Schizophrenia and PCR-proved cases of COVID-19: A preliminary case-control study

Objectives: The coronavirus infection (COVID-19) significantly impacts populations worldwide, including individuals with schizophrenia. This study meant to investigate whether COVID-19 patients with schizophrenia have the same disease severity and outcome as those without schizophrenia. Methods: This case-control, retrospective study included 108 adult patients who attended a tertiary care hospital with a polymerase chain reaction (PCR)-confirmed diagnosis of COVID-19. The study cohort was divided into the patient group (n=54) with confirmed schizophrenia diagnosis and the matched control group. The patients' medical data were retrieved from archived hospital e-medical records from 1 January to 26 February 2021. A logistic regression study was made to identify the risk of concomitant comorbidities. Results: Females accounted for 25.9% of the study population. Approximately 75% of the participants were aged >= 50 (50-69) years. None of the study participants were admitted to the ICU. Patients with schizophrenia had more comorbidities (68.5%) than COVID-19 patients without schizophrenia (35.2%). Nevertheless, patients with schizophrenia were less likely to have a concomitant cerebrovascular disease (OR = 0.48, 95% CI = 0.39-0.58, p <0.001), epilepsy (OR = 0.48, 95% CI = 0.39-0.59, p <0.001), or bronchial asthma (OR = 0.49, 95% CI = 0.40-0.59, p <0.001). There were no reported cases of mortality in either study group. Conclusions: Although COVID-19 patients with schizophrenia had multiple comorbidities, they did not necessarily present a severe course or detrimental outcome compared to COVID-19 patients without schizophrenia. Further studies are required to confirm the findings of this study.

The relationship between screen time exposure and the presence of anxiety-related disorders among adolescents during the COVID-19 pandemic: A cross-sectional study

Background: The Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic prompted rules and laws such as lockdown, which contributed to staying at home and participating in sedentary activities such as using smartphones, tablets, televisions, gaming devices, and computers. As a result of the increased use of digital screen time, a worldwide issue has arisen among various age groups, especially adolescents, which may have affected their psychological well-being, increasing their susceptibility to anxiety-related disorders. Objective: This study aimed to assess the relationship between screen time exposure and the presence of anxiety-related disorders among adolescents during the COVID-19 pandemic. Methods: A quantitative descriptive cross-sectional design using convenience sampling was used in this study. The online self-administered questionnaire, including the Arabic-translated version of the Screen for Child Anxiety-related Disorders (SCARED-C), was distributed through social media using Google forms between February and April 2021. The Chi-Squared test was used for data analysis. Results: Of 625 participants, majority were females (n = 527, 84.3%) than males (n = 98, 15.7%). A significant difference between screen time and the presence of an anxiety-related disorder among adolescents during the COVID-19 pandemic (p = .021) was noted. More than half of the participants (n = 410, 65.6%) scored above 25 in the SCARED-C test, indicating the presence of an anxiety-related disorder regardless of the type. Of those, more than a quarter (n = 176, 28.2%) used screens for more than 8 hours a day. Conclusion: The results indicated a relationship between screen time exposure and the presence of anxiety-related disorders among adolescents during the pandemic. In particular, adolescents are more susceptible to the adverse effects of increased exposure to screen time, which is constantly on the rise. Therefore, nurses and other healthcare professionals can play a significant role in providing guidance and advice to parents, caregivers, and adolescents themselves on how to limit screen time exposure. The findings can also be useful for future studies to build on and develop screen time management interventions and guidelines.

Experience of distance learning during COVID-19 pandemic among undergraduate nursing students

COVID-19 Pandemic has a huge influence on the learning process worldwide. To maintain student academic progress, learning activities were converted to distance learning to control the further spread of the COVID-19 virus. During this period several studies around the world were conducted to assess the effectiveness of distance learning. The results of these studies showed different perspectives, some of the students preferred e-learning while other preferred traditional methods. The aim of this study was to assess the experience of undergraduate nursing students who used distance learning during the COVID-19 pandemic. A quantitative, cross-sectional design was used to conduct the study. A convenient sampling approach was used to collect the data electronically via self-reported questionnaires. The study included 328 participants. The average score of the effectiveness domain was (2.58 +/- 0.68, medium level), and the satisfaction domain was (2.56 +/- 0.54, medium level). The results indicate that technical issues were the most significant barrier (75.6%) to distance learning, followed by physical problems, and decreased access to technological devices. Savings in transportation costs (74.1%), savings in time (71.6%), and the opportunity to review recorded lectures (67.4%) were the benefits of distance learning reported by nursing students during the COVID-19 pandemic. Most of the nursing students reported a positive preference for distance learning. Technical issues were the most significant barrier while decreased transportation costs were the most significant facilitator. These findings were consistent with other studies from different settings. Further research is needed to build upon these findings. (C) 2022 The Authors. Published by IASE.

Medical Undergraduate Students’ Perception about Online Education during the COVID-19 Pandemic

BACKGROUND: The influence of the COVID-19 pandemic is great not only on general health but also on regular learning worldwide. AIM: This study analyzed medical undergraduate students’ feedback about online education at Taif University during the COVID-19 pandemic. METHODS: Five hundred undergraduate medical students from the four medical colleges at Taif University participated in the current study. They were requested to give their feedback about online medical education through an online questionnaire. The questionnaire was prepared and administered to the medical students at different academic levels through Google forms. The current study is a cross-sectional study. RESULTS: The respondents who can ask questions during e-classes were significantly higher than those who had not this opportunity. A significantly higher number of students reported that the shared material was useful. In addition, the study results indicated significantly poor student-teacher interaction during the e-classes. Finally, about 231 of the respondents (46.2%) preferred physical classes over e-classes and 140 of respondents (28%) preferred online classes over physical classes, and the remaining number, 129 (25.8%), mentioned that online and conventional education are both the same. CONCLUSION: Most students said that conventional education is better than online education. The combination of online and formal education can be implemented after the COVID-19 pandemic to satisfy all parties.

Smoking and Severity of COVID-19 Infection: A Short Systematic Review and Meta-analysis

Background: There has been sizeable speculation regarding the association between the severe Acute breathing Syndrome Coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) pathogen, coronavirus disorder (COVID-19), and smoking. Aim: This work aims to determine the link between smoking and COVID-19 infection. Materials and Methods: A systematic search was performed over different medical databases to identify Internal Medicine studies, which studied the outcome of the Smokers group versus the Non-Smokers group of COVID-19 patients. Using the meta-analysis process, either with fixed or random-effects models, we conducted a meta-analysis on the prevalence of severe cases as a primary outcome, and on mortality rate as a secondary outcome. Results: Eleven studies were identified involving 146793 patients, 11973 in the Smokers group, and 134820 in the Non-Smokers group. The meta-analysis process revealed that the pooled prevalence of severity among COVID-19 patients was (27.7%), and there is a significant increase in COVID-19 severe cases in the Smokers group compared to the Non-Smokers group (OR=2.11, P=0.032). The pooled mortality rate among COVID-19 patients was (17.2%), and there is a significant increase in mortality in the Smokers group compared to the Non-Smokers group (OR=1.76, P=0.026). Conclusion: To conclude, Patients with any smoking history are vulnerable to severe COVID-19 and worse in-hospital outcomes. In the absence of current targeted therapies, preventative and supportive strategies to reduce morbidity and mortality in current and former smokers are crucial.