Factors associated with the perceived impact of the Peruvian hospital internship during COVID-19

Introduction: The pandemic affected the internship of health sciences students when they attended the hospital. Objective: To determine the factors associated with the perceived impact of the Peruvian hospital internship during COVID-19. Methods: Cross-sectional;descriptive, bivariate analytical and multivariate statistics were obtained based on an exploratory survey conducted as part of a larger investigation, to which variables such as age, sex, type of university, stress, anxiety, depression, and repercussions of the internship were associated. Results: Of 121 respondents, most of them thought that family would have supported if they have gotten a severe disease. Also, they thought that they could have infected their families or friends/acquaintances if they have gone to the hospital. Many of them disagreed on the statement about the hospital or university providing them safety implements. There was an association between thinking that they could have gotten COVID-19 if they have gone to the hospital versus anxiety score (p= 0,030), being a male according to the perception that the university provided materials to take care of themselves (p= 0,029), and having studied in a private university according to perceiving that the hospital would not have supported them if they have gotten seriously ill (p= 0,049). Conclusion: The factors associated with the perception of repercussions of the boarding school are family support, being able to infect their acquaintances, lack of materials provided by universities and hospitals, anxiety, being male, and coming from private universities. © 2023, Editorial Ciencias Medicas. All rights reserved.

Mouthwashes and the Effect on the Viral Load of SARS-CoV-2 in Saliva: A Literature Review

BACKGROUND: At present, several active ingredients have been investigated in mouthwashes having certain virucidal properties, which could reduce the viral load of SARS-CoV-2 to avoid contamination in medical or dental practice. AIM: The objective of this review is to analyze the available evidence regarding mouthwashes and their effect on the salivary viral load of SARS-CoV-2. METHOD(S): Records were retrieved from databases such as PubMed, Scopus, Web of Science, and Virtual Health Library up to June 21, 2022. Randomized or non-randomized clinical trials were included where saliva samples and laboratory or in vitro studies were used in the presence of saliva. RESULT(S): After a systematic selection process, 11 clinical studies that evaluated at least one mouthwash within clinical protocols and three laboratory studies that evaluated the virucidal efficacy against SARS-CoV-2 in the presence of saliva were finally included. CONCLUSION(S): There are oral disinfectants with virucidal action in saliva samples, under clinical and laboratory conditions, capable of reducing the viral load of SARS-CoV-2. Cetylpyridinium chloride, chlorhexidine, and povidone-iodine present the best results so far. However, it was also possible to find active principles of recent appearance that, based on favorable exploratory results, needs further investigation on their efficacy and possible adverse events. Copyright © 2022 Mariano Ortiz Pizarro, Christian R. Mejia, David R. Rodriguez-Diaz, Ygnacio Moreno Herrera, Alexander Bustamante Cabrejo, Victor Serna-Alarcon.

Perception of Peruvian university students about the academic repercussions generated by COVID-19

The main objective of the research was to try to see the perception of virtual classes and the possible academic repercussions that university students had in Peru, and their associated factors, during the COVID-19 pandemic. Analytical cross-sectional study in Peruvian university students during the first wave of the pandemic, the variable that mediates perception was obtained through a validated scale. In the analytical statistics, it was found that women had a higher frequency of perception of academic repercussions (PRa: 1.37;95% CI: 1.18-1.59;p value <0.001), this adjusted for age, study career and university. Women were the ones who perceived the most repercussions. Although an association was only found with the sex of the respondents, larger studies should be carried out and in more advanced stages of the pandemic, since our results can be taken as baseline, but the influence of others should be followed up and determine the influence of other variables.

Infodemia in Peru after the first wave of COVID-19: characteristics and associated factors

One of the main causes of deterioration in mental health in the pandemic was the mishandling of information. The objective of this study was to evaluate the frequency of fear or perception of misinformation transmitted by the media and its influence on the mental health of the Peruvian population after the first wave. Analytical cross-sectional study. Which measured in almost 10,000 Peruvian inhabitants the perception of fear or exaggeration of the news with a previously validated instrument (global Cronbach's Alpha: 0.92), but this was post-first wave. The main perceptions were shown and it was associated with sex, age and educational level. Television broadcast more fear (12% strongly agree and 27% agree) and exaggeration (13% strongly agree and 26% agree);followed by social media. Men had a higher fear score in general (Coefficient: 1.83;95% CI: 1.01-3.31;p value = 0.047);Furthermore, according to the level of education, compared to those who had up to primary school, those who had secondary school had a higher overall score (Coefficient: 4.53;95% CI: 1.93-10.64;p value = 0.001), of exaggeration (Coefficient: 1.73;95% CI: 1.31-2.28;p value < 0.001), of fear (Coefficient: 1.73;95% CI: 1.31-2.28;p value < 0.001) and communication by friends / health personnel (Coefficient: 1.72;95% CI: 1.29-2.30;p value < 0.001);adjusted for age and department of residence. In general, it was observed that those with only secondary education were more afraid and were influenced by relatives and acquaintances.

Sacrifice of patients with severe COVID-19 during the first weeks of the pandemic in Peru: attitudes and associated factors

There was a lot of confusion and fear when COVD-19 arrived to the country, so much so that some were of the opinion that extreme measures should be taken for confirmed cases, however, this had not been evaluated. The objective of the research was to determine the factors associated with agreement to sacrifice people with severe COVD-19 during the first weeks of the pandemic in Peru. Cross-sectional analytical study, using secondary data, the dependent variable was the perception of agreement that if someone has a severe case of coronavirus they should be sacrificed/euthanized or similar, to avoid contagion;this was crossed with other influential variables. Of the 3331 respondents, 8% (269) strongly agreed and 9% (297) agreed that people with severe COVID-19 should be euthanized. In multivariate analysis, agreeing with culling was associated with sex (women were less in agreement with sacrificing, aPR: 0.73;95%CI: 0.62-0.86;p<0.001), also according to religious orientation (atheists were more in agreement with culling, aPR: 1.40;95%CI: 1.16-1.69;p<0.001), and to the scores they obtained in the fatalism test's (aPR: 1.09;CI95%: 1.07-1.11;p<0.001), level of knowledge (aPR: 0.85;CI95%: 0.81-0.88;p<0.001) and the perception of fear or exaggeration by the media (aPR: 1.02;CI95%: 1.01-1.03;p<0.001). A significant percentage agreed with sacrificing the sick people, being this associated with fear, fatalism and a low level of knowledge.

Fatalities associated with pre and post SARS-CoV-2 infection in Peru

Having been previously infected does not guarantee that one is safe in this pandemic, therefore, it is important to estimate the change in perceptions. The aim was to determine the fatalistic perception of patients recovered from COVID-19 in Peru and to identify the sociodemographic differences that influence the fatalistic perception of recovered and uninfected patients. Observational, retrospective cohort. The exposure variable was whether the patient had already been infected by COVID-19, the dependent variable was the fatalistic perception in the event of becoming ill with COVID-19 (in the case of those who had already been ill, the question was asked in the event of reinfection);this was measured with a validated test and being fatalistic was defined as those who were in the upper third of the scores;analytical statistics were obtained. Of the 8957 respondents, 37% reported that they had already been infected by COVID-19. In bivariate analysis, there was no difference in fatalism according to having been previously infected (p=0.426). In multivariate analysis, there was a lower risk of fatalism among men (aRR: 0.85;95%CI: 0.80-0.90;p-value<0.001), but an increased risk among those who believed they could be reinfected (aRR: 1.39;95%CI: 1.23-1.56;p-value<0.001), adjusted for three variables. Un conclusion, there is no association between fatalistic perception of the pandemic and having been infected with COVID-19 in Peru. However, being a woman and believing in a possible reinfection were risk factors for presenting fatalistic ideas.

Impact on the mental health of undergraduate students and their parents at the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic

It is very likely that if a child is anxious, stressed or depressed, someone at home is also anxious, stressed or depressed. That is why the objective was to determine the association between the mental health of parents according to that of undergraduated students in a Peruvian population during the first wave of COVID-19. An analytical, multicenter, cross-sectional research was carried out, where parents and children were surveyed with the DASS-21 scale, making crosses and adjusting for some other variables. Of the 1832 students and 1832 heads of family surveyed, according to having a severe presentation, 35% of the parents had stress (p<0.001) and 25% had depression (p<0.001), if their children had severe stress, anxiety or depression, respectively. If the head of the family presented moderate/severe depression it was associated with their children having depression or anxiety;the father of the family having moderate/severe anxiety was associated with the children also having depression or anxiety and the heads of the family presenting moderate/severe stress had an association with the children having anxiety and stress (up to here all values p<0.002);as well as, that the heads of the household were women (p=0.034). An evident association was found between the mental health problems of the children and those of their parents, which should alert us to the fact that there are entire households with mental problems, and that they are related to the pathologies they suffer from.

Acceptance of COVID-19 vaccination among pregnant Peruvian women: attitudes and associated factors

Now that COVID-19 vaccines are available for pregnant women, it is important to know their perception and intention to be vaccinated. The objective was to determine the attitude of pregnant women towards vaccination against COVID-19 in Peru and the factors associated with it. This cross-sectional analytical study was conducted in the 24 Peruvian departments during the months of December 2020 and January 2021. Fifty percent of the respondents had not yet decided whether they would be vaccinated, 36% said they would be vaccinated, 8% said they would not be vaccinated under any circumstances, and 6% would only be vaccinated if they were forced to do so. In the multivariate analysis, it was found that they would not be vaccinated because they did not trust the health system (p-value=0.002;more pregnant women did not trust the health sector), on the other hand, in the reasons why they would be vaccinated, it was found that this vaccination would improve the health of their family or loved ones (p-value=0.005;fewer pregnant women would be vaccinated for this reason). It is concluded that the percentage of pregnant women who would get vaccinated is low, being the main reason for the improvement of the health of your family, while distrust in the health system, lack of knowledge of the development of vaccines and not considering themselves a population at risk were the main factors associated with resistance to vaccination.

COVID-19 anxiety, depression and stress in Latin American health professionals: characteristics and associated factors

Due to the pandemic, an increase in mental health problems has been reported in members of the health personnel, with the self-report being an initial way of evaluating it. The objective was to determine the factors associated with the perception of repercussions in the mental sphere in health professionals in Latin America before COVID-19. An analytical cross-sectional study was carried out between June and August 2020 in Latin America. The perception of repercussions was measured through an instrument previously validated in Peru, which was taken virtually from 406 doctors, nurses and others;this was crossed versus other variables. The main concern was returning home and infecting their family (22% strongly agree), followed by feeling the abuse because they do not give them the necessary amount of personal protective equipment (13% strongly agree) and perceiving mental exhaustion for all the activities they did (12% strongly agree). In the multivariate analysis, the older there was a lower perception of mental repercussion (aPR: 0.98;95% CI: 0.97-0.99;p value = 0.012);In addition, those who had a greater perception of repercussions in the mental sphere also had more anxiety at a low level (aPR: 1.84;95% CI: 1.14-2.98;p value = 0.013) and post-traumatic stress (aPR: 2.28;95% CI: 1.61-3.22;p value <0.001), adjusted for depression and stress. Despite being an exploratory analysis, important associations were found in the mental sphere;which should continue to be investigated in larger studies.

Association between being a vulnerable population and low level of knowledge about COVID-19 in 17 cities of Peru at the beginning of the pandemic

Knowledge is key to face any disease, but there are few baseline studies from the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic. The objective was to determine the association between being a vulnerable population and the low knowledge of the population in 17 Peruvian cities at the beginning of the pandemic. Knowledge was measured using a nine-question scale, which asks about the mechanism, symptoms and consequences;this was crosschecked against socio-demographic variables using analytical statistics. Of the 3913 respondents, the lowest knowledge was about how to react to cold symptoms and what treatment a person with an initial non-severe coronavirus infection should follow (37% and 53% correct answers;respectively). In the multivariate analysis, those who had lower percentages of a poor level of knowledge of the disease were those with higher education (aPR: 0.74;95%CI: 0.62-0.88;p-value=0.001), among those with some postgraduate studies (aPR: 0.59;95%CI: 0.43-0.68;p-value<0.001), among those who were part of the health personnel (aPR: 0.15;95%CI: 0.05-0.46;p-value=0.001) and among women (aPR: 0.84;95%CI: 0.73-0.96;p-value=0.009), on the other hand, the older the age, the worse the level of knowledge of the disease (aPR: 1.012;95%CI: 1.005-1.018;p-value=0.001), adjusted by 4 variables. There was a low level of knowledge in some aspects and this is associated with some specific characteristics according to being considered a vulnerable population. © 2021 Instituto de Altos Estudios de Salud Publica. All rights reserved.

First COVID-19 pandemic wave in Peru: Purchase of staple products, knowledge, infodemic and associated factors

At the beginning of the pandemic, an excessive purchase of some products was observed, but this has not been evaluated if it is related to mental health. Therefore, the objective was to determine the factors associated with the purchase of basic necessities in the Peruvian population at the beginning of the first wave of the COVID-19 pandemic. An analytical cross-sectional study was carried out, based on a secondary data analysis. Information from 3379 Peruvians from all regions was used, they were asked about the purchases they made, crossing these with the results of the "KNOW-P-COVID-19", "F-COVID-19" and "MED-COVID-19" scales;obtaining descriptive and analytical results. The most purchased products were disinfectant (43.9%), followed by soap (43.6%) and alcohol (40.8%). In the multivariate analysis, the purchase of disinfectants (p=0.009), soap (p<0.001) and alcohol (p=0.002) was found to be associated with sex;the purchase of personal protective equipment (p=0.027), antibacterial gel (p=0.010) and face masks (p=0.015) was associated with age;to the fatalism score the purchase of food (p=0.005), personal protective equipment (p<0.001), soap (p=0.014), alcohol (p=0.043) and face masks (p<0.001);to the score of fears and concern conveyed by the media the purchase of personal protective equipment (p=0.007), soap (p<0.001) and face masks (p=0.005) and to the score of knowledge of the disease the purchase of soap (p<0.001), antibacterial gel (p=0.011) and toilet paper (p=0.009). Significant associations were found with the purchase of supplies (p<0.011). © 2021 Instituto de Altos Estudios de Salud Publica. All rights reserved.

Gastrointestinal symptoms as extrapulmonary manifestations in patients with COVID-19. A narrative review

Background: SARS-CoV-2 infection mainly affects the respiratory system;but, multiple extrapulmonary manifestations have also been observed in various systems and organs. The epithelial cells of the digestive tract and hepatobiliary tree express ECA2 and TMPRSS2 necessary for viral entry, on the other hand, viral RNA has been detected in stool samples, even after having become negative in respiratory samples. The presence of clinical digestive manifestations is associated with a higher viral load and can sometimes be the only manifestations of COVID-19, even in the absence of respiratory symptoms. The most common symptoms are anorexia and diarrhea, nausea, vomiting, and abdominal pain, the latter being characteristic of seriously ill patients. Gastrointestinal bleeding, hemorrhagic colitis, or acute hepatitis are very rare. In a patient with gastrointestinal manifestations, COVID-19 should be considered within the differential diagnosis.