ABSTRACT
Background: The COVID-19 pandemic and the first lockdown were particularly stressful with a major economic impact, but the impact on stress of company directors was not known. Therefore, this study aimed to assess that impact and the characteristics of companies the most at risk. Method: A online questionnaire was sent to 13,114 company. It assessed stress at work, number of employees, sector of activity, business activity rate and geographical location. It studied the mean stress levels, the percentage of stress > 8/10 and carried out an analysis of the characteristics of the most at-risk companies. Results: A total of 807 company directors responded. Their stress levels increased by 25.9% during lockdown and 28.7% of them had a stress > 8/10. Sectors which had the biggest increase in stress levels during lockdown were retail trade, wholesale trade, and nursing homes. Sectors the most at risk of stress >8/10 during lockdown tended to be nursing homes, pharmacies, and IT activities. Biggest companies had the highest increase in stress levels. Conclusion: The first lockdown of the COVID-19 pandemic had a major impact on the stress of company directors. Directors of large companies were the most exposed to stress as well as medical and IT activities.
ABSTRACT
During the first wave of the COVID-19 pandemic, some French regions were more affected than others. To relieve those areas most affected, the French government organized transfers of critical patients, notably by plane or helicopter. Our objective was to investigate the impact of such transfers on the pulse oximetric saturation (SpO2)-to-inspired fraction of oxygen (FiO2) ratio among transferred critical patients with COVID-19. We conducted a retrospective study on medical and paramedical records. The primary endpoint was the change in SpO2/FiO2 during transfers. Thirty-eight patients were transferred between 28 March and 5 April 2020, with a mean age of 62.4 years and a mean body mass index of 29.8 kg/m2. The population was 69.7% male, and the leading medical history was hypertension (42.1%), diabetes (34.2%), and dyslipidemia (18.4%). Of 28 patients with full data, we found a decrease of 28.9 points in SpO2/FiO2 (95% confidence interval, 5.8 to 52.1, p = 0.01) between the starting and the arrival intensive care units (SpO2/FiO2, 187.3 ± 61.3 and 158.4 ± 62.8 mmHg, respectively). Air medical transfers organized to relieve intensive care unit teams under surging conditions during the first COVID wave were associated with significant decreases in arterial oxygenation.