ARTERIAL HYPERTENSION FOLLOWING COVID-19: A RETROSPECTIVE STUDY OF PATIENTS IN A CENTRAL EUROPEAN TERTIARY CARE CENTER.

The aim of this study was to determine the frequency of newly verified or worsened existing hypertension in patients who had coronavirus 2019 (COVID-19). To be categorized as a COVID-19 patient, a positive reverse-transcription polymerase chain reaction test at a single point in time was required. The patients' age, history, laboratory values and antihypertensive therapy of patients were recorded. In one year, 32 of 199 patients studied had either newly verified (15) or worsened existing (17) arterial hypertension. Among those patients, the median time from a verified infection to the onset of symptoms was 3 months. When the patients were divided into groups, 4 were in the acute, 11 in the sub-acute, 8 in the chronic and 9 in the "long COVID" group. Compared to the rest of the study population, patients presenting with arterial hypertension had significantly higher systolic (median 141 mmHg vs 130 mmHg, p<0.001) and diastolic (median 93 mmHg vs 80 mmHg, p<0.001) blood pressure and were significantly younger (median 51 vs 59 years, p 0.032). Arterial hypertension following COVID-19, either newly verified or worsened existing, is a relatively common occurrence (16% of our patient pool), indicating that more effort should be directed at evaluating the blood pressure values of patients following COVID-19.

SYSTEMIC INFECTION WITH SINGLE OR MULTI-ORGAN DAMAGE CAUSED BY INADEQUATELY MANAGED CHRONIC WOUNDS: A CASE SERIES.

Chronic wounds are often underestimated condition with increasingly growing inpatient and outpatient treatment costs. Since the patient population affected by chronic wounds is heterogeneous and includes diabetes, chronic venous insufficiency and peripheral artery disease patients, with additional differences in gender, age, previous medical history, treatment of chronic wounds is highly personalized and dependent on a variety of factors. This paper aims to highlight the problems that the chronic wound patient population is facing during the COVID-19 pandemic: from higher probability of an undesirable disease outcome to the fact that many of them have limited access to primary care providers and to the regular and continuous care that their condition demands. This paper describe three patients with chronic wounds. Each of the patients had a significant worsening of their chronic wounds during the COVID-19 pandemic: either following an active SARS-CoV-2 infection or due to the limited access to primary care. The cases described here highlight the necessity of providing proper and regular care for all patients during the COVID-19 pandemic, regardless of the current state of the healthcare system and the adversities and hurdles it currently faces, to prevent the pandemic from becoming a syndemic.