Direct costs of treating COVID-19 Cases Admitted to a Tertiary Hospital in Ankara, Türkiye

Objective: The aim of the study is to estimate the direct treatment cost of COVID-19 cases in ICU and Ward, and the average length of stay during the pandemic period. Material and methods: The cost study was carried out from the provider's perspective in a tertiary hospital in Ankara. Only direct costs during hospitalization were analyzed excluding medication costs. The Average Length of Stay (LOS) was determined. The cost was estimated for COVID-19 patients that were admitted to the ward and intensive care unit (ICU) by gender and age group. Patient medical records were reviewed retrospectively in a period of 1 month (April 1, 2020 - April 30, 2020) for clinical data and patient hospital bills were used for costing data. Result: A total of 525 COVID-19 patients were admitted to the hospital. Slightly more than half of the COVID-19 patients were male (52.1% overall) and the mean age was 47.5±18.6 years for males and 51.0±19.4 for females. Overall, 4.4% of COVID-19 cases were among children and adolescents (≥18 years), 72.8% were among adults (19–64 years), and 22.9% were among elderly adults (≥ 65 years). The direct cost estimated for COVID-19 ranged from 3,781.77 Turkish liras (TL) to 32,494.98 TL. The average LOS for ICU TL patients and ward patients were 4, 5, and 6 days, respectively. Conclusion: The cost of treating COVID-19 in ICU is high compared to the treatment costs in the ward. The average length of stay for COVID-19 cases in ICU was longer among elderly patients.

Are disease-related symptoms important to predicting developing diabetes from prediabetes?

BACKGROUND: There are not many studies conducted to detect and recognize the symptoms during the prediabetes period. In our study, we aimed to determine the symptoms that can be seen in prediabetes and diabetes and their prevalence and to determine the similarities and differences between the two groups. METHODS: Individuals who were diagnosed with prediabetes or diabetes, over the age of 18, literate, and accepted to collaborate were included in our study. The "Diabetes Symptoms Checklist Scale" was used by interviewing 321 participants, 161 prediabetic and 160 diabetic, face-to-face. RESULTS: It has been found that the most common symptom in both the prediabetes and the diabetes group is "fatigue" (88.2% prediabetes, 89.4% diabetes). The symptoms seen in the dimensions of neurology and hyperglycemia are more common in individuals with diabetes than in individuals with prediabetes [neurology score: 1.85 ± 0.84 vs. 1.66 ± 0.64 (p = 0.02), respectively; hyperglycemia score: 2.39 ± 0.94 vs. 2.08 ± 0.83 (p = 0.002), respectively]. It was observed that the symptom burden increased in all subdimensions with the long duration of illness, being a female, not working, having a family history, and not doing exercise, and high fasting blood glucose and high HbA1c values. The level of education, family history, accompanying hyperlipidemia, neurology, and hyperglycemia symptoms are associated with diabetes; and it has been determined that cardiology symptoms are associated with prediabetes. DISCUSSION: Especially; during the follow-up of patients with prediabetes who have a low education level and diabetic family history and concomitant hyperlipidemia, there may be an increase in neurological and hyperglycemic symptoms at the point of development of type 2 diabetes. In this respect, we recommend that these factors, which we found to be predictive of diabetes compared to prediabetes, should be questioned more carefully during patient visits.

EFFECTS OF SOCIAL RESTRICTIONS ON THE OUTCOMES OF INPATIENTS WITH CORONAVIRUS DISEASE-19 (COVID-19) IN TURKEY

During the Coronavirus Disease-19 (COVID-19) pandemic, many precautions have been taken in every field in Turkey. Curfews started for people aged 65 and over on March 21, and for people under the age of 20 on April 3 and also on April 23, short-term curfews were only introduced for everyone on weekends, and the normalization process began on June 1. The goal of this research was to evaluate the impact of the social restrictions and normalization applied in our country on the medical outcomes of 953 patients hospitalized with COVID-19 between 15 March and 21 June 2020. Patients' age, gender, symptoms, chest tomography, intensive care, and intubation status, mortality rates, laboratory parameters, and polymerase chain reaction (PCR) results were recorded. Patient results were compared in the period of 3 weeks before and 3 weeks after curfews applied to over the age of 65 and under the age of 20 years, curfews applied to everyone for weekends and the beginning of normalization. The sociodemographic characteristics in the 1st and 2nd periods were not different, but the number of female patients increased in the 3rd period. There were some changes in symptoms and laboratory values in all periods. Deaths, admission to intensive care unit, positive PCR, and at least one positive PCR or tomography compatible with COVID-19 increased for period 1 (p<0.05). While clinical and radiological characteristics didn’t vary in the 2nd period, deaths decreased in period 3 (p:0.015). Although the findings of our study don’t seem to be positively affected by the restrictions applied in the early phase of the pandemic, we think that these restrictions have a positive impact on the number and severity of patients in the long term and provide time for the management and improvement of the health system.Alternate : Koronavirüs Hastalığı-19 (COVID-19) salgını sırasında Türkiye'de her alanda birçok önlemler alınmıştır. Yirmi bir Mart'ta 65 yaş ve üzeri kişilere, 3 Nisan'da 20 yaş altındaki kişilere sokağa çıkma yasakları başlamış olup 23 Nisan'da herkese sadece hafta sonları olan kısa süreli sokağa çıkma yasakları gelmiştir ve 1 Haziran’dan itibaren de normalleşme süreci başlamıştır. Bu çalışmada ülkemizde uygulanan sosyal kısıtlamaların ve normalleşmenin 15 Mart ile 21 Haziran 2020 tarihleri arasında COVID-19 tanısı ile hastaneye yatırılmış 953 hastanın medikal sonuçlarına etkisinin değerlendirilmesi amaçlanmıştır. Hastaların yaşı, cinsiyeti, semptomları, akciğer tomografi bulguları, yoğun bakım ve entübasyon durumları, ölüm oranları, laboratuvar parametreleri ve polimeraz zincir reaksiyonu (PCR) sonuçları kaydedilmiştir. 65 yaş üstü ve 20 yaş altındaki kişilere gelen kısıtlamaların, kısa süreli herkese uygulanan sokağa çıkma kısıtlamalarının ve normalleşmenin başladığı zamanın 3 hafta öncesi ve 3 hafta sonrasındaki hastaların verileri karşılaştırılmıştır. Sosyodemografik özelliklerde 1. ve 2. periodda farklılık saptanmamıştır ancak 3. periyotta kadın hasta sayısında artış saptanmıştır. Dönemlerde semptomlarda ve laboratuvar değerlerinde bazı değişiklikler saptanmıştır. 1. periyotta ölümler, yoğun bakıma yatış, pozitif PCR vakalarının oranı, en az bir PCR pozitif veya bilgisayarlı tomografisi Covid-19 ile uyumlu olgu oranı artmıştır (p <0,05). 2. Periyotta klinik ve radyolojik özelliklerde farklılık saptanmamışken 3. periyotta ölümler azalmıştır (p:0,015). Çalışmamızın bulguları, pandeminin erken evresinde uygulanan kısıtlamalardan olumlu etkilenmiş gibi görünmese de, bu kısıtlamaların, uzun vadede hastaların sayısı ve ciddiyeti üzerinde olumlu bir etki yarattığını ve sağlık sisteminin yönetimi ve iyileştirilmesi için zaman kazandırdığını düşünmekteyiz.

Evaluation of Changes in the Smoking Habits of Patients with Coronavirus Disease-19

The purpose of our study was to determine the changes in the smoking habits of active smokers hospitalized with Coronavirus disease-19 (Covid-19). We conducted a single-center, retrospective research on smokers hospitalized with Covid-19 between March 2020 and June 2020. A total of 105 patients were included in the study. The age, gender, comorbidities, cigarette pack per year, PCR test results of the patients were recorded from the patient files. Patients were approached by telephone and a questionnaire was applied to them to evaluate smoking habits following discharge. A total of 105 patients participated in the study. 42 (40.0%) were female and the mean age of the patients was 39.80 ± 12.66 (width, 16-69) years. Patients smoked 14.51 ±13.88 packs of cigarettes a year on average. Of the patients, 13.33% quit smoking. In our study, it was determined that after having Covid -19, 86.66% (n: 91) of the patients continued to smoke. Of those who did not quit smoking, 53.8% stated that they reduced smoking compared to the past, 76.9% thought to quit smoking, and 48.4% said they needed professional support to quit smoking. In addition, 38.5% of those who didn't quit smoking stated that they believed they were caught Covid-19 due to smoking. Raising awareness that quitting smoking reduces the risks and complications of Covid-19 and activating new smoking cessation programs may help individuals to quit smoking during the pandemic. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR] Copyright of Eastern Journal of Medicine is the property of Yuzuncu Yil University, Faculty of Medicine and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)