Blood Biomarkers from the Emergency Department Disclose Severe Omicron COVID-19-Associated Outcomes.

BACKGROUND: Since its outbreak, Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19), a life-threatening respiratory illness, has rapidly become a public health emergency with a devastating social impact. Lately, the Omicron strain is considered the main variant of concern. Routine blood biomarkers are, indeed, essential for stratifying patients at risk of severe outcomes, and a huge amount of data is available in the literature, mainly for the previous variants. However, only a few studies are available on early routine biochemical blood biomarkers for Omicron-afflicted patients. Thus, the aim and novelty of this study were to identify routine blood biomarkers detected at the emergency room for the early prediction of severe morbidity and/or mortality. METHODS: 449 COVID-19 patients from Sapienza University Hospital of Rome were divided into four groups: (1) the emergency group (patients with mild forms who were quickly discharged); (2) the hospital ward group (patients that after the admission in the emergency department were hospitalized in a COVID-19 ward); (3) the intensive care unit (ICU) group (patients that after the admission in the emergency department required intensive assistance); (4) the deceased group (patients that after the admission in the emergency department had a fatal outcome). RESULTS: ANOVA and ROC data showed that high-sensitivity troponin-T (TnT), fibrinogen, glycemia, C-reactive protein, lactate dehydrogenase, albumin, D-dimer myoglobin, and ferritin for both men and women may predict lethal outcomes already at the level of the emergency department. CONCLUSIONS: Compared to previous Delta COVID-19 parallel emergency patterns of prediction, Omicron-induced changes in TnT may be considered other early predictors of severe outcomes.

Prevalence and Safety of COVID-19 Vaccination in Community-Dwelling People with Dementia: Findings from a Tertiary Memory Clinic in Italy.

This study aimed to explore the prevalence and safety of SARS-CoV-2 vaccination in individuals with dementia. Patients with mild cognitive impairment or dementia were recruited at a tertiary memory clinic, from March 15 to September 15, 2021. Information on COVID-19 vaccination and adverse events experienced after vaccine administration were collected from caregivers. Two-hundred-seventy subjects were finally recruited. Among them, 253 (93.7%) had received the vaccine and only 69 (27.3%) experienced adverse events. Cognitive and behavioral changes following immunization were only rarely reported. COVID-19 vaccination is safe and well-tolerated in patients with cognitive impairment who should be prioritized in the vaccination campaign.