Strengthening the Public Health Partnership and Telehealth Infrastructure to Reduce Health Care Disparities.

The COVID-19 pandemic has underscored the urgency to focus on the essential value of public health systems (PHSs) in fostering health equity across the US health care delivery system. PHS integration and care coordination can be successfully achieved through health information technology systems. The objective of the study was to examine the association between PHS partnerships (PHSPs), telehealth postdischarge, and racial and ethnic disparities in health care. The analysis used 2017 Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services Medicare 100% inpatient claims data, the Medicare Beneficiary Summary File, the American Hospital Association Annual Survey, and the American Community Survey. Results showed that compared with those treated in hospitals with neither PHSP nor telehealth postdischarge services, beneficiaries treated in hospitals with PHSP encountered significantly lower Medicare payment and inpatient and readmission rates. Black patients experienced significantly lower cost, inpatient visits, and readmission rates when treated in hospitals with PHSP and telehealth postdischarge services (coefficient = -0.051, P < 0.001; incidence rate ratio [IRR] = 0.982, P = 0.007; IRR = 0.891, P = 0.003). The results of the study demonstrated the importance of combining PHSP and telehealth postdischarge services to improve the efficiency of the health care delivery system and health equity. It is urgent to ensure that PHSs have adequate funding and telehealth infrastructure to support population health.

Lessons from the COVID-19 pandemic for advancing computational drug repurposing strategies

Responding quickly to unknown pathogens is crucial to stop uncontrolled spread of diseases that lead to epidemics, such as the novel coronavirus, and to keep protective measures at a level that causes as little social and economic harm as possible. This can be achieved through computational approaches that significantly speed up drug discovery. A powerful approach is to restrict the search to existing drugs through drug repurposing, which can vastly accelerate the usually long approval process. In this Review, we examine a representative set of currently used computational approaches to identify repurposable drugs for COVID-19, as well as their underlying data resources. Furthermore, we compare drug candidates predicted by computational methods to drugs being assessed by clinical trials. Finally, we discuss lessons learned from the reviewed research efforts, including how to successfully connect computational approaches with experimental studies, and propose a unified drug repurposing strategy for better preparedness in the case of future outbreaks.

Patient-reported health outcomes of SARS-CoV-2-tested patients presenting to emergency departments: a propensity score-matched prospective cohort study.

OBJECTIVE: This study aimed to compare the long-term physical and mental health outcomes of matched severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2)-positive and SARS-CoV-2-negative patients controlling for seasonal effects. STUDY DESIGN: This was a retrospective cohort study. METHODS: This study enrolled patients presenting to emergency departments participating in the Canadian COVID-19 Emergency Department Rapid Response Network. We enrolled consecutive eligible consenting patients who presented between March 1, 2020, and July 14, 2021, and were tested for SARS-CoV-2. Research assistants randomly selected four site and date-matched SARS-CoV-2-negative controls for every SARS-CoV-2-positive patient and interviewed them at least 30 days after discharge. We used propensity scores to match patients by baseline characteristics and used linear regression to compare Veterans RAND 12-item physical health component score (PCS) and mental health component scores (MCS), with higher scores indicating better self-reported health. RESULTS: We included 1170 SARS-CoV-2-positive patients and 3716 test-negative controls. The adjusted mean difference for PCS was 0.50 (95% confidence interval [CI]: -0.36, 1.36) and -1.01 (95% CI: -1.91, -0.11) for MCS. Severe disease was strongly associated with worse PCS (ß = -7.4; 95% CI: -9.8, -5.1), whereas prior mental health illness was strongly associated with worse MCS (ß = -5.4; 95% CI: -6.3, -4.5). CONCLUSION: Physical health, assessed by PCS, was similar between matched SARS-CoV-2-positive and SARS-CoV-2-negative patients, whereas mental health, assessed by MCS, was worse during a time when the public experienced barriers to care. These results may inform the development and prioritization of support programs for patients.

Systemic platelet exhaustion in critically-ill COVID-19 patients

Background : Infection with SARS-CoV-2 leads to an altered hemostatic system and Covid-19 associated coagulopathy (CAC). Platelet counts remain overall unaltered, but thromboembolic events are frequently reported. Studies on the contribution of platelets to CAC are emerging but still lacking precise cohort comparison and broad analyses of platelet markers. Aims : We aimed to analyze platelet receptor expression and function on platelets and biomarkers in platelet-poor plasma to investigate the role of platelets in the onset of critical progression of CAC. Methods : Extensive platelet function analyses were performed on 34 critically-ill patients with Covid-19 and data was compared to sepsis patients ( n = 24) and non-SARS-CoV-2 acute infection ( n = 18). Tests included PFA-200, aggregometry, flow cytometry and whole mount TEM. Plasma levels of TPO, sCD62P and sGPVI were determined by ELISA. For all patients, relatives, and for healthy controls ( n = 10) informed consent was obtained. Results : While platelet counts in patients of our Covid-19 cohort were expectably unaltered, platelet function was severely impaired in multiple assays. Platelets failed to aggregate in response to ADP or TRAP-6 and could not activate integrin response or release α-granules. The amount of platelet-leukocyte aggregates was markedly elevated, indicating previous platelet activation in line with higher levels of sCD62P and sGPVI. Remarkably, we observed platelet exhaustion in Covid-19 patients using whole mount TEM by means of a lack of dense granules corroborating with impaired uptake of mepacrine. Conclusions : Our data imply that SARS-CoV-2 infection leads to a sub-threshold activation of platelets in a way that they become activated already before critical disease progression, without being cleared from the circulation, which is in striking contrast to sepsis. The platelet pool appears to be exhausted with detrimental consequences for thrombus stability and the risk of thromboembolic events. The mere platelet count in Covid-19 does thus not reflect progression to CAC, whereas platelet function is of high prognostic relevance.