Conduction System Disease and Atrioventricular Block in Victims of COVID-19 in Iran (preprint)

Background: More recently, a growing body of literature on COVID-19 has investigated the electrophysiological issues presetting as a disease manifestation of COVID-19 and highlight the spectrum of arrhythmias observed in patients with COVID-19 infection. This Study discuss the prevalence of arrhythmias and conduction system disease in patients with COVID-19. Method electrocardiographic data and comorbidity data of 432 expired COVID-19 patients admitted to Faghihi Hospital of Shiraz University of Medical Sciences from August 1st until December 1st were reviewed. Results AVB was found in 40(9.3%) patients. 28(6.5%) of the patients suffered from 1st degree AVB, and 12(2.8%) suffered from CHB. Changes in ST-T wave compatible with myocardial infarction or localized myocarditis appeared in 189(59.0%) patients. Findings compatible with myocardial injury such as fragmented QRS, and prolonged QTc were assessed with prevalence of 21.1% (91 patients), 6.5% (28 patients). In victims of COVID-19, conduction disease was not related to any underlying medical condition. Fragmented QRS, axis deviation, presence of S1Q3T3 and poor R wave progression were significantly related to conduction system disease in victims of COVID-19 (P value > 0.05, Table 3) Conclusion Our findings can serve in future studies that aim to develop a risk stratification method for susceptible COVID-19 patients. Myocardial injury appears to role significantly in COVID-19 morbidity and mortality. Consequently, we recommend health policymakers to consider separate catheterization laboratories that provide service only to COVID-19 patients.

Burnout Among Physicians and Medical Interns: Comparing Time-periods of Coronavirus Disease Outbreak in Shiraz (preprint)

Background: Physician burnout is a serious issue associated with physician attrition, mental and physical problems, and medical errors. This study aimed to investigate prevalence of overall burnout among Interns-Residents and general physician (GPs)-Specialist during the COVID-19 pandemic in Iran.Methods: This cross-sectional study was conducted among 220 Interns-Residents and 212 GPs-Specialists in university affiliated hospitals and clinics in Shiraz, Iran. A random sampling method used to recruit the samples and the data gathered using a valid questionnaire. We used covariance analysis and multiple logistic regression to analyze the data.Results: Multiple logistic regression for GPs-Specialists showed that working in COVID-19 wards during June-July (OR = 13.93) was associated with increasing odds of overall burnout. However, older age was associated with decrease odds overall burnout (OR = 0.94). Multiple logistic regression for Interns-Residents revealed that age (OR = 1.24) and being single (OR = 1.66) were positively associated with overall burnout.Conclusions: The present finding could remind policy makers the importance of burnout issue among physicians during the pandemics and could persuade them for taking appropriate action in order to prevent this phenomenon. It is suggested that focusing on strategies such as improving organizational resilience, improvement of healthcare working environment, and development of coping skills among physicians could be helpful in this regard.

Temperament and character of patients with alcohol toxicity during COVID -19 pandemic (preprint)

Background: Corona virus epidemic may be acts as a stressor or trauma that affects both physical health and mental health. People exhibited various reactive behaviors to confront with this stressful situation. In Iran, one of the common motives for alcohol consumption is to scape problems and cope with stresses. It has been shown that personality factors influence alcohol consumption, since they are associated with drinking motives. The main purpose of this study was to investigate the correlation between temperament and character and alcohol abuse. Methods: : This cross-section study was conducted on 135 alcohol intoxicated patients admitted to emergency room in March 2020 and 255 participants who were randomly selected from public in Shiraz. A questionnaire consisted of TCI (Temperament and character inventory) and several questions about COVID-19 pandemic. It was completed by a trained interviewer using the matched answer technique. Demographic factors were self-reported. Results: : Among the alcohol intoxicated group, 117 (86.7%) were males and 18(13.3%) were females. The mean age of the participants was 32.43±10.81 years. Among control group, 99 (38.8%) were males and 156 (61.2%) were females. The mean age of control group was 33.12±14.77 years. Alcohol toxicity was mostly observed among the young males (male/female ratio was 6.45). According to temperament and character index, mean scores of novelty seeking, harm avoidant, and self-transcendence were higher in the alcohol toxicity group than normal population (P<0.01). Mean scores of reward dependent, cooperativeness, and self-directedness were higher in normal population than the alcohol toxicity group (P<0.001). The mean score of persistence was not significantly different between methanol intoxicated and normal population groups (P=0.718). Conclusion: Alcohol intoxicated patients had higher scores of novelty-seeking and self-transcendence and lower scores of reward-dependency scores, cooperativeness and self-directedness. These scores are associated with higher likelihood of personality disorders.

The Association between Poor Glycemic Control in Diabetes Mellitus and Progression of COVID-19 (preprint)

Background: Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) is a newly recognized disease whose rapid spread has resulted in a global pandemic. In this resepct, there are several comorbidities presumed to be associated with presentation of complications in COVID-19 such as diabetes mellitus (DM), hypertension (HTN), and cardiovascular diseases (CVDs). Therefore, this study aimed to explore whether DM was a risk factor influencing presentation, progression, and prognosis of COVID-19 or not.Methods: A total number of 447 patients with confirmed COVID-19 were selected from two centers for COVID-19 in the city of Shiraz, south-central Iran, from February 20 to April 29, 2020. Then, demographic data, medical history, signs and symptoms, laboratory test results, as well as chest computed tomography (CT) scan reports were collected and analyzed.Results: This study revealed that older age, HTN, and CVDs could be mostly seen in diabetic patients with COVID-19. In addition, such patients had prolonged hospital stay, lower oxygen (O2) saturation, and abnormal laboratory test results such as higher white blood cell (WBC) count, lower lymphocyte count, elevated serum tumor markers such as aspartate aminotransferase (AST), and abnormal kidney function.Conclusion: DM is an important risk factor for adverse endpoints in patients with COVID-19. In diabetic patients, proper consideration of clinical characteristics is thus of utmost importance. In addition, special clinical insight for disease prevention, good glycemic control during hospitalization, and efforts to develop a vaccine can help improve disease outcomes in this population.