Impacts of COVID-19 on U.S. seafood availability. (Special Issue: COVID-19 impacts on selected commodities.)

Seafood is the food group with the highest share traded, and the U.S. is the world's largest seafood importer, importing 79% of the seafood consumed. Hence, a study examining the impacts of the measures to contain COVID-19 on U.S. seafood imports will not only show how U.S. seafood availability has been affected, but will also give strong indications of how resiliently the global seafood markets have worked through the pandemic. We find that U.S. imports of seafood actually increased in 2020 and 2021, suggesting supply chains were able to adapt to potential disruptions. Moreover, for the 14 largest product forms imported to the U.S., there are no strong price movements. Given that there is a global market for most species groups, this adaption also suggests that the markets have worked quite well beyond the U.S. Hence, while there have undoubtedly been market shocks associated with the COVID-19 measures such as the reduction in demand from the restaurant sector and the increased sales in the retail sector, opportunities seem to balance out challenges, and the supply chains for seafood to the U.S. have been highly resilient.

Routine Periodic Fasting Is Associated with a Lower Risk of Inpatient Hospitalization for the Primary Diagnosis of Heart Failure Following Covid-19 Diagnosis

Background Intermittent fasting modulates inflammation and reduces cardiometabolic risks, even without weight loss. Many Utahns (30%) engage in routine periodic fasting, primarily for religious purposes (1 day/month for?>40 years). Periodic fasting is associated with greater longevity, lower incidence of heart failure (HF) and diabetes, and lower COVID-19 severity. This study evaluated the association of periodic fasting with inpatient hospitalization (hosp.) for the primary diagnosis of HF after COVID-19 diagnosis. Methods Patients undergoing cardiac catheterization at Intermountain Healthcare from 2/2013-3/2020 were enrolled in the INSPIRE registry (NCT02450006) and provided survey data for periodic fasting (n=5,795). Between March 6, 2020 and April 8, 2022, COVID-19 was diagnosed in N=464 (1852 COVID-negative, 3466 no test, 13 fasted routinely <5 years). Subjects were followed to April 17, 2022 for HF hosp., mortality, MI, revascularization, and stroke. Results Periodic fasting was reported by 135 (29.1%) of the 464 subjects and they had fasted routinely for 42.7+/-19.0 years (min: 7 years, max: 82 years). HF hosp. (n=65, 14.0%) was found in 8.1% of fasters and 16.4% of non-fasters (HR=0.45, 95% CI=0.24, 0.87;p=0.017). Fasting was retained in multivariable analyses (adjusted HR=0.44, CI=0.23, 0.84;p=0.013). Age, diabetes, prior MI, TIA, and prior HF diagnosis also predicted HF hosp. Qualitative but non-significantly lower risk for fasting vs non-fasters was found for mortality (3.7% vs 5.8%), MI (0% vs 1.2%), and revasc. (1.5% vs 2.7%), but not stroke (1.5% vs 1.5%). Composites were significant: HF hosp./mortality, n=74 (10.4% vs 18.2%, adj. HR=0.55, CI=0.30, 0.99;p=0.047) and major adverse cardiovascular events (MACE: HF hosp., mortality, MI, revasc., stroke), n=86 (12.6% vs 21.0%, adj. HR=0.58, CI=0.34, 1.00;p=0.0504). Conclusion Routine periodic fasting was associated with a lower risk of HF hosp., HF hosp./mortality, and MACE in patients at high risk due to COVID-19 diagnosis. This supports and expands on previous studies that reported fasting may reduce the risk of incident HF and reduce the risk of severe COVID-19. Further study of fasting and heart failure is indicated. Prevention and Health PromotionCopyright © 2023 American College of Cardiology Foundation

Perception shifts in seafood consumption in the United States

Perceptions about specific seafood attributes play an essential role in American consumers' choices of a seafood entre ' e served in casual and fine dining restaurants. However, the trends and determinants of consumer per-ceptions are underexplored. This research analyzes how consumers perceive specific attributes of a seafood entre ' e and examines the effect of socioeconomic and demographic characteristics on their perceptions. Factor analysis and multivariate Tobit models were employed to analyze data collected online via Qualtrics' consumer panels in the U.S. The results indicate that the proportion of participants who deem farm-raised and sustainability-certified fish safer to eat, better tasting, higher quality, more fairly traded, and more environ-mentally friendly is the highest. However, the difference in perceptions of domestic and imported fish is ambiguous. The perceptions of nutritional value for human consumption are near neutral among these seafood attributes. The main determinants of these perceptions are the frequency they eat fish, whether having children in a household, gender, ethnicity, and the age of consumers. These perceptions and determinants are relatively consistent before and during Covid-19. This study contributes to the literature on seafood perceptions at casual and fine dining restaurants and provides the most recent trend on American seafood perceptions and their de-terminants. These results are beneficial to seafood producers, distributors, and policymakers for providing more appropriate regulations related to future seafood supply in the U.S.

Impacts of COVID-19 on U.S. Seafood Availability

Seafood is the food group with the highest share traded, and the U.S. is the world's largest seafood importer, importing 79% of the seafood consumed. Hence, a study examining the impacts of the measures to contain COVID-19 on U.S. seafood imports will not only show how U.S. seafood availability has been affected, but will also give strong indications of how resiliently the global seafood markets have worked through the pandemic. We find that U.S. imports of seafood actually increased in 2020 and 2021, suggesting supply chains were able to adapt to potential disruptions. Moreover, for the 14 largest product forms imported to the U.S., there are no strong price movements. Given that there is a global market for most species groups, this adaption also suggests that the markets have worked quite well beyond the U.S. Hence, while there have undoubtedly been market shocks associated with the COVID-19 measures such as the reduction in demand from the restaurant sector and the increased sales in the retail sector, opportunities seem to balance out challenges, and the supply chains for seafood to the U.S. have been highly resilient. © 2022 Walter de Gruyter GmbH, Berlin/Boston 2022.

Impact of the covid pandemic on depression and subsequent emergency department visits for anxiety and chest pain

Background: The COVID-19 pandemic has affected nearly every aspect of daily life. The interpersonal loss due to quarantining and social distancing, compounded with societal disruption has negatively affected mental health. Once established, mental health conditions can become chronic with having subsequent effects on additional risk factors and disease incidence, such as cardiovascular disease (CVD). Methods: Patients who completed a PHQ-9 in a primary care setting in the year prior to the COVID pandemic (Mar 1, 2019 to Feb 29, 2020) and during the COVID pandemic (Mar 1, 2020 to Apr 20, 2021) were studied. Patients were stratified into 2 groups: no depression/no longer depressed and remained depressed/became depressed. Patients were assessed for follow-up emergency department (ED) visits for anxiety and chest pain (CP) after PHQ-9 completion during the pandemic. Results: A total of 4,633 patients were studied, with 2,848 (61.5%) being never/no longer depressed and 1,785 (38.5%) remaining/became depressed. PHQ-9 scores during the pandemic were higher than prior to the pandemic among those depressed. A total of 2,171 (46.6%) received a COVID test, with more depressed patients tested compared to non-depressed (Table), but with positivity for SARS-CoV-2 (n=362 [16.7%]) being similar (p=0.18). The table shows baseline characteristics and outcomes. Depression was associated with increased ED visits for anxiety (Table). Those with depression, visited the ED at 3.5 times and 2.7 times greater rate for anxiety and anxiety with CP compared to non-depressed, respectively. Conclusions: Depression was highly prevalent among patients who receive routine primary care, with depressive symptoms increasing during the pandemic. Since depression and anxiety are associated with an increased risk of CVD and associated risk factors, identifying and treating patients early who exhibit such symptoms will be important in reducing the risk of future CVD and risk factor incidence.

A small but significant increased incidence of acute pericarditis identified after vaccination for sarscov-2

Background: As SARS-CoV-2 vaccines are being administered on an unprecedented scale, it is critical to carefully assess risks to aid clinicians in the early detection and treatment of potential side effects. Here we examine increases in the risk of pericarditis following SARS-CoV-2 vaccination. Methods: We examined pericarditis cases from December 15, 2020, to April 15, 2021 seen within Intermountain Healthcare, an integrated healthcare system. Pericarditis was defined by at least two of the following criteria: chest pain, EKG changes, pericardial effusion, and pericardial rub;excluded cases secondary to non-infectious causes (e.g., AF ablation). We determined vaccination within 60 days prior to pericarditis diagnosis using Intermountain and Utah Department of Health vaccination information. Rates of pericarditis per 10 million patient days for vaccinated patients compared to unvaccinated patients were compared. We also examined a case-crossover design with 4 control dates for each pericarditis case. Results: Of the 29 identified pericarditis cases, 13 (44.8%) had a SARS-Cov-2 vaccination within 60 days before the onset of pericarditis. During the same period, 743,774 individuals in the Intermountain Healthcare system had received at least one dose of the SARS-CoV-2 vaccine. Thus, 1.7 per 100,000 vaccinated individuals were diagnosed with acute pericarditis. Within a 60-day postvaccination window, the rate of acute pericarditis per 10-million patient-days was 3.90 in the vaccinated group and 0.84 in the unvaccinated group. Thus, there was a 4.49 times higher rate of acute pericarditis in vaccinated patients compared to the unvaccinated individuals (p=0.0002). Case-crossover analysis showed the odds of acute pericarditis was 3.33 higher (95% CI: 1.29, 10.14) in the vaccinated versus the unvaccinated group (p=0.01). Conclusions: We found acute pericarditis to be a rare post-SARS-CoV-2 vaccination event, but the risk was significantly higher than in comparable unvaccinated subjects. This risk of pericarditis postSARS-CoV-2 vaccine is eclipsed by the risk of contracting COVID-19 and its associated, commonly seen severe outcomes. Nevertheless, clinicians should be informed of this risk to facilitate earlier recognition and treatment.

Atrial fibrillation is a cardiovascular risk factor for worse prognosis in covid-19

Background: In the presence of comorbid conditions, COVID-19 infections are known to require more advanced treatment, poorer outcomes and have longer-term sequelae. New-onset atrial fibrillation (AF) during COVID-19 infection has been associated with worse cardiovascular outcomes but not mortality. However, it remains unclear whether a prior history (hx) of atrial fibrillation is a cardiovascular risk factor predicting a worse outcome in COVID-19 patients. As such, we examined, using propensity matching accounting for possible confounders, the need for advanced treatment and subsequent major cardiovascular events (MACE) in patients with a prior hx of AF with COVID19 infection. Methods: From March 2020 to May 2021, patients testing positive for SARS-CoV-2 with a prior AF diagnosis (n=3119) were propensity matched for age, gender, race/ethnicity, prior coronary artery disease (CAD), prior heart failure (HF), prior stroke and hypertension to non-AF SARS-CoV-2 positive patients. Cox hazard regression analysis with multivariable adjustment was used to determine risk of subsequent MACE (all-cause death, myocardial infarction, HF and stroke). Results: Baseline characteristics, treatments, and outcomes stratified by AF status are shown in the Table. While the groups had similar baseline characteristics, AF COVID-19 patients were more likely to require hospitalization, ICU care, and ventilator support. Consistent with our hypothesis, composite MACE event rates were higher in the AF patients (HR=1.60, p<0.0001) secondary to increases in heart failure and all-cause mortality rates. Conclusions: These data support AF as a cardiovascular risk factor predicting worse outcomes in COVID-19 patients. Specifically, AF increases the need for advanced treatments such as hospitalization, ICU care and ventilator support resulting in an increase in subsequent heart failure and all-cause mortality.

Implications of new technologies for future food supply systems

The combination of advances in knowledge, technology, changes in consumer preference and low cost of manufacturing is accelerating the next technology revolution in crop, livestock and fish production systems. This will have major implications for how, where and by whom food will be produced in the future. This next technology revolution could benefit the producer through substantial improvements in resource use and profitability, but also the environment through reduced externalities. The consumer will ultimately benefit through more nutritious, safe and affordable food diversity, which in turn will also contribute to the acceleration of the next technology. It will create new opportunities in achieving progress towards many of the Sustainable Development Goals, but it will require early recognition of trends and impact, public research and policy guidance to avoid negative trade-offs. Unfortunately, the quantitative predictability of future impacts will remain low and uncertain, while new chocks with unexpected consequences will continue to interrupt current and future outcomes. However, there is a continuing need for improving the predictability of shocks to future food systems especially for ex-ante assessment for policy and planning.