Healthcare resource utilisation and predictors for critical care unit admissions after primary bariatric surgery in an Australian public hospital setting: an exploratory study using a mixed-methods approach.

Objectives The aim of this exploratory study was to investigate resource use and predictors associated with critical care unit (CCU) admission after primary bariatric surgery within the Tasmanian public healthcare system. Methods Patients undergoing primary bariatric surgery in the Tasmanian Health Service (THS) public hospital system between 7 July 2013 and 30 June 2019 were eligible for inclusion in this study. The THS provides two levels of CCU support, an intensive care unit (ICU) and a high dependency unit (HDU). A mixed-methods approach was performed to examine the resource use and predictors associated with overall CCU admission, as well as levels of HDU and ICU admission. Results There were 254 patients in the study. Of these, 44 (17.3%) required 54 postoperative CCU admissions, with 43% requiring HDU support and 57% requiring more resource-demanding ICU support. Overall, CCU patients were more likely to have higher preoperative body mass index and multimorbidity and to undergo sleeve gastrectomy or gastric bypass. Patients undergoing gastric banding were more likely to require HDU rather than ICU support. Total hospital stays and median healthcare costs were higher for CCU (particularly ICU) patients than non-CCU patients. Conclusions Bariatric surgery patients often have significant comorbidities. This study demonstrates that patients with higher levels of morbidity are more likely to require critical care postoperatively. Because this is elective surgery, being able to identify patients who are at increased risk is important to plan either the availability of critical care or even interventions to improve patients' preoperative risk. Further work is required to refine the pre-existing conditions that contribute most to the requirement for critical care management (particularly in the ICU setting) in the perioperative period. What is known about the topic? Few studies (both Australian and international) have investigated the use of CCUs after bariatric surgery. Those that report CCU admission rates are disparate across the contemporaneous literature, reflecting the different healthcare systems and their associated incentives. In Australia, the incidence and utilisation of CCUs (consisting of HDUs and ICUs) after bariatric surgery have only been reported using Western Australian administrative data. What does the paper add? CCU patients were more likely to have a higher preoperative body mass index and multimorbidity and to undergo a sleeve gastrectomy or gastric bypass procedure. Just over half (57%) of these patients were managed in the ICU. Sleeve gastrectomy patients had a higher incidence of peri- and postoperative complications that resulted in an unplanned ICU admission. Hospital length of stay and aggregated costs were higher for CCU (particularly ICU) patients. What are the implications for practitioners? The association of increased CCU (particularly ICU) use with multimorbidity and peri- and postoperative complications could enable earlier recognition of patients that are more likely to require CCU and ICU support, therefore allowing improved planning when faced with increasing rates of bariatric surgery. We suggest streamlined clinical guidelines that anticipate CCU support for people with severe and morbid obesity who undergo bariatric surgery should be considered from a national perspective.

P-EP021. Impact of COVID-19 on people with epilepsy: Understanding their needs

Introduction. The Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic with the implementation of the movement control order (MCO) resulted in unprecedented loss of access to healthcare in Malaysia. This study aimed to identify the impact of COVID-19 on people with epilepsy (PWE) in terms of their clinical, logistics and psychological aspects. Methods. This is a cross-sectional anonymized web-based study on PWE in University Malaya Medical Centre (UMMC) and Malaysia Epilepsy Society. An online questionnaire was used to assess the direct and indirect impact of COVID-19 to the epilepsy patients, including Hospital Anxiety Depression Scale (HADS) and Quality of Life in Epilepsy Inventory (QOLIE- 31). Results. 461 patients were included in this study, with a mean age of 39.21±15.88 years, majority female (50.1%), with focal epilepsy (54.0%), and experienced seizures at least once yearly (62.5%). There were 11.1% reported increased seizure frequency during COVID period. The associated factors of increased seizure frequency during COVID period included focal seizures, baseline seizures frequency >1 per month, unemployed status, lower education, and precipitating factors such as inadequate sleep and stress. There were 30.2% worried of seizure worsening due to difficulty in re-scheduling clinic appointments, 28.9% were afraid of going to the emergency unit, 11.5% had self-adjusted medication dosages to avoid running out of supply. A significant number experienced anxiety (27.6%) and depression (18.8%), which were correlated with poorer quality of life (p = 0.01). Conclusion. This study highlights the clinical and psychological impacts of the COVID-19 on PWE in Malaysia.

Impact of COVID-19 pandemic on people with epilepsy: An interventional study using early physical consultation.

BACKGROUND: Telehealth use is limited in developing countries. Therefore, a modified approach with early physical consultation was designed and applied in our hospital. This study aimed to determine the efficacy of this early physical consultation in reducing the clinical and psychological impacts of coronavirus disease-19 (COVID-19), which enabled insight into its global feasibility. METHOD: Participants were contacted and offered early physical consultation with a neurologist. Patients who participated in the Phase 1 study on the impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic on people with epilepsy and treated in our hospital were recruited. Clinical and psychological outcomes of COVID-19 were assessed with the Hospital Anxiety Depression Scale (HADS) and Quality of Life in Epilepsy Inventory (QOLIE-31). RESULT: A total of 312 patients completed this study with a mean age of 39.13 ±â€¯16.13 years, majority female (51.0%), and experienced seizures at least once yearly (64.7%). There was 12.6% who experienced seizure worsening related to the COVID-19 pandemic. After receiving early clinical intervention, 30.8% achieved better seizure control with another 51.1% had no seizure occurrence. The mean HADS anxiety score improved immediately post-intervention (5.27 ±â€¯4.32 vs. 4.79 ±â€¯4.26, p < 0.01), and at 2-week post-intervention (5.58 ±â€¯4.46 vs. 4.73 ±â€¯3.95, p < 0.01). The mean HADS depression score also improved immediately post-intervention (4.12 ±â€¯3.69 vs. 3.84 ±â€¯3.76, p < 0.05) and at 2-week post-intervention (4.38 ±â€¯3.81 vs. 3.73 ±â€¯3.63, p < 0.05). The intervention resulted in significant improvement in energy-fatigue and social function subscales in QOLIE-31 but a reduction in cognitive and medication effects subscales. CONCLUSION: Early physical consultation with stringent precautionary measures is feasible and effective in improving the psychological outcome during COVID-19 pandemic.

Triglyceride/High-Density Lipoprotein Cholesterol Ratio is associated with the mortality of COVID-19: An Observational Study (preprint)

(1) Background: Triglyceride to high density lipoprotein cholesterol (TG/HDL-c) ratio is crucial when researching metabolic and vascular diseases, and its involvement in COVID-19 was sparsely elaborated on. The purpose of the study was to explore if there were any associations between the TG/HDL-c ratio and COVID-19 prognosis; (2) Methods: A total of 262 COVID-19 patients were retrospectively investigated. The clinical features and baseline hematological parameters were recorded and analyzed; (3) Results: Compared with the survivors, the non-survivors of COVID-19 had significantly higher levels of white blood cells (4.7 vs. 13.0 ×109/L; P < 0.001), neutrophils (3.0 vs. 11.6×109/L; P < 0.001), C-reactive proteins (15.7 vs. 76.7 mg/L; P < 0.001) and TG/HDL-c ratio (1.4 vs. 2.5; P = 0.001). The receiver operating characteristics curve [area under the curve, 0.731; 95% confidence interval, 0.609–0.853; P = 0.001] suggested that the TG/HDL-c ratio could predict the mortality of COVID-19. Moreover, the TG/HDL-c ratio was positively correlated with white blood cells (r = 0.255, P < 0.001), neutrophils (r = 0.243, P < 0.001) and C-reactive proteins (r = 0.170, P < 0.006); (4) Conclusions: Our study demonstrated that TG/HDL-c ratio may potentially be a predictive marker for mortality in COVID-19 patients.

Acute Stress Disorder Among Frontline Health Professionals During the COVID-19 Outbreak: A Structural Equation Modeling Investigation.

OBJECTIVE: The outbreak of COVID-19 that commenced in December 2019 in Wuhan, China, has caused extensive public health concerns and posed substantial challenges to health professionals, especially for those in the center of the epidemic. The current study aimed to assess the prevalence, related factors, and mechanism of acute stress disorder (ASD) among health professionals in Wuhan during this critical period. METHODS: The study used a cross-sectional design. Self-administered questionnaires were distributed to the frontline health professionals in Wuhan hospitals from January 28 to February 1, 2020. Mental health-related measurements included ASD, depression, anxiety, conflict experiences, hostility, and psychosomatic symptoms. Structural equation modeling was used to analyze the factors associated with ASD among health professionals. RESULTS: A total of 332 frontline health professionals were included in the analysis (mean [standard deviation] age = 32.21 [8.77] years; 78.0% women). ASD was a prominent mental health problem in the health professionals surveyed, with a prevalence of 38.3%. Anxiety (24.7%) and depression (20.2%) were also common. Structural equation modeling analyses revealed that emotional distress (i.e., anxiety and depressive symptoms) fully mediated the association between conflicts with ASD (the standardized indirect coefficient ß = 0.47, p = .016). The most common reported symptom was chest pain (51.2%). ASD was significantly associated with psychosomatic symptoms. The majority (67.8%) reported being easily annoyed or irritated, and ASD was associated with hostility. CONCLUSIONS: During the COVID-19 outbreak, a substantial number of health professionals in Wuhan suffered from ASD. Furthermore, ASD was found to be associated with psychosomatic symptoms as well as the hostility. The poor mental health of health professionals has detrimental impacts both on the well-being of staff in health care systems and may adversely affect the quality of patient care. We call for interventions that aim to relieve the psychological and occupational stress. Considering that most of our participants were young, female frontline health professionals, the results may not be generalized to more heterogenous samples.

Economic evaluation of remdesivir for the treatment of severe COVID-19 patients in China under different scenarios.

AIMS: The present study aimed to evaluate the cost-effectiveness of the 5-day remdesivir regimen compared with standard of care among severe COVID-19 patients in China, the evidence on which is essential to inform the necessity of securing access to remdesivir. METHODS: A dynamic transmission model that extended the susceptible-exposed-infected-recovered framework by incorporating asymptomatic, presymptomatic and waiting-to-be-diagnosed patients was constructed to conduct the cost-effectiveness analysis from the healthcare system perspective. To estimate epidemic parameters, the model was first calibrated to the observed epidemic curve in Wuhan from 23 January to 19 March 2020. Following the calibration, the infected compartment was replaced by 3 severity-defined health states to reflect differential costs and quality of life associated with disease gravity. Costs and quality-adjusted life year (QALY) outcomes of 9 million simulated people were accrued across time to evaluate the incremental cost-effectiveness ratio of remdesivir. As robustness checks, an alternative modelling technique using decision tree, additional epidemic scenarios representing different epidemic intensities, and 1-way parameter variations were also analysed. RESULTS: Remdesivir treatment cost CN¥97.93 million more than standard of care. Also, the net QALY gain from 5-day remdesivir treatment was 6947 QALYs. As such, the incremental cost-effectiveness ratio was CN¥14 098/QALY, substantially lower than the gross domestic product per capita threshold. The peak daily number of severe cases was 19% lower in the remdesivir treatment strategy. Overall, results were robust in alternative scenarios and sensitivity analyses. CONCLUSION: Given the cost-effectiveness profile, access to remdesivir for severe COVID-19 patients in China should be considered.

Impact of COVID-19 on quality of life in people with epilepsy, and a multinational comparison of clinical and psychological impacts.

BACKGROUND: This study aimed to determine the relationship among the clinical, logistic, and psychological impacts of COVID-19 on people with epilepsy (PWE), and the impact of COVID-19 on the quality of life. METHOD: This is a cross-sectional anonymized web-based study on PWE, using an online questionnaire to assess the clinical, logistic, and psychological impacts of COVID-19, including Hospital Anxiety Depression Scale (HADS) and Quality of Life in Epilepsy Inventory (QOLIE-31). RESULT: 461 patients were recruited, with a mean age of 39.21 ±â€¯15.88 years, majority female (50.1%), with focal epilepsy (54.0%), and experienced seizures at least once yearly (62.5%). There were 13.0% experienced seizure worsening during COVID-19 period, which were associated with baseline seizures frequency ≥ 1 per month (32.0% vs. 6.2%, p < 0.001), worries of seizure worsening (18.0% vs. 10.9%, p < 0.001), difficulty to go emergency unit (24.4% vs. 10.4%, p < 0.001), AEDs ran out of stock (23.2% vs. 11.6%, p < 0.05), self-adjustment of AED dosages (26.4% vs. 11.3%, p < 0.001), inadequate sleep (22.4% vs. 9.2%, p < 0.001), and stress (23.4% vs.10.1%, p < 0.01). Participants experiencing seizure worsening reported greater anxiety (8.10 ±â€¯5.011 vs. 4.84 ±â€¯3.989, p < 0.001) and depression (6.05 ±â€¯3.868 vs. 3.86 ±â€¯3.589, p < 0.001). Logistic regression showed baseline seizures frequency >1 per month (OR, 14.10) followed by anxiety (OR, 3.90), inadequate sleep (OR, 0.37), and treated in UMMC (OR, 0.31) as the predictors for seizure worsening during COVID-19 period. Poorer total QOLIE-31 score was noted in those with seizure worsening (48.01 ±â€¯13.040 vs. 62.15 ±â€¯15.222, p < 0.001). Stepwise regression highlighted depression as the main negative predictor for quality of life (ß = -0.372, p < 0.001), followed by anxiety (ß = -0.345, p < 0.001). CONCLUSION: A significant number of PWE experienced seizure worsening during COVID-19 period, which was related to the clinical, logistic, and psychological factors. Quality of life was affected by the seizure worsening and the psychological stress.

Neutrophil Percentage and Neutrophil-to-Monocyte Ratio as Independent Risk Factors in the Severity of COVID-19 (preprint)

BackgroundInflammation plays an important role in progression of the various viral pneumonia containing COVID-19, severe inflammatory responses could lead to an imbalance of immune response. The purpose of this study was to explore the possibility of the white blood count, neutrophil percentage, neutrophil-to-monocyte ratio (NMR) and neutrophil-to-lymphocyte ratio (NLR) at admission to reflect the clinical severity in patients with COVID‐19.MethodsClinical and laboratory data of adult COVID-19 patients in Changsha, China, were collected and analyzed on admission. A logistic regression model was adopted to analyze the association between the disease severity and related risk factors. The receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curve was utilized to analyze the abilities of potential risk factors in the prediction of COVID-19 severity.ResultsCompared with non-severe patients, the severe ones had significantly higher levels of neutrophil percentage (74.9% vs. 62.1%; P < 0.001), NLR (4.1 vs. 2.1; P < 0.001) and NMR (12.4 vs. 8.0; P < 0.001). A regression analysis showed that neutrophil percentage (OR,1.113; 95% CI, 1.020-1.213; P=0.016) and NMR (OR, 1.110; 95% CI, 1.002-1.230; P = 0.046) were significantly associated with severity of COVID-19 patients. ROC curve showed that the area under the curves of neutrophil percentage, NMR and the combination of them were 0.842 (95% confidence interval (CI), 0.782-0.902), 0.790 (95% CI, 0.710-0.871) and 0.851 (95% CI, 0.790-0.911), respectively.ConclusionsNeutrophil percentage and NMR may act as independent risk factors in the severity of COVID-19.