ABSTRACT
The current study sought to examine the clinical, laboratory, and imaging aspects of COVID-19-positive critically sick patients who were admitted to the intensive care units (ICUs) at three hospitals in Rash City, Iran. The goal of this retrospective study was to examine 138 COVID-19 patients who had been hospitalized to the intensive care unit. Data on the study participants' demographics, underlying diseases, laboratory and imaging results, and prognosis of the diseases were taken from their medical records. 138 COVID-19 patients who were hospitalised to the intensive care unit were the subject of this retrospective analysis. Patient records were used to extract information about the patient, including demographic details, underlying diseases, laboratory and imaging results, and disease outcomes. The majority of the patients in this study were male and between the ages of 55 and 69. The most prevalent underlying conditions were diabetes mellitus, hypertension, and chronic heart disease;the most prevalent symptoms were shortness of breath, fever, and cough. The most prevalent lung Computer Tomography (CT) scan finding was ground glass opacities, and the most frequent laboratory findings in the study participants were an increase in LDH, ESR, CRP, neutrophil percentage, and lymphopenia. A 90.58% fatality rate was recorded. This study showed that the majority of patients with severe disease presentations were older, had a history of underlying disease, symptoms of shortness of breath, cough, and fever, substantial lung involvement in imaging, and altered laboratory findings. Despite medical treatment and mechanical ventilation, mortality remained high.
ABSTRACT
To support the global strategy to raise public health through walking among adults, we added the evidence on predictors of walking behavior in the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) region by emphasizing the mediator-COVID-19. During the COVID-19 outbreak, public restrictions to encompass the spread of the disease have disrupted normal daily lifestyles, including physical activity and sedentary behavior. It was proposed that tremendous changes have occurred on predictors of physical activity in general and walking behavior in particular for three types of walking, including commute, non-commute, and social walking compared to pre-COVID-19 time. This study aimed to identify the determinants of the walking types mentioned above, including subjective and objective variables before COVID-19, and compare them during the COVID-19 period in a sample from Iran, which has not yet been addressed in previous research. Adults (N = 603) finalized an online survey between June 5 and July 15, 2021. This group reported their individual/socioeconomic locations (e.g., home/work) and perception features before and during COVID-19. The paper developed six Binary Logistic (BL) regression models, with two models for each walking type (commute, non-commute, and social walking). For commute trips before COVID-19, the findings showed that factors including BMI, residential duration, p. (perceived) neighborhood type, p. distance to public transport stations and job/university places, p. sidewalks quality, p. facilities attractiveness, p. existence of shortcut routes, commute distance, building density and distance to public transport were correlated with commute walking. At the same time, such associations were not observed for BMI, p. distance to public transport and job/university places, p. facilities attractiveness, building density, and distance to public transport during COVID-19. The variables include age, possession of a driving license, number of family members, p. neighborhood type, p. distance to grocery, restaurant, parking, and mall, p. existence of sidewalks, land-use mix, and distance to public transport indicated correlations with non-commute before COVID-19. However, p. distance to groceries and malls and the p. existence of sidewalks did not correlate with non-commute walking during COVID-19. Ultimately for social walking, age and income variables, and the considerable proportions of subjective variables (e.g., p. distance to services/land-uses, security, etc.), health status and building density were correlated with social walking before COVID-19. Nevertheless, most of the mentioned variables did not explicitly correlate with social walking during COVID-19. As for the implication of our study, apparently, special actions will be needed by urban authorities to encourage adults to enhance their walkability levels by fully considering both objective and subjective indicators and walking types, which will result in healthier lifestyles.
ABSTRACT
Background & Objective: Screening and timely diagnosis of positive individuals is one of the important issues in controlling pandemic of Covid-19. Early and timely diagnosis of asymptomatic individuals, contact tracking, disconnection of Covid-19 transmission chain through early detection of patients and decreasing R0 were the main objectives of the current study. Materials & Methods: The Covid-19 outpatient sampling detection project started in Zanjan province on March 26, 2020 and samples were taken from people suspected of having Corona Virus and people in contact with these patients. Results: All 31,937 cases (48% male, 52% female) who had referred to Comprehensive Health Care Centers until May 16, 2020, were selected. A considerable percentage of incidences were observed in Zanjan and Khodabandeh cities. 20% of the examined samples had positive results. A substantial incidence was found in the age group of over 70-year-old. Following implementation of the outpatient screening project, R0 fell below 1 in the province. Conclusion: Prior to the implementation of Covid-19 laboratorial outpatient screening project, the value of R0 was 1.4 in Zanjan province. However, this value fell below 1, after implementation of the laboratorial outpatient screening indicating that the principal way to effectively control Covid-19 is to detect positive cases and manage them.
ABSTRACT
Purpose: In this study, we retrospectively evaluated chest Computed Tomography (CT) imaging manifestations of the patients with Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19) to simplify prompt early diagnosis of disease and speed up needed actions for infected patients. Materials and Methods: Totally, 75 patients who laboratory confirmed COVID-19 pneumonia were enrolled in this study. CT images, demographic and some clinical data of all patients were collected and analyzed retrospectively. Furthermore, for comparison, the patients were divided into two groups as follows: the young and middle-aged group (< 60 years old) and the elderly group (≥ 60 years old). Results: Based on the evaluation of CT images, 33 patients (44%) showed Ground-Glass Opacity (GGO), 15 patients (20%) showed consolidation, 24 patients (32%) showed mixed GGO and consolidation, 2 patients (2.6%) had bronchial wall thickening, 10 patients (13.3%) had a crazy paving sign, 35 patients (46.6%) had air bronchogram and, 7 patients (9.3%) had cavitation and 2 patients (2.6%) had a tree in the bud. CT images of 3 patients (4%) were normal. In terms of out of lung changes, lymphadenopathy was observed in one patient (1.3%), pleural effusion in 12 patients (16%), and pericardial effusion in 2 patients (2.6%). Lesions were found predominantly in the peripheral (57.3%) and the lower lung region (60%). Conclusion: CT images of the COVID-19 patients showed various aspects, mainly GGO, consolidation, mixed GGO and consolidation, and air bronchogram. Lesion distribution was predominantly in lower lung region, bilateral and peripheral. Pleural effusion and multiple lobe involvement were significantly higher in the elderly group than that of the young and middle-aged group. Copyright © 2021 Tehran University of Medical Sciences.