ABSTRACT
Introduction: The evidence-based use of the oral form of Vitamin C as adjuvant treatment for critically ill COVID-19 patients is lacking worldwide despite its intravenous preparation form being demonstrated to be potentially beneficial in some studies. The present study objective was to evaluate the effects of oral Vitamin C in the treatment of severe COVID-19. Method(s): This was an open-label observational study with propensity score matching on unvaccinated, similar medication history, hospitalized stage-5 severe COVID-19 patients, who were treated with daily 2g, 4g, or 6g of oral Vitamin C respectively from November 2020 to December 2021. The clinical data were collected retrospectively for analysis. The study outcomes were 28-day in-hospital mortality, the proportion of mechanical ventilation-free days (MVFD), the Day 1, Day 3, and Day 7 of both the inflammation progression (c-reactive protein) and the Sequential Organ Failure Assessment score (SOFA). Result(s): A total of 147 patients were recruited. The number of subjects in the 2g, 4g, and 6g Vitamin C groups was 43, 44, and 60 respectively. There was no significant difference in the 28-day mortality (p=0.336), the MVFD (p=0.486), the c-reactive protein level on Day 1 (p=0.856), Day 3 (p=0.977), Day 7 (p=0.462), and the SOFA score on Day 1(p=0.540), Day 3 (p=0.149) and Day 7 (p=0.754) between the three Vitamin C dosing groups. Conclusion(s): The present study showed that the oral form of Vitamin C provided no benefit in reducing stage-5 COVID-19 patients' hospital mortality, the mechanical ventilation requirement, or the overall inflammation progression.
ABSTRACT
Objective To study the epidemic characteristics and causes of pertussis cases in Ankang from 2010 to 2019, and to provide basis for prevention and control of pertussis. Methods The pertussis cases in Ankang from 2010 to 2019 were analyzed by descriptive epidemiology, and ARIMA(Autoregressive Integrated Moving Average model) was used to predict the forecast of pertussis from July 2020 to June 2021. Results Pertussis cases in Ankang showed an increasing trend from 2020 to 2019. The incidence rate hits the maximum value in 2019, and increased by 299.00% when compared to 2018. The case with the age distribution under 6 years were dominated by children, accounting for 94.07% of the total onset cases. The incidence was concentrated in three populations including scattered children (75.42%),childcare children(15.25%) and students(9.32%). In 2019,there were 25 on-campus students and 15 scattered children in Hanyin, and some cases have developed aggregated epidemics. According to the prediction model, the incidence of pertussis in Ankang might decrease from July 2020 to June 2021. Conclusion The incidence of pertussis in children in Ankang is on the rise from 2010 to 2019,and they are key points of prevention and control of pertussis to ensure the quality of vaccine production, improve the quality of vaccination, and proper implementation of infectious disease monitoring. Influenced by COVID-19 epidemic in early 2020, China adopted a series of effective measures to control respiratory infectious diseases, and the incidence of whooping cough also declined. © 2022, Editorial Department of Medical Pest Control. All rights reserved.
ABSTRACT
OBJECTIVE: This meta-analysis aims to assess the susceptibility to and clinical outcomes of COVID-19 in autoimmune inflammatory rheumatic disease (AIRD) and following AIRD drug use. MATERIALS AND METHODS: We included observational and case-controlled studies assessing susceptibility and clinical outcomes of COVID-19 in patients with AIRD as well as the clinical outcomes of COVID-19 with or without use of steroids and conventional synthetic disease-modifying antirheumatic drugs (csDMARDs). RESULTS: Meta-analysis including three studies showed that patients with AIRD are not more susceptible to COVID-19 compared to patients without AIRD or the general population (OR: 1.11, 95% CI: 0.58 to 2.14). Incidence of severe outcomes of COVID-19 (OR: 1.34, 95% CI: 0.76 to 2.35) and COVID-19 related death (OR: 1.21, 95% CI: 0.68 to 2.16) also did not show significant difference. The clinical outcomes of COVID-19 among AIRD patients with and without csDMARD or steroid showed that both use of steroid (OR: 1.69, 95% CI: 0.96 to 2.98) or csDMARD (OR: 1.35, 95% CI: 0.63 to 3.08) had no effect on clinical outcomes of COVID-19. CONCLUSIONS: AIRD does not increase susceptibility to COVID-19, not affecting the clinical outcome of COVID-19. Similarly, the use of steroids or csDMARDs for AIRD does not worsen the clinical outcome.