The Surviral Epidemiological Early Warning System Tyrol Dashboard - System, Functionality and Findings.

BACKGROUND: Dashboards provide a good retrospective view of the development of the disease. Yet, current COVID-related dashboards typically lack the capability to predict future trends. However, this is important for health policy makers and health care providers in order to adopt meaningful containment strategies. OBJECTIVES: The aim of this paper is to present the Surviral dashboard, which allows the effective monitoring of infectious disease dynamics. METHODS: The presented dashboard comprises a wide range of information, including retrospective and prognostic data based on an agent-based simulation framework. It served as the basis for informed decision-making and planning of disease control strategies within the federal state of Tyrol. RESULTS: By visualizing the information in an understandable format, the dashboard provided a comprehensive overview of the COVID-19 situation in Tyrol and allowed for the identification of trends and patterns. CONCLUSION: The presented dashboard is a valuable tool for managing pandemics such as COVID-19. It provides a convenient and efficient way to monitor the spread of a disease and identify potential areas for intervention.

Telemedicine Research from Big Bang to 2022.

The Clinical Information Systems (CIS) section of the IMIA Yearbook of Medical Informatics systematically screens about 2,500 publications from more than 1,000 journals annually to find the best CIS publications. The editors of the CIS section have noticed a trend toward patient-centered care supported by AI and machine learning and increased research in cross-institutional data sharing, particularly in telemedicine. As a result, they adjusted their search query to include the MeSH term "telemedicine." As a preliminary step and to get a sense of the historical development of telemedicine research activity, they performed a bibliometric analysis of all previously published papers in PubMed indexed with the tag "Telemedicine" as MeSH Major Topic. They retrieved 29,289 publications from 1976 to 2022 and used their titles and abstracts to create a bibliometric network that visualizes the most relevant terms, their frequency and relationship to each other, and the chronological sequence of their publication. The development over time also shows a clear move toward patient-centeredness. Interestingly, the term "Covid," which has only recently come into use, takes on a central role in the network.

Prevalence of SARS-CoV-2 antibodies in healthy blood donors from the state of Tyrol, Austria, in summer 2020.

BACKGROUND: Seroepidemiological studies provide important insight into the spread of severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV­2) in our society. We aimed to determine seropositivity of SARS-CoV­2 antibodies and its cross-sectional correlates in a large cohort of blood donors. METHODS: In this observational cohort study, we tested healthy blood donors residing in Tyrol, Austria, for SARS-CoV­2 antibodies using the Abbott SARS-CoV­2 IgG chemiluminescent microparticle immunoassay. We estimated 95% confidence intervals (95% CI) of seroprevalences using bootstrapping and tested for differences by participant characteristics using logistic regression. FINDINGS: Between 8 June and 4 September 2020, we screened 5345 healthy individuals at local blood donor sessions (mean age 42.7 years, SD 13.5 years, 46.7% female). Overall seroprevalence was 3.1% (95% CI 2.7-3.6%, 165 cases), which is 5.1-fold higher (95% CI 4.5-6.0%) than the case number identified by the health authorities in the state-wide testing program (0.6%; 4536 out of 757,634). Seroprevalence was higher in the district Landeck (16.6%, P < 0.001) and in individuals aged < 25 years (4.7%, P = 0.043), but did not differ by gender, blood types, or medication intake. The odds ratio for seropositivity was 2.51 for participants who had travelled to Ischgl (1.49-4.21, P = 0.001), 1.39 who had travelled to other federal states (1.00-1.93, P = 0.052), and 2.41 who had travelled abroad (1.61-3.63, P < 0.001). Compared to participants who had a suspected/confirmed SARS-CoV­2 infection but were seronegative, seropositive participants more frequently reported loss of smell (odds ratio = 2.49, 1.32-4.68, P = 0.005) and taste (odds ratio = 2.76, 1.54-4.92, P = 0.001). CONCLUSION: In summer 2020, SARS-CoV­2 seroprevalence in Tyrolean blood donors was 3.1%. Our study revealed regional variation and associations with young age, travel history and specific symptoms.

Antepartum stillbirth rates during the COVID-19 pandemic in Austria: A population-based study.

BACKGROUND: The coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 has had dramatic effects on the pregnant population worldwide, increasing the risk of adverse perinatal outcomes. OBJECTIVE: To assess the incidence of antepartum stillbirth (aSB) during the COVID-19 pandemic in Austria. METHODS: We collected epidemiological data from the Austrian Birth Registry and compared the rate of aSB (i.e., fetal death at or after 24+0 gestational weeks) during the pandemic period (March-December 2020) and in the respective pre-pandemic months (2015-2019). RESULTS: In total, 65 660 pregnancies were included, of which 171 resulted in aSB at 33.7 ± 4.8 gestational weeks. During the pandemic, the aSB rate increased from 2.49‰ to 2.60‰ (P = 0.601), in contrast to the significant decline in preterm deliveries at or before 37 gestational weeks from 0.61‰ to 0.56‰ (relative risk [RR] 0.93; 95% confidence interval [CI] 0.91-0.96; P < 0.001). During the first lockdown, the aSB rate significantly increased from 2.38‰ to 3.52‰ (P = 0.021), yielding an adjusted odds ratio of 1.57 (95% CI 1.08-2.27; P = 0.018). The event of aSB during the COVID-19 pandemic was strongly related with increased fetal weight and maternal obesity. CONCLUSION: In Austria, there has been an overall increase in the incidence of aSB during the pandemic with a significant peak during the first lockdown.

Perinatal and postpartum care during the COVID-19 pandemic: A nationwide cohort study.

BACKGROUND: This study aimed to analyze perinatal outcomes and adverse events during the COVID-19 pandemic's first wave to help direct decision making in future waves. METHODS: This study was an epidemiological cohort study analyzing comprehensive birth registry data among all 80 obstetric departments in Austria. Out of 469 771 records, 468 348 were considered eligible, whereof those with preterm delivery, birthweight <500 g, multiple fetuses, fetal malformations and chromosomal anomalies, intrauterine fetal death, maternal cancer, HIV infection, and/or inter-hospital transfers were excluded. Women who delivered between January and June 2020 were then classified as cases, whereas those who delivered between January and June 2015-2019 were classified as controls. Perinatal outcomes, postpartum hospitalization, and adverse events served as outcome measures. RESULTS: Of 33 198 cases and 188 225 controls, data analysis showed significantly increased rates of labor induction, instrumental delivery, obstetric anesthesia, NICU transfer, and 5-min Apgar score below 7 during the COVID-19 period. There was a significantly shorter length of postpartum hospitalization during the COVID-19 period compared with the non-COVID-19 period (3.1 ± 1.4 vs 3.5 ± 1.5 days; P < .001). Significantly more women opted for short-stay delivery during the COVID-19 period (3.7% vs 2.4%; P < .001). Those who delivered during the COVID-19 period were also more likely to experience postpartum adverse events (3.0% vs 2.6%; P < .001), which was confirmed in the logistic regression model (odds ratio, 2.137; 95% confidence interval, 1.805-2.530; P < .001). CONCLUSIONS: Perinatal and postpartum care during the first wave of the COVID-19 pandemic differed significantly from that provided before. Increased rates of adverse events underline the need to ensure access to high-quality obstetric care to prevent collateral damage.

Dentists' Working Conditions during the First COVID-19 Pandemic Lockdown: An Online Survey.

The aim of this study was to investigate the operating conditions of dentists in Central Europe during the first coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) lockdown. A survey including 24 questions was emailed to dentists in Austria, Germany, Switzerland and South Tyrol (Italy). Questions regarding dentists' field of work, working hours, treatments performed, personal protective equipment and protocols, and economic consequences were asked. 1731 participants were included. 30.4% of participants worked mainly in Austria, 60.8% in Germany, 6% in Switzerland and 2.1% in South Tyrol. A country-specific analysis for the situation of South Tyrol was not possible due to the low participation; 53.7% of German, 45.5% of Austrian, and 11.7% of Swiss respondents reduced their working hours; 42.8% of Austrian, 41.5% of Swiss, and 17.3% of German participants closed their offices temporarily; 52.2% of respondents provided emergency service including pain management, restorations/temporaries, and denture repairs. A lack of access to FFP2/FFP3 (filtering facepiece) respirators was indicated by 59.4% Austrian, 38.0% German, and 11.7% Swiss dentists (p < 0.001). FFP2/FFP3 respirators were, when available, most frequently used in Austria (86.9%), followed by Switzerland (61.2%) and Germany (56.7%) (p < 0.001). Financial consequences could not be conclusively quantified by 58.6% of the participants. Most respondents in all partaking countries made use of governmental support. A lack of blueprints/guidelines resulted in heterogeneous working conditions. In consideration of a potentially high risk of infection in the dental setting, non-emergency dental treatments were largely suspended in all participating countries.