Sport psychology: A psychologist at the Olympic games (Part III)

Top athlete's careers are far from linear. To achieve the performances known to all, athletes experience successes and disappointments throughout their sporting practice. Maroussia Paré, top athlete in athletics and psychologist, analyzes her career, from her first Olympic Games (Olympics) at 20, to her preparation already started for the Paris Olympics in 2024. Between the cope with failures but also success, through the physical and emotional injuries, she comes back to the other reality of high-level sport, the one that the general public sees less. Thus, this interview with Jean-Pierre Bouchard reveals the adaptation strategies and resources mobilized by athletes to cope with the unpredictability of high-performance sport. We can see, through her experience, that performance is not built instantly or independently of the context in which it occurs. Performance is then revealed as a combination of personal and environmental factors. We can therefore consider that the athlete to be successful does not only need mental preparation to be successful, but to have support and personal support to help them optimize and take care of their mental health and psychological resources. © 2021

Increased in hospital mortality in stroke during the COVID-19 era and related factors

Background and Aims: The COVID-19 pandemic has had enormous implications for stroke care. We aim to analyze its impact in stroke outcomes and mortality in two comprehensive stroke centers (CSC) from the Catalonian network. Methods:We studied all stroke patients admitted during 2020 and compared them with the admissions of 2019. Clinical and functional outcomes (mRS at discharge, in-hospital complications and mortality) were analyzed. Related factors, including SARS-CoV-2 infection, were determined. Results: A total of 2674 stroke patients were admitted in 2020, and 2652 during 2019. A higher number of unknown-onset strokes (45% vs 40%, p<0.01), ASPECTS<7 (8.3% vs 5.7%, p=0.03) and longer time from symptoms-onset to hospital-admission (median: 337 vs. 272min, p<0.01) were detected during 2020. Conversely, no significant differences appeared in stroke code activation (61.5% vs 62.5%), stroke subtype (ICH 9.1% vs 8.9%), severity (median NIHSS: 4 vs 5), pre-morbid mRS (mRS<3 81.8% vs 80.2%) or other relevant clinical characteristics nor reperfusion treatments (23.8% vs 23.9%). In-hospital complications and discharge-mRS were similar. However, we observed higher inhospital mortality in 2020 (9.6 vs 6.6%, p<0.001). An adjusted regression model pointed pre-morbid mRS, baseline NIHSS, ASPECTS and inhospital complications (OR 1.26, 1.14, 0.87 and 1.38 respectively, p<0.01) as independent predictors of mortality. SARS-CoV-2 infection (3.7% of strokes in 2020) was not predictor of mortality;in fact, these patients showed similar outcomes than the remaining 2020 strokes. Conclusions: The increased in-hospital mortality detected in 2020 in our series may be due to pandemic-related delays in stroke detection and hospital arrival rather than the direct effect of COVID-19.