virological negativity (hazard- ratio=2·24; adjusted p-value<0·001). Two (5·4%) mildly symptomatic patients progressed to severe disease within 24 hours (two doses) of HCQ initiation, compared to none in the HCQ-untreated group. Five HCQ-treated patients developed minor gastrointestinal side effects, not requiring drug discontinuation. Conclusion: HCQ reduced the time to virologic negativity (by 2 days) in asymptomatic and mildly symptomatic COVID-19, without any serious adverse events. However, no obvious clinical benefit was noted.
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Context: Imaging techniques are commonly used by emergency physicians in a febrile comatose patient. Their utility requires judicious use of the available resources. In this study, we have compared the efficacy of cranial imaging techniques in adult patients with acute febrile encephalopathy. Materials and Methods: This prospective observational study enrolled 101 patients presenting to the emergency with fever of less than 15 days duration and altered sensorium. All the patients were subjected to routine investigations, detailed cerebrospinal fluid analysis, computerized tomograms (noncontrast followed by contrast enhanced), and magnetic resonance imaging of the brain. Final diagnosis was reached after considering the clinical, biochemical findings, imaging results, and response to therapy. The positive yield of radiological investigations was compared against the final diagnosis. Results: The patients were divided into three groups. Forty-eight had evidence of meningoencephalitis, 22 patients had pyogenic meningitis, and 20 were combined together in other group. In 12 patients, a definitive diagnosis could not be made. Only 37% patients were detected to have abnormal computerized tomograms and the most common abnormality was diffuse edema, which failed to point to an etiological diagnosis. Magnetic resonance imaging was abnormal in 62.75% cases and was able to suggest an etiological diagnosis in 100% cases of cerebral venous thrombosis, tubercular meningitis, 95% cases of meningoencephalitis, and 45% patients with meningitis. Conclusions: We can conclude that magnetic resonance imaging provides better information than computerized tomography in adult patients with acute febrile encephalopathy.