Apparent Risks of Postural Orthostatic Tachycardia Syndrome Diagnoses After COVID-19 Vaccination and SARS-Cov-2 Infection.

Postural orthostatic tachycardia syndrome (POTS) has been previously described after SARS-CoV-2 infection; however, limited data is available on the relation of POTS with COVID-19 vaccination. Here we show in a cohort of 284,592 COVID-19 vaccinated individuals using a sequence-symmetry analysis, that the odds of POTS are higher 90 days after vaccine exposure than 90 days prior to exposure, and that the odds for POTS are higher than referent conventional primary care diagnoses, but lower than the odds of new POTS diagnosis after SARS-CoV-2 infection. Our results identify a possible association between COVID-19 vaccination and incidence of POTS. Notwithstanding the probable low incidence of POTS after COVID-19 vaccination, particularly when compared to SARS-Cov-2 post-infection odds which were five times higher, our results suggest that further studies, are needed to investigate the incidence and etiology of POTS occurring after COVID-19 vaccination.

Influence of the COVID-19 Pandemic on Author Gender and Manuscript Acceptance Rates among Pulmonary and Critical Care Journals.

RATIONALE: The COVID-19 pandemic has negatively affected women more than men and may influence the publication of non-COVID research. OBJECTIVES: Evaluate whether the COVID-19 pandemic is associated with changes in manuscript acceptance rates among pulmonary/critical care journals, and gender-based disparities in these rates. METHODS: We analyzed first, senior, and corresponding-author gender (female vs. male, identified by matching first names in a validated Genderize database) of manuscripts submitted to four pulmonary/critical care journals between 1/1/18-12/31/20. We constructed interrupted time series regression models to evaluate whether the proportion of female first and senior authors of non-COVID-19 original research manuscripts changed with the pandemic. Next, we performed multivariable logistic regressions to evaluate the association of author gender with acceptance of original research manuscripts. RESULTS: Among 8,332 original research submissions, women comprised 39.9% and 28.3% of first and senior authors, respectively. We found no change in the proportion of female first or senior-authors of non-COVID-19 or COVID-19-submitted research manuscripts during the COVID-era. Non-COVID-19 manuscripts submitted during the COVID-era had reduced odds of acceptance, regardless of author gender (first-author: adjustedOR [aOR]0.46 [95%CI0.36-0.59]; senior-author: aOR0.46 [95%CI0.37-0.57]). Female senior-authorship was associated with decreased acceptance of non-COVID research manuscripts (crude rates: 14.4% [male] vs 13.2% [female]; aOR0.84, 95%CI0.71-0.99). CONCLUSIONS: Although female author submissions were not disproportionately influenced by COVID-19, we found evidence suggesting gender disparities in manuscript acceptance rates. Journals may need to consider strategies to reduce this disparity and academic institutions may need to factor our findings, including lower acceptance rates for non-COVID manuscripts, into promotion decisions.

Gender Disparities in Cardiology-Related COVID-19 Publications.

INTRODUCTION: Female authors are underrepresented in cardiology journals, although prior work suggested improvement in reducing disparities over time. Early in the recent COVID-19 pandemic, female authorship continued to lag that of their male counterparts despite a surge in publications. The cumulative impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on authorship gender disparities remains unclear. We aimed to characterize gender disparities in COVID-19-related cardiology publications across the duration of the ongoing pandemic. METHODS: We retrospectively analyzed COVID-19-related research articles published in the top 20 impact factor cardiology journals between March and June 2021. Gender representation data were extracted for any author, first authors, and senior authors. RESULTS: We found that 841 articles were related to COVID-19, with a total of 5586 authors and an average of 42 articles per journal. Less than a third (29.9%) of the total authors from publications were women. Women represented a smaller proportion of first authors (21.3%) and senior authors (16.4%). CONCLUSIONS: Female authorship has continued to lag male authorship for the duration of the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic. The pandemic may have impeded progress in reducing gender disparities in academic cardiology publications. The low proportions of first and senior female authors may reflect the impact of the pandemic on women in cardiology in leadership domains.

A Machine Learning Algorithm Predicts Duration of hospitalization in COVID-19 patients.

The COVID-19 pandemic has placed unprecedented strain on the healthcare system, particularly hospital bed capacity in the setting of large variations in patient length of stay (LOS). Using electronic health record data from 966 COVID-19 patients at a large academic medical center, we developed three machine learning algorithms to predict the likelihood of prolonged LOS, defined as >8 days. The models included 353 variables and were trained on 80% of the cohort, with 20% used for model validation. The three models were created on hospital days 1, 2 and 3, each including information available at or before that point in time. The models' predictive capabilities improved sequentially over time, reaching an accuracy of 0.765, with an AUC of 0.819 by day 3. These models, developed using readily available data, may help hospital systems prepare for bed capacity needs, and help clinicians counsel patients on their likelihood of prolonged hospitalization.