ABSTRACT
Background and aim of the work: The COVID-19 pandemic has deeply affected the quality of people's social life, strongly impacting family dynamics, too, not only in the harshest periods of the pandemic but also afterwards. Pandemic-related measures led to a 'stay-at-home' approach that increased the mental and physical burdens of family caregivers, irrespective of whether they were living together with the person they were caring for or not. In this paper, we provide an overview of the impact that the COVID-19 pandemic had on family relationships and dynamics, as well as on family caregivers' mental burden, and outline how this developed. Methods: We collected relevant info by searching the PubMed/Medline database with appropriate keywords. The search was performed up to 28 February 2023. This paper is reported in line with PRISMA guidance. Results: Given the recent onset of the issue, the number of relevant papers was limited. However, the additional burden that the pandemic has caused worldwide to informal caregivers clearly emerges. Conclusions: The worldwide impact of the pandemic on informal caregiving is assessed, and recommendations on how the issue can be handled are briefly sketched, too. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR] Copyright of COVID is the property of MDPI 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.)
ABSTRACT
Months after healing, a number of Covid-19 syndrome survivors are affected by both psychological and physical limitations. They are mainly troubled with long-term fatigue, which is a crucial aspect of Long Covid syndrome. This paper aims to investigate the level and persistency of fatigue among Covid-19 survivors from the first wave of the pandemic in Western Liguria and to elucidate the role of gender, age, and lifestyle. It also provides data to the scientific community to help drawing a consistent picture of Long Covid syndrome. The patients were requested to fill a Fatigue Assessment Questionnaire twice: (i) a few weeks after discharge from hospital or home confinement and (ii) a few months later. Statistical analysis was carried out on the global scores and on the score for every single item of the questionnaire. The outcome of the two questionnaires were analyzed separately and compared. Females are more affected by fatigue than males. This results holds for both physical and mental fatigue. All the males’ fatigue scores were reduced at the second control, while 40% of females worsened it. Home-confined patients showed a higher fatigue score at the first check. In the initial stages of the recovery, patients are more affected by physical, rather than mental, fatigue. This is worth of further investigation as well as the reasons leading to a higher initial fatigue score for home cared patients.
ABSTRACT
The emergency caused by Covid-19 pandemic raised interest in studying lifestyles and comorbidities as important determinants of poor Covid-19 prognosis. Data on tobacco smoking, alcohol consumption and obesity are still limited, while no data are available on the role of e-cigarettes and heated tobacco products (HTP). To clarify the role of tobacco smoking and other lifestyle habits on COVID-19 severity and progression, we designed a longitudinal observational study titled COvid19 and SMOking in ITaly (COSMO-IT). About 30 Italian hospitals in North, Centre and South of Italy joined the study. Its main aims are: 1) to quantify the role of tobacco smoking and smoking cessation on the severity and progression of COVID-19 in hospitalized patients; 2) to compare smoking prevalence and severity of the disease in relation to smoking in hospitalized COVID-19 patients versus patients treated at home; 3) to quantify the association between other lifestyle factors, such as e-cigarette and HTP use, alcohol and obesity and the risk of unfavourable COVID-19 outcomes. Socio-demographic, lifestyle and medical history information will be gathered for around 3000 hospitalized and 700-1000 home-isolated, laboratory-confirmed, COVID-19 patients. Given the current absence of a vaccine against SARS-COV-2 and the lack of a specific treatment for -COVID-19, prevention strategies are of extreme importance. This project, designed to highly contribute to the international scientific debate on the role of avoidable lifestyle habits on COVID-19 severity, will provide valuable epidemiological data in order to support important recommendations to prevent COVID-19 incidence, progression and mortality.