Evaluation of the relationship between perceived social support, coping strategies, anxiety, and depression symptoms among hospitalized COVID-19 patients.

OBJECTIVE: We aimed to evaluate the relationship between perceived social support, coping strategies, anxiety, and depression symptoms among hospitalized COVID-19 patients by comparing them with a matched control group in terms of age, gender, and education level. METHOD: The patient group (n = 84) and the healthy controls (HCs, n = 92) filled in the questionnaire including the socio-demographic form, Hospital Anxiety Depression Scale, Multidimensional Perceived Social Support Scale, and Brief Coping Orientation to Problems Experienced through the online survey link. RESULTS: The COVID-19 patients had higher perceived social support and coping strategies scores than the HCs. However, anxiety and depression scores did not differ significantly between the two groups. In logistic regression analysis performed in COVID-19 patients, the presence of chest CT finding (OR = 4.31; 95% CI = 1.04-17.95) was a risk factor for anxiety and the use of adaptive coping strategies (OR = 0.86; 95% CI = 0.73-0.99) had a negative association with anxiety. In addition, the use of adaptive coping strategies (OR = 0.89; 95% CI = 0.79-0.98) and high perceived social support (OR = 0.97; 95% CI = 0.93- 0,99) had a negative association with depression symptoms. CONCLUSIONS: Longitudinal studies involving the return to normality phase of the COVID-19 pandemic are needed to investigate the effects of factors such as coping strategies and perceived social support that could increase the psychological adjustment and resilience of individuals on anxiety and depression.

An Exercise Prescription for COVID-19 Pandemic

SUMMARY COVID-19 is an alarming public health concern worldwide. COVID-19 is highly contagious and has no approved treatment or vaccine yet. Therefore, the best strategy is prevention. Studies have shown that a healthy lifestyle, regular exercise, balanced eating, and quality sleep are the key elements for protection from this disease. We are going through a distressful period as a nation and as the human race in general. We need to manage this period in the best way possible in physiological and psychological terms. Physical activity is one of the major steps in managing this period in a healthy way. Individuals should be provided information about exercise so that they can perform correct physical activities within their means. This article presents an exercise prescription that can be followed in the days of the COVID-19 pandemic.

Evaluation of systemic involvement of Coronavirus disease 2019 through spleen; size and texture analysis

Background/aim: To investigate the changes in the spleen size, parenchymal heterogeneity, and computed tomography (CT) texture analysis features of patients diagnosed with Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) Materials and methods: The size and parenchymal structure of the spleen in 91 patients who underwent thoracic CT examination due to COVID-19 were evaluated. For the evaluation of parenchymal heterogeneity, CT texture analysis was performed using dedicated software (Olea Medical, France). The texture analysis of each case consisted of 15 first-order intensity-based features, 17 gray level co- occurrence matrix-based features, and 9 gray level run length matrix-based features. Results: A total of 91 patients (45 males, 46 females) with a mean age of 54.31 ± 16.33 years (range: 18­81) were included in the study. A statistically significant decrease in spleen size was seen in the follow-up CT examinations (p < 0.001) whereas no statistically significant difference was found between the Hounsfield unit (HU) values. The radiomics consisted of first-order intensity-based features such as 90th percentile, maximum, interquartile range, range, mean absolute deviation, standard deviation, and variance, all of which showed statistically significant differences (p-values: < 0.001, < 0.001, 0.001, 0.003, 0.001, 0.001, and 0.004, respectively). "Correlation" as a gray level co-occurrence matrix-based feature and "gray level nonuniformity" as a gray level run length matrix-based feature showed statistically differences (p-values: 0.033 and < 0.001, respectively). Conclusions: Although COVID-19 manifests with lung involvement in the early stage, it can also cause systemic involvement, and the spleen may be one of its target organs. A decrease in the spleen size and parenchymal microstructure changes can be observed in the short follow-up time. It is hoped that the changes in the parenchymal microstructure will be demonstrated by a noninvasive method: texture analysis.

Clinical and Laboratory Characteristics of COVID-19 Cases Followed in Selcuk University Faculty of Medicine

Objective: Understanding the natural course of COVID-19 and determining its clinical findings are essential for early diagnosis and treatment. In this study, we aimed to investigate clinical and laboratory characteristics of cases followed with a diagnosis of COVID-19 in Selcuk University Faculty of Medicine Department of Infectious Diseases and Clinical Microbiology. Methods: Among patients followed with a diagnosis of possible/definitive COVID-19, those with a positive SARS-CoV-2 RT-PCR test were evaluated retrospectively in terms of their clinical, laboratory and thorax computed tomography (CT) data. Results: Among 407 patients followed with a diagnosis of possible/definitive COVID-19, 149 (36.6%) were SARS-CoV-2 RT-PCR test-positive. 82 (55%) of the patients were female and 67 (45%) were male. Mean age was 49.3 +/- 7.6 years. 11 (7.4%) were health care workers. While the most common symptom was cough with 46.3%, fever was observed in 29.5%, sore throat in 27.5% and malaise in 26.8% of the patients. 94 (63.1%) of the patients had underlying diseases. Hypertension and diabetes mellitus were the most common underlying disease. Laboratory findings were leukopenia in 12 (8.1%), lymphopenia in 34 (22.8%), thrombocytopenia in 24 (16.1%), elevated D-dimer levels in 43 (28.9%), elevated lactate dehydrogenase levels in 73 (49%), and elevated C-reactive protein (CRP) levels in 45 (30.2%) patients. While 71 (47.6%) of the patients had normal thorax CT, 43 (28.9%) had mild pneumonia, and 35 (23.5%) moderate pneumonia. D-dimer and CRP levels were higher in those with pneumonia than those without pneumonia (p=0.001 and p=0.001, respectively). As the pneumonia level increased, the increase of D-dimer and CRP levels became evident (p=0.003 and p=0.001, respectively). Conclusions: The clinical course of COVID-19 patients varies. It is noteworthy that there is a positive correlation between the severity of pneumonia and the increase in D-dimer and CRP levels in COVID-19.