Systemic corticosteroid use and cardiovascular risk in patients hospitalized for pneumonia.

BACKGROUND: Limited data are available concerning cardiovascular risk with respect to adjunctive corticosteroid use in patients with pneumonia. We aimed to assess the associations between systemic corticosteroid use and the occurrence of major adverse cardiovascular events (MACEs) in patients hospitalized for pneumonia. METHODS: Among study participants enrolled via surveillance for severe acute respiratory infection from July 2016 to January 2017, the clinical course of patients with pneumonia was retrospectively investigated until December 2019. We evaluated the occurrence of in-hospital and after-discharge MACEs according to steroid use during hospitalization. RESULTS: Of the 424 patients hospitalized for pneumonia, 118 (28.8%) received systemic corticosteroids during hospitalization. The most common reason for steroid use was acute exacerbation of chronic lung disease (75.4%). Systemic steroid use was significantly associated with an increased risk of in-hospital MACEs; it was not associated with after-discharge MACEs. The risk of in-hospital MACEs was significantly greater in patients with more comorbidities, more severe pneumonia, and a higher inflammatory marker level; moreover, it was positively associated with duration and cumulative dose of steroid treatment. CONCLUSION: Systemic corticosteroid use was associated with an increased risk of in-hospital MACEs in patients hospitalized for pneumonia.

Deep Learning With Chest Radiographs for Making Prognoses in Patients With COVID-19: Retrospective Cohort Study.

BACKGROUND: An artificial intelligence (AI) model using chest radiography (CXR) may provide good performance in making prognoses for COVID-19. OBJECTIVE: We aimed to develop and validate a prediction model using CXR based on an AI model and clinical variables to predict clinical outcomes in patients with COVID-19. METHODS: This retrospective longitudinal study included patients hospitalized for COVID-19 at multiple COVID-19 medical centers between February 2020 and October 2020. Patients at Boramae Medical Center were randomly classified into training, validation, and internal testing sets (at a ratio of 8:1:1, respectively). An AI model using initial CXR images as input, a logistic regression model using clinical information, and a combined model using the output of the AI model (as CXR score) and clinical information were developed and trained to predict hospital length of stay (LOS) ≤2 weeks, need for oxygen supplementation, and acute respiratory distress syndrome (ARDS). The models were externally validated in the Korean Imaging Cohort of COVID-19 data set for discrimination and calibration. RESULTS: The AI model using CXR and the logistic regression model using clinical variables were suboptimal to predict hospital LOS ≤2 weeks or the need for oxygen supplementation but performed acceptably in the prediction of ARDS (AI model area under the curve [AUC] 0.782, 95% CI 0.720-0.845; logistic regression model AUC 0.878, 95% CI 0.838-0.919). The combined model performed better in predicting the need for oxygen supplementation (AUC 0.704, 95% CI 0.646-0.762) and ARDS (AUC 0.890, 95% CI 0.853-0.928) compared to the CXR score alone. Both the AI and combined models showed good calibration for predicting ARDS (P=.079 and P=.859). CONCLUSIONS: The combined prediction model, comprising the CXR score and clinical information, was externally validated as having acceptable performance in predicting severe illness and excellent performance in predicting ARDS in patients with COVID-19.

Different treatment response to systemic corticosteroids according to white blood cell counts in severe COVID-19 patients.

BACKGROUND: Limited data are available in COVID-19 patients on the prediction of treatment response to systemic corticosteroid therapy based on systemic inflammatory markers. There is a concern whether the response to systemic corticosteroid is different according to white blood cell (WBC) counts in COVID-19 patients. We aimed to assess whether WBC count is related with the clinical outcomes after treatment with systemic corticosteroids in severe COVID-19. METHODS: We conducted a retrospective cohort study and analysed the patients hospitalised for severe COVID-19 and received systemic corticosteroids between July 2020 and June 2021. The primary endpoint was to compare the composite poor outcome of mechanical ventilation, extracorporeal membrane oxygenation, and mortality among the patients with different WBC counts. RESULTS: Of the 585 COVID-19 patients who required oxygen supplementation and systemic corticosteroids, 145 (24.8%) belonged to the leukopoenia group, 375 (64.1%) belonged to the normal WBC group, and 65 (11.1%) belonged to the leukocytosis group. In Kaplan-Meier curve, the composite poor outcome was significantly reduced in leukopoenia group compared to leukocytosis group (log-rank p-value < 0.001). In the multivariable Cox regression analysis, leukopoenia group was significantly associated with a lower risk of the composite poor outcome compared to normal WBC group (adjusted hazard ratio [aHR] = 0.32, 95% CI 0.14-0.76, p-value = 0.009) and leukocytosis group (aHR = 0.30, 95% CI = 0.12-0.78, p-value = 0.013). There was no significant difference in aHR for composite poor outcome between leukocytosis and normal WBC group. CONCLUSION: Leukopoenia may be related with a better response to systemic corticosteroid therapy in COVID-19 patients requiring oxygen supplementation.KEY MESSAGESIn severe COVID-19 treated with systemic corticosteroids, patients with leukopoenia showed a lower hazard for composite poor outcome compared to patients with normal white blood cell counts or leukocytosis.Leukopoenia may be a potential biomarker for better response to systemic corticosteroid therapy in COVID-19 pneumonia.

Sport Community Involvement and Life Satisfaction During COVID-19: A Moderated Mediation of Psychological Capital by Distress and Generation Z.

How can sport community involvement influence life satisfaction during a pandemic? Self-expansion theory posits that individuals seek to gain resources such as positive interpersonal relationships for growth and achievement. By considering psychological capital (PsyCap) as a dispositional resource intervening between sport community involvement and life satisfaction, we examined an empirical model to test the chain of effects. Based on the stress process model, distress and generational group (Generation Z vs. others) were tested as moderators. Participants (N = 233) responded to the scale item questionnaire for model assessment. Supporting the hypothesized relationships, the model was supported with a significant moderated-moderated mediation. The mediation effect of PsyCap was stronger when distress level was lower and such interaction effect was amplified for Generation Z (Gen Z). Whereas the global sport communities and Gen Z were found to be more particularly vulnerable to COVID-19, our findings suggest that there are psychological pathways for fans to maintain their resilience. It is foremost imperative to lower the stress level of sport fans for their community involvement to positively affect life satisfaction. Gen Z were more stressed during the pandemic but individuals who managed to cope with stress were able to leverage community involvement to boost positive psychological resources. Acknowledgment of these effects brings implications for better management strategies and provides avenues for new research.

The effect of the timing of dexamethasone administration in patients with COVID-19 pneumonia.

Background: Despite the proven benefits of dexamethasone in hospitalized COVID-19 patients, the optimum time for the administration of dexamethasone is unknown. We investigated the progression of COVID-19 pneumonia based on the timing of dexamethasone administration. Methods: A single-center, retrospective cohort study based on medical record reviews was conducted between June 10 and September 21, 2020. We compared the risk of severe COVID-19, defined as the use of a high-flow nasal cannula or a mechanical ventilator, between groups that received dexamethasone either within 24 hours of hypoxemia (early dexamethasone group) or 24 hours after hypoxemia (late dexamethasone group). Hypoxemia was defined as room-air SpO2 <90%. Results: Among 59 patients treated with dexamethasone for COVID-19 pneumonia, 30 were in the early dexamethasone group and 29 were in the late dexamethasone group. There was no significant difference in baseline characteristics, the time interval from symptom onset to diagnosis or hospitalization, or the use of antiviral or antibacterial agents between the two groups. The early dexamethasone group showed a significantly lower rate of severe COVID-19 compared to the control group (75.9% vs 40.0%, P-value=0.012). Further, the early dexamethasone group showed a significantly shorter total duration of oxygen supplementation (10.45 d vs. 21.61 d, P-value=0.003) and length of stay in the hospital (19.76 d vs. 27.21 d, P-value=0.013). However, extracorporeal membrane oxygenation and in-hospital mortality rates were not significantly different between the two groups. Conclusion: Early administration of dexamethasone may prevent the progression of COVID-19 to a severe disease, without increased mortality.

Renin-angiotensin system blocker and outcomes of COVID-19: a systematic review and meta-analysis.

BACKGROUND: The association of ACE inhibitors (ACEIs) and angiotensin II receptor blockers (ARBs) with disease severity of patients with COVID-19 is still unclear. We conducted a systematic review and meta-analysis to investigate if ACEI/ARB use is associated with the risk of mortality and severe disease in patients with COVID-19. METHODS: We searched all available clinical studies that included patients with confirmed COVID-19 who could be classified into an ACEI/ARB group and a non-ACEI/ARB group up until 4 May 2020. A meta-analysis was performed, and primary outcomes were all-cause mortality and severe disease. RESULTS: ACEI/ARB use did not increase the risk of all-cause mortality both in meta-analysis for 11 studies with 12 601 patients reporting ORs (OR=0.52 (95% CI=0.37 to 0.72), moderate certainty of evidence) and in 2 studies with 8577 patients presenting HRs. For 12 848 patients in 13 studies, ACEI/ARB use was not related to an increased risk of severe disease in COVID-19 (OR=0.68 (95% CI=0.44 to 1.07); I2=95%, low certainty of evidence). CONCLUSIONS: ACEI/ARB therapy was not associated with increased risk of all-cause mortality or severe manifestations in patients with COVID-19. ACEI/ARB therapy can be continued without concern of drug-related worsening in patients with COVID-19.

Clinical implication and risk factor of pneumonia development in mild coronavirus disease 2019 patients.

BACKGROUND/AIMS: Although a majority of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) cases were characterized as mild, data assessing the development of pneumonia in mild COVID-19 patients are limited. We aimed to examine the effect of pneumonia development on the clinical course of mild COVID-19 in hospitalized patients. METHODS: A retrospective cohort study was conducted via medical record review between February 25, 2020 and April 11, 2020 at a single center. The impact of pneumonia development on the time to viral clearance in mild COVID-19 patients was evaluated. Risk factors associated with the development of pneumonia were also identified. RESULTS: Chest radiographs revealed the development of pneumonia in 26.8% of mild COVID-19 patients. The time to pneumonia development was a median of 8.0 days from the onset of symptoms and 3.5 days after hospital admission. A multivariate analysis for predicting pneumonia development identified age ≥ 65 years (odds ratio [OR], 3.15; 95% confidence interval [CI], 1.14 to 8.73), cough (OR, 2.18; 95% CI, 1.29 to 3.68), dyspnea (OR, 3.58; 95% CI, 1.10 to 11.69), and diarrhea (OR, 2.69; 95% CI, 1.51 to 4.78) as significant variables. The time to negative conversion was longer in mild COVID-19 patients who developed pneumonia (23.6 days vs. 18.4 days, p = 0.003). In Kaplan-Meier estimation and multivariate Cox regression analyses, newly developed pneumonia was significantly related with delayed time to negative conversion (log-rank test, p = 0.02; hazard ratio, 2.90; 95% CI, 1.06 to 7.97). CONCLUSION: The development of pneumonia delayed viral clearance in patients with mild COVID-19. Elderly patients or those suffering from diarrhea should be closely monitored, given the increased risk of developing pneumonia.

Clinical Characteristics of COVID-19: Clinical Dynamics of Mild Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome Coronavirus 2 Infection Detected by Early Active Surveillance.

BACKGROUND: There is limited information describing the presenting characteristics and dynamic clinical changes in severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) infection diagnosed in the early phase of illness. This study is a case series of patients with coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) admitted to 11 hospitals in Korea. METHODS: Patients with confirmed SARS-CoV-2 infection by positive polymerase chain reaction (PCR) testing of respiratory specimens by active surveillance that were finally discharged between February 20 and April 30, 2020 were included. Patients were classified into mild and non-mild groups on initial admission according to oxygen demand and Sequential Organ Failure Assessment score, and the mild group was followed up and subgrouped into non-aggravation and aggravation groups. RESULTS: A total of 161 patients with SARS-CoV2 infection were enrolled. Among the mild group of 136 patients, 11.7% of patients experienced clinical aggravation during hospitalization, but there was no initial clinical parameter on admission predicting their aggravation. Fever (odds ratio [OR], 4.56), thrombocytopenia (OR, 12.87), fever (OR, 27.22) and lactate dehydrogenase (LDH) > 300 U/L (OR, 18.35), and CRP > 1 mg/dL (OR, 11.31) significantly indicated aggravation in the 1st, 2nd, 3rd, and 4th 5-day periods, respectively. PCR positivity lasted for a median of 22 days and 32 days after the onset of illness in the non-aggravation and aggravation groups, respectively. CONCLUSION: Old age was associated with early severe presentation. Clinical aggravation among asymptomatic or mild patients could not be predicted initially but was heralded by fever and several laboratory markers during the clinical course.