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Objective: There is a positive and significant relationship between severity and viral load in some viral diseases. Studies on the relationship between SARS-CoV-2 viral load at diagnosis and severity of coronavirus disease-2019 (COVID-19) have yielded conflicting results. Therefore, we aimed to evaluate the relationship between viral load and the clinical status of patients with COVID-19.Methods: Data of the patients diagnosed with COVID-19 and admitted to our center between May 01 and June 31, 2020, were retrospectively reviewed. The patients were divided into two groups according to their clinical character-istics as mild-moderate and severe. The demographic, laboratory, clinical, and radiological data were retrieved from electronic folders.Results: The entire cohort included 285 patients;254 had a mild-moderate clinical course, and 31 had a severe course. Statistical analyses revealed that SARS-CoV-2 viral load was not associated with symptom duration and clinical status (p>0.05). According to multivariate logistic regression analysis, only ferritin, C-reactive protein, and lactate dehydro-genase elevations were positively correlated with severe clinical course. (p<0.05).Conclusion: We do not recommend using viral load to predict disease severity in COVID-19. We also found that only ferritin, C-reactive protein, and lactate dehydrogenase accompanied severe clinical course. Keywords: cycle threshold, COVID-19, clinical severity
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Background: Healthcare workers (HCWs) face work-related psychosocial risks. The ongoing pandemic is causing widespread concern in a variety of ways, including COVID-19 fear and anxiety. Objective(s): We aimed to evaluate mental health, quality of life, COVID-19 fear and related factors in Turkish HCWs practicing in pandemic hospitals. Method(s): The data were collected in 13 provinces between 27 September and 11 November 2021 by researchers from the Early Career Task Force of the Turkish Thoracic Society. The study survey included sociodemographic, health- and work-related characteristics, the General Health Questionnaire-12 (GHQ-12) evaluating mental health, the World Health Organization Quality of Life-BREF (WHOQoL-BREF) questionnaire and the Fear of COVID-19 Scale (FCV-19S). Result(s): Of 1,556 participants, 522 (33.5%) reported a need for mental health support (MHS) in the previous year. The FCV-19S weakly correlated with the GHQ-12 (r=0.234, p<0.001) and WHOQoL-BREF domains (r=-0.245 for physical health, r=-0.182 for psychological health, r=-0.141 for social relationships and r=-0.183 for environmental health domains;p<0.001). The need for MHS was the common significant variable for all scale scores in univariate analyses and multiple linear regression. After multiple linear regression, the FCV-19S score was significantly related to the GHQ-12 and all WHOQoL-BREF domain scores. Conclusion(s): Our results indicate a remarkable level of need for MHS. The need for MHS and COVID-19 fear are related to mental health and quality of life in Turkish HCWs. The self-reported need for MHS may serve as an alarming characteristic for HCWs' psychosocial burden.
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OBJECTIVE: As the pandemic continues, different vaccine protocols have been implemented to maintain the protection of vaccines and to provide protection against new variants. The aim of this study was to assess hospitalized patients' vaccination status and document the efficacy of boosters. PATIENTS AND METHODS: The patients that were hospitalized due to COVID-19 were enrolled from 28 hospitals in Turkey for five months from September 2021. 5,331 confirmed COVID-19 patients from collaborating centers were randomly enrolled to understand/estimate the distribution of vaccination status in hospitalized patients and to compare the efficacy of vaccination/booster protocols. RESULTS: 2,779 men and 2,552 women of which 2,408 (45.2%) were admitted to Intensive Care Units participated in this study. It was found that the highest risk reduction for all age groups was found in groups that received 4 doses. Four doses of vaccination for every 3.7 people under 50 years of age, for every 5.7 people in the 50-64 age group, and for every 4.3 people over 65 years of age will prevent 1 patient from being admitted to intensive care. Regardless of the type of vaccine, it was found that the risk of ICU hospitalization decreased in those who were vaccinated compared to those who were not vaccinated. Regardless of the type of vaccine, the ICU risk was found to decrease 1.25-fold in those who received 1 or 2 doses of vaccine, 1.18-fold in those who received 3 doses, and 3.26-fold in those who received 4 doses. CONCLUSIONS: The results suggested that the addition of a fourth dose is more effective in preventing intensive unit care even in disadvantaged groups.
Subject(s)
COVID-19 , Male , Humans , Female , Aged , COVID-19/epidemiology , COVID-19/prevention & control , Hospitalization , Intensive Care Units , Hospitals , Critical CareABSTRACT
Objective: There is a positive and significant relationship between severity and viral load in some viral diseases. Studies on the relationship between SARS-CoV-2 viral load at diagnosis and severity of coronavirus disease-2019 (COVID-19) have yielded conflicting results. Therefore, we aimed to evaluate the relationship between viral load and the clinical status of patients with COVID-19. Method(s): Data of the patients diagnosed with COVID-19 and admitted to our center between May 01 and June 31, 2020, were retrospectively reviewed. The patients were divided into two groups according to their clinical characteristics as mild-moderate and severe. The demographic, laboratory, clinical, and radiological data were retrieved from electronic folders. Result(s): The entire cohort included 285 patients;254 had a mild-moderate clinical course, and 31 had a severe course. Statistical analyses revealed that SARS-CoV-2 viral load was not associated with symptom duration and clinical status (p>0.05). According to multivariate logistic regression analysis, only ferritin, C-reactive protein, and lactate dehydro-genase elevations were positively correlated with severe clinical course. (p<0.05). Conclusion(s): We do not recommend using viral load to predict disease severity in COVID-19. We also found that only ferritin, C-reactive protein, and lactate dehydrogenase accompanied severe clinical course. Copyright © 2022, DOC Design and Informatics Co. Ltd.. All rights reserved.
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Objective: To determine post-discharge mortality and associated factors of the first-wave multicenter Turkish Thoracic Society (TTD)-TURCOVID study.
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Objectives: Coronavirus disease-2019 (COVID-19) caused a pandemic, which has been going on for about 1 year. How long the pandemic will continue remains uncertain. Determining the etiology of pneumonia is the most important point for the treatment approach. In this study, it was aimed to determine the parameters that might be useful in the differentiation of community-acquired pneumonia (CAP) from COVID-19 pneumonia. Materials and Methods: CAP group consisted of 53 people who applied to the infectious diseases polyclinic and chest diseases polyclinic between 01.12.2019 and 30.01.2020 in our country, including the periods when the incidence of CAP increased and influenza peaked, and were hospitalized after being diagnosed with pneumonia. For the COVID-19 pneumonia group, 37 patients with Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome-Coronavirus-2 detected by polymerase chain reaction from the combined nasal throat swab and with computed tomography showing lesions consistent with COVID-19 were included.
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Objective: To evaluate long-term effects of COVID-19, and to determine the risk factors in long-COVID in a cohort of the Turkish Thoracic Society (TTS)-TURCOVID multicenter registry. Method(s): Thirteen centers participated with 831 patients;504 patients were enrolled after exclusions. The study was designed in three-steps: (1) Phone questionnaire;(2) retrospective evaluation of the medical records;(3) face-to-face visit. Result(s): In the first step, 93.5% of the patients were hospitalized;61.7% had a history of pneumonia at the time of diagnosis. A total of 27.1% reported clinical symptoms at the end of the first year. Dyspnea (17.00%), fatigue (6.30%), and weakness (5.00%) were the most prevalent long-term symptoms. The incidence of long-term symptoms was increased by 2.91 fold (95% CI 1.04-8.13, P=0.041) in the presence of chronic obstructive pulmonary disease and by 1.84 fold (95% CI 1.10-3.10, P=0.021) in the presence of pneumonia at initial diagnosis, 3.92 fold (95% Cl 2.29-6.72, P=0.001) of dyspnea and 1.69 fold (95% Cl 1.02-2.80, P=0.040) fatigue persists in the early-post-treatment period and 2.88 fold (95% Cl 1.52-5.46, P=0.001) in the presence of emergency service admission in the post COVID period. In step 2, retrospective analysis of 231 patients revealed that 1.4% of the chest X-rays had not significantly improved at the end of the first year, while computed tomography (CT) scan detected fibrosis in 3.4%. In step 3, 138 (27.4%) patients admitted to face-to-face visit at the end of first year;at least one symptom persisted in 49.27% patients. The most common symptoms were dyspnea (27.60%), psychiatric symptoms (18.10%), and fatigue (17.40%). Thorax CT revealed fibrosis in 2.4% patients. Conclusion(s): COVID-19 symptoms can last for extended lengths of time, and severity of the disease as well as the presence of comorbidities might contribute to increased risk. Long-term clinical issues should be regularly evaluated after COVID-19. Copyright © 2022 Asian Pacific Journal of Tropical Medicine Produced by Wolters Kluwer Medknow.