Causes of School Leaves of Higher Education Students during the Covid-19 Pandemic

This research focuses on leading causes analysis that originate school leaves from the Tecnologico Nacional de Mexico (TecNM)San Luis Potosi campus during the COVID-19 pandemic January-June 2020 until the January-June 2022 semester and what the factors associated with them. It is a study with a quantitative approach, descriptive scope, and cross-sectional design. It analyzed the Database of the Integral Information System (SII) of the institution. The results indicated that the leading causes for which students definitively withdrawals from their studies were: 49% for failing and 51% for other reasons;the subjects that fail most frequently are: Integral Calculus;Differential Calculus;Linear Algebra;and Probability and Statistics, taught in the first three semesters of the different degree programs. The factors associated with the academic situation of the students are the average grade, the degree they study, and the number of semesters studied.

Incidence, clinical presentation, and severity of SARS-CoV-2 infection in inflammatory bowel disease patients in the “second and the third wave” of infection

Introduction: Data about the SARS-CoV-2 infection in inflammatory bowel disease patients (IBD) are scarce so, there is a need for more data about the risk, clinical characteristics, and evolution of this patients. Aims & Methods: Our aim was to analyse the incidence, clinical presentation, and severity of SARS-CoV-2 infection in IBD patients in the “second and the third wave” of infection. We design a cross-sectional, observational study in IBD patients follwed in our IBD Unit with confirmed SARSCoV- 2 infection by PCR and/or antigen tests from 01 July 2020 to 01 March 2021. All data were collected by telephone interview and reviewing the electronical medical records. Results: Fifty-one of 805 IBD patients followed in our Unit were diagnosed of SARS-CoV-2 infection in this period (6.3%;95% CI 4.6-8.0). Mean age: 45±13 years;56.9% female, 23.5% smokers, 56.9% Crohn's disease, 29.4% comorbidities and 17.6% asymptomatic. Digestive symptoms were reported in 22 patients (43.1%), with diarrhoea as the most common (39.2%, median duration: 4 days;IQR 1-7). The most frequent symptoms other than diarrhoea were low-grade fever/fever in 43.1% (median duration: 3 days;IQR 1-6.5) and dysosmia/dysgeusia in 39.2% (median duration: 15 days;IQR 7-30). Only one patient (2%) was diagnosed with IBD flare-up during infection. Six patients (11.8%) temporarily withdrew their IBD treatment because of COVID-19. Most of the patients had a mild disease (88.2%), no patient had to be admitted in the intensive care unit. Only one patient died (2%) due to SARS-CoV-2 infection and multiple previous comorbidities, 52 years old male with ulcerative colitis in treatment with Mesalazine and dendritic cell sarcoma, common variable inmunodefiency, and primary sclerosing cholangitis progressing to cirrhosis. In the multivariate analysis, the presence of dyspnoea was associated with more severe infection (p=0.007;OR:25.7;95% CI 2.4-277.8). Patients on immunomodulators and/or biological therapy did not have more severe disease compared to non-immunosuppressed patients (p>0.05). Conclusion: SARS-CoV-2 infection was relatively frequent is our series. Dyspnoea was associated with a more severe infection. Severity of SARSCoV- 2 infection was not related to immunosuppression or development of IBD flare-ups and only a small percentage of patient needed to modify IBD medication during infection.

Impact of the covid-19 pandemic on mental health from patients with autoimmune rheumatic diseases

Objectives: Evidence suggests an association between rheumatic diseases (RD) and the development of anxiety and depression [1]. The COVID-19 pandemic is considered a traumatic event as it may cause physical, emotional, and psychological damage. Social and economic problems, and the exposure to stressors could favor the appearance of anxiety and depression symptoms [2]. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reported elevated levels of adverse mental health conditions, substance use, and suicidal ideation during the COVID-19 pandemic [3]. Our aim was to evaluate the prevalence and characteristics of patients with RD at risk of developing mental health problems during the COVID-19 pandemic. Methods: We carried out a cross-sectional study. We selected patients with rheumatoid arthritis (RA) or systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE) that completed the Hospital Anxiety and Depression Scale (HADS) from our medical records. Our population was classified according to the time they were evaluated into two groups: before COVID-19 pandemic and during COVID-19 pandemic. Categorical variables were assessed using χ2 test and Fisher's exact test where appropriate. Student's t-test was used to assess continuous variables. A p value of 0.05 or less was considered significative. Results: We collected data from151 patients, 117 (77.48%) were evaluated before the COVID-19 pandemic, 140 (92.71%) were female. The main diagnosis was RA in 114 (75.49%) patients. Other characteristics in Table 1.We found no difference in HADS score between both groups, but patients evaluated during the pandemic were younger (49.2 vs 37.0 years old, p = 0.23), and had higher education levels, less comorbidities (20.5% vs 68.3%, p < 0.0001), and less duration of the disease (61.7 vs 103.0 months, p < 0.0001). Conclusion: We found no difference in the prevalence of mental health disorders in our population before and during the COVID-19 pandemic. As the patients studied before the pandemic are older, this may suggest that they could be avoiding hospital contact. It is necessary to improve data collection methods to obtain representative samples and better outcomes.