Chilblain-like lesions (COVID-19 toes) have the same impact on family members than psoriasis systemically treated: insights from a case-control study targeting the pediatric population.

OBJECTIVE: COVID-19 toes represent the main dermatological COVID-19 cutaneous manifestation in pediatric patients. Its diagnosis exposes the whole family to social stigma and this aspect was not previously evaluated. PATIENTS AND METHODS: This was a multicenter, case-control, observational study that compared the family impact of COVID-19 toes vs. psoriasis (PsO). We enrolled 46 pediatric patients (23 with psoriasis and 23 with COVID-19 toes, age and gender matched) and their parents/caregivers that had to fill the Dermatitis Family Impact (DFI) questionnaire. RESULTS: DFI index did not differ significantly between both subgroups (p=0.48), and in psoriatic patients did not correlate with both Psoriasis Area Severity Index (PASI) (p=0.59) and itch-VAS (p=0.16). CONCLUSIONS: COVID-19 toes, a transitory dermatosis, exerted a similar impact/perturbation on family dynamics than PsO, a well-known stigmatizing, chronic inflammatory dermatosis.

Venezuelan Forced Migrants and Refugees in Brazil and Ecuador: Security Issues and Social Provision during the COVID‐19 Pandemic

The worsening economic and social crisis in Venezuela has led to a massive flow of Venezuelan migrants to neighbouring Latin American countries. The influx of forced migrants from Venezuela has challenged the regional security of Latin American countries, which were already experiencing structural and social problems. Brazil and Ecuador, where a significant number of Venezuelan nationals arrived, faced great obstacles in providing the arriving migrants with access to health care and education for their children, jobs, while at the same time meeting the needs and social problems of the local population. After the upheaval of the COVID-19 pandemic in March 2020, social problems such as health, education, job access, security, and governance have proven to be the most challenging in the region. However, as the pandemic situation showed, regional leaders were negligent in their response to the disease and refused to cooperate in addressing the problem, with dire consequences. This article analyses the impact of the Brazilian and Ecuadorian immigration laws and asylum policy on the protection of Venezuelans’ forced migrants and refugees who entered Brazil and Ecuador before and during the COVID-19 pandemic. As a regional security issue, the protection of Venezuelans is the basis for regional stability, which can only be achieved through cross-issue persuasion. The article, therefore, concludes that Brazil and Ecuador, after having created rules and implemented public policies before and after the pandemic, in cooperation or not with diverse international and national actors, to host and integrate Venezuelan citizens in both countries, have followed their commitment in accordance with previously adopted international and regional agreements, and domestic laws. © Pacifico A.P., da Costa Santos J., Silva S.F.L., 2022.

Perceived stress, coping strategies and emotions during the anti-COVID-19 vaccination among Italian university students of health professions

Background. Following the COVID-19 pandemic, many studies have identified differences in college students’ attitudes towards vaccination. The aim of the present study was to investigate the psychological, emotional and behavioral responses influenced by the administration of the COVID-19 vaccine in a sample of college students in the health professions. Method. The questionnaire administered through the Google Modules platform was created ad hoc in order to investigate perceived stress (PSS-10), coping strategies (BRIEF COPE) and pre and post vaccination emotions (7 items). Participants. A total of 344 students participated in the study (M age = 22.62, SD = 3.17;F = 67.2%): medicine and surgery (37.5%), nursing (32.8%), obstetrics (15.4%) and physiotherapy (14.2%). Results. From the qualitative and quantitative analysis it emerged that 56.7% of the sample has moderate stress levels. Emotional and avoidant coping, especially in females, is the most prominent strategy. In the pre-vaccination analysis, “fear” was the primary emotion most experienced by students, characterized by the use of avoidance strategies. The words “hope” and “vaccination” were most often recorded in the post-vaccination phase. Conclusions. Our results showed that the association of lemmas in the post-vaccination phase shows students’ ability to adapt and be resilient through change and communicates that self-perception is important. © Author(s).

COVID-19 knowledge prevents biologics discontinuation: Data from an Italian multicenter survey during RED-ZONE declaration

SARS-CoV-2 become pandemics and there is still a dearth of data about its the potentially among dermatological patients under biologics. We aimed to assess health literacy, disease knowledge, treatment dissatisfaction and biologics attitudes toward COVID-19. We performed a cross-sectional, questionnaire-based survey on 98/105 consecutive dermatological patients treated with biologics—51 suffering from plaque psoriasis, 22 from atopic dermatitis, and 25 from hidradenitis suppurativa. An ad hoc, validated questionnaire has 44 items investigating the following domains: knowledge of COVID-19 related to (a) epidemiology, (b) pathogenesis, (c) clinical symptoms, (d) preventive measures, and (e) attitudes. Patients data and questionnaires were collected. Despite only 8.1% thought that biologics may increase the risk of COVID-19, 18.4% and 21.4% of the patients were evaluating the possibility to discontinue or modify the dosage of the current biologic therapy, respectively. Globally, male patients (P =.001) with higher scholarity level (P =.005) displayed higher knowledge of COVID-19. Patients with lower DLQI (P =.006), longer disease duration (P =.051) and lower scholarity (P =.007) have thought to discontinue/modify autonomously their biologic therapy. At the multivariate logistic regression, only the knowledge of epidemiology and preventive measures resulted independent predictors of continuation vs discontinuation and modification vs no modification, respectively. Dermatologists should promote COVID-19 knowledge to prevent biologics disruption.