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Background: SARS-CoV-2 affects all age groups, but higher mortality rates are recorded in older people, men and with comorbidities, mainly hypertension, diabetes and obesity. Aim: To describe the main clinical characteristics, evolution and prognostic factors for death in older patients hospitalized for COVID-19. Materials and methods: Retrospective analysis of 128 Patients aged 73 years, 66% men, hospitalized at a clinical hospital, with a diagnosis of COVID-19, admitted from May 1 to August 1, 2020. Data were collected from the clinical records, a description of the study population was made, and a univariate analysis and logistic regression were performed. Results: Seventy-two percent of patients had two or more comorbidities, mainly arterial hypertension in 66%, diabetes mellitus in 34% and cardiovascular disease in 19%. Forty-one percent were admitted to intensive care and 31% were connected to mechanical ventilation. In-hospital mortality was 26.6%. A multivariate analysis was performed in two blocks, finding in the first that arterial hypertension and older age significantly predict mortality. However, when previous institutionalization and immunosuppression were included as variables in the second block, age ceased to be a significant predictor. Conclusions: Prognostic factors associated with death in this age group are arterial hypertension and previous institutionalization.
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Background: SARS-CoV-2 affects all age groups, but higher mortality rates are recorded in older people, men and with comorbidities, mainly hypertension, diabetes and obesity. Aim: To describe the main clinical characteristics, evolution and prognostic factors for death in older patients hospitalized for COVID-19. Materials and Methods: Retrospective analysis of 128 patients aged 73 years, 66% men, hospitalized at a clinical hospital, with a diagnosis of COVID-19, admitted from May 1 to August 1, 2020. Data were collected from the clinical records, a description of the study population was made, and a univariate analysis and logistic regression were performed. Results: Seventy-two percent of patients had two or more comorbidities, mainly arterial hypertension in 66%, diabetes mellitus in 34% and cardiovascular disease in 19%. Forty-one percent were admitted to intensive care and 31% were connected to mechanical ventilation. In-hospital mortality was 26.6%. A multivariate analysis was performed in two blocks, finding in the first that arterial hypertension and older age significantly predict mortality. However, when previous institutionalization and immunosuppression were included as variables in the second block, age ceased to be a significant predictor. Conclusions: Prognostic factors associated with death in this age group are arterial hypertension and previous institutionalization.
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How can entrepreneurs protect their wellbeing during a crisis? Does engaging agility (namely, opportunity agility and planning agility) in response to adversity help entrepreneurs safeguard their wellbeing? Activated by adversity, agility may function as a specific resilience mechanism enabling positive adaption to crisis. We studied 3162 entrepreneurs from 20 countries during the COVID-19 pandemic and found that more severe national lockdowns enhanced firm-level adversity for entrepreneurs and diminished their wellbeing. Moreover, entrepreneurs who combined opportunity agility with planning agility experienced higher wellbeing but planning agility alone lowered wellbeing. Entrepreneur agility offers a new agentic perspective to research on entrepreneur wellbeing.
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BACKGROUND: Throughout the COVID-19 pandemic, concerns have emerged regarding missed cases of child maltreatment. Evidence suggests an increased incidence of child maltreatment despite a documented decline in reports to child protective services. In Ottawa, reports dropped by 30-40% at the start of the pandemic in 2020. Pediatricians play an important role in the detection of child maltreatment and many have shifted from in person to virtual care. However, there is a paucity of published literature on this topic. We hypothesize that the shift to virtual visits is a barrier to identifying cases of child maltreatment and may contribute to missed cases. OBJECTIVE(S): Our survey assesses if and how Canadian pediatricians are identifying child maltreatment over virtual medical appointments, as well as the barriers and enabling factors to doing so. DESIGN/METHODS: The Canadian Paediatric Surveillance Program (CPSP) is a joint effort with the Canadian Paediatric Society and Public Health Agency of Canada towards national pediatric surveillance through monthly surveys to 95% of Canadian pediatricians. Using their infrastructure, a one-time survey was sent to 2770 pediatricians between November 2021 and January 2022 with data analyzed for qualitative themes and descriptive statistics. RESULT(S): There was a 34% response rate (n= 928) and 704 valid responses. Exclusions were for no provision of virtual care, incomplete surveys or no reported cases of child maltreatment in their career (n=93, 10%). The average number of years in independent practice was 17.5 years, and 69% had not provided virtual care prior to the pandemic. Based on a virtual visit, at least one case of child maltreatment was reported by 16% of physicians prior to the pandemic, and by 11% following March 2020. Nearly one-third (30%) of these cases required a subsequent in-person visit prior to making the report. Social stressors and clear disclosures from patients and caregivers were the main factors leading to reports. The virtual physical exam was not a factor that triggered concerns of maltreatment in any case. Respondents reported at a rate of 68% that it was slightly or much more difficult to detect child maltreatment over virtual visits. Concerns that a case had been missed or identified late in association with virtual care were reported by 29% of physicians (n=206) with some commenting that clear harm resulted. CONCLUSION(S): This survey shows that virtual medical care presents barriers to identifying child maltreatment and may be an important factor in missed cases of child maltreatment.
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Background. Healthcare personnel (HCP) faced personal protective equipment (PPE)-related challenges during the COVID-19 pandemic including supply shortages, additional PPE items, different designs, and modified protocols (PR)/guidelines. We used a human factors engineering- and ethnography-informed approach to qualitatively assess the effects of these challenges on HCP and their PPE use during the pandemic. Methods. We observed PPE use (e.g., donning/doffing) by HCP caring for patients with COVID-19, those under investigation (PUI), and those with other conditions in 1 acute, 1 intermediate, and 1 intensive care unit at a large Midwestern academic hospital. We conducted mini-interviews with a subset of HCP to clarify observed behavior and identify PPE-related concerns. We captured observation, interview, and additional data (e.g., unit layouts, signage) in structured and unstructured notes. We transcribed and imported notes into MAXQDA and applied a deductive-inductive analytical approach. Results. From April-July 2021, we observed 188 patient care episodes and conducted 47 mini-interviews. Observations included COVID-19 (n=102), PUI (n=4), and non-COVID-19 (n=82) rooms on varying isolation precautions. PRs related to masks and eye protection changed during the study period and particularly affected donning practices. Other barriers included time-intensive PRs, unclear PR communication, unfamiliar designs, lack of surfaces on which to set supplies while donning/ doffing, and inconvenient PPE storage/cleaning locations. We observed recommendation/ PR deviations related to PPE use (e.g., exposed wrists, unapproved/no eye protection), cleaning, and signage/storage (e.g., designated 'clean' surfaces). HCP reported PPE extended use/reuse, provision of design options, and their own adaptations (e.g., 'batching' tasks, modifying PPE) facilitated donning/doffing. New PPE requirements highlighted tensions between HCP comfort and safety;despite this, some wanted to include modified PRs in their routine infection prevention practices permanently. Conclusion. PPE use barriers and facilitators related to modified COVID-19 PRs have implications for the ongoing pandemic and future respiratory pathogen outbreaks.
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Power wheelchair prescription, utilization, satisfaction, and cost for patients with amyotrophic lateral sclerosis: preliminary data for evidence-based guidelines. Stage at which riluzole treatment prolongs survival in patients with amyotrophic lateral sclerosis: a retrospective analysis of data from a dose-ranging study. Support needs and interventions for family caregivers of patients with amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS): a narrative review with report of telemedicine experiences at the time of COVID-19 pandemic. [Extracted from the article]
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Background: Religious involvement has been shown to be protective against negative mental health outcomes and encourage positive coping behaviour among older adults. During the COVID-19 pandemic and lockdown in Ireland, public health restrictions created a barrier to in person religious participation. It is important to examine the effect this may have had on psychological health in older adults. Methods: Data were from The Irish Longitudinal Study on Ageing (TILDA). Data from Wave 4 (2016), Wave 5 (2018) and the COVID-19 SCQ (2020) were used for analysis. The final sample was made up of 3,044 community-dwelling adults living in Ireland aged 60 and older. Relationships between religious participation, psychological health and loneliness were modelled using cross-sectional and longitudinal regression analyses. Results: Religious attendance was positively associated with Purpose in Life [Beta(B)=0.01, 95% CI=-0.00, 0.02, p<0.05], Life Satisfaction [B=0.01, 95% CI= 0.00, 0.02, p<0.001] and Anxiety [Incident Rate Ratio= 1.04, 95% CI=1.01-1.08, p<0.01], during COVID-19. Self-Rated Mental Health significantly decreased between Wave 5 and COVID-19 relative to Religious Attendance reported at Wave 4 [OR= 0.87, 95% CI= 0.75, 0.99, p<0.05]. Loneliness also increased between Wave 5 and COVID-19 relative to Prayer Frequency reported at Wave 4 [OR=0.06, 95% CI= 0.02, 0.10, p<0.01]. Conclusion: These results suggest a complex relationship between psychological health and religious participation and the barriers to it during COVID in the older population. While it there was a protective effect carried into the lockdown, there was also a negative effect regarding some domains of religious participation. Future research should focus on measuring the relationship at later stages of the pandemic and the use of alternative forms of religious practice, such as streaming religious services.
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The SARS-CoV-2 pandemic disrupted the lives of up to 100,000 school-going children in Ireland. Consequently, intersectoral ‘Schools Teams’ were established for the 2020/2021 school year to reduce SARS-CoV-2 transmission in school settings. This novel public health intervention provides learning to inform future cross-sectoral collaborative work in Public Health in responding to infectious disease threats. For the 2020/2021 school year in Ireland, intersectoral Schools Teams were formed within each of eight regional Departments of Public Health to manage mitigation of SARS-CoV-2 transmission in school settings. These teams comprised of staff from Departments of Public Health and redeployed staff from the Department of Education. A nationally agreed schools process was followed by Schools Teams to manage SARS-CoV-2 cases and outbreaks in schools. Relevant cases were referred to the regional Schools Team for a public health risk assessment (PHRA). Close contacts were determined using appropriate definitions of close contact within a school setting through the PHRA. This model with centralised procedures and linked health/education teams was novel and adaptable to additional settings. Results from the East region of Ireland showed testing of close contacts of COVID-19 was conducted in 71.8% (676/942) of schools, with 43881 tests completed. Most Schools Team members reported efficient communication within the team (88.7%), a positive team culture (96.3%) and feeling comfortable in their roles following training (82.7%). The majority of members felt the team was able to effectively support schools to reduce COVID-19 transmission (92.5%). Lessons learnt include the synergistic working of educational and health professionals towards a common goal, maximising the skills of all, ensuring a better outcome for school children. Involving educational teams in active contact tracing of COVID-19 cases in schools maximised engagement of the educational sector in the COVID-19 response. Key messages • Establishing intersectoral ‘Schools Teams’ pooled skills, resources and expertise, enabling development of synergistic solutions to a complex problem. • This exemplifies a large national cross-sectoral collaborative working process involving education and public health sectors, providing a model for future responses to infectious disease threats.
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The COVID-19 pandemic has unleashed positive and negative aspects of human behaviour. From the Black Death to H1N1, this chapter explores the history of pandemics and how much of the impact and experience of COVID-19 is not new. As the Spanish philosopher George Santayna wrote, “those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it”. As we take this journey, judge for yourselves as to whether the world has learned the lessons of the past. © 2022 selection and editorial matter, Patricia Fronek and Karen Smith Rotabi-Casares;individual chapters, the contributors.
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BACKGROUND: The COVID-19 pandemic in 2020 resulted in the older population being asked to remain at home and avoid other people outside their household. This could have implications for both receipt and provision of informal caring. OBJECTIVE: To determine if informal care provision by older carers changed during the first wave of the COVID-19 pandemic from pre-pandemic care and if this was associated with a change in mental health and well-being of carers. DESIGN AND SETTING: Longitudinal nationally representative study of community dwelling adults from The Irish Longitudinal Study on Ageing (TILDA) (Waves 3-COVID-Wave 6). METHODS: We studied a cohort of 3670 adults aged ≥60 in Ireland during the COVID-19 pandemic (July-November 2020) and compared with previous data collections from the same cohort between 2014-2018. Independent variables were caregiving status and caregiving intensity, outcome measures included depressive symptoms (CES-D8), Perceived Stress (PSS4) and Quality of life (CASP12). Mixed models adjusting for socio-demographics and physical health were estimated. RESULTS: Caregiving increased from 8.2% (2014) to 15.4% (2020). Depression, and stress scores increased while quality of life decreased for all participants. Carers reported poorer mental health, and higher caring hours were associated with increased depression and stress and decreased quality of life scores on average, and increased depression was higher for women. CONCLUSIONS: Informal caregiving increased during the pandemic and family caregivers reported increased adverse mental health and well-being and this continued throughout the early months of the pandemic. The disproportionate burden of depression was highest in women providing higher caring hours.
Subject(s)
COVID-19 , Caregivers , Aging/psychology , COVID-19/epidemiology , Caregivers/psychology , Female , Humans , Ireland/epidemiology , Longitudinal Studies , Mental Health , Pandemics , Quality of LifeABSTRACT
Wet markets sell fresh food and are a global phenomenon. They are important for food security in many regions worldwide but have come under scrutiny due to their potential role in the emergence of infectious diseases. The sale of live wildlife has been highlighted as a particular risk, and the World Health Organisation has called for the banning of live, wild-caught mammalian species in markets unless risk assessment and effective regulations are in place. Following PRISMA guidelines, we conducted a global scoping review of peer-reviewed information about the sale of live, terrestrial wildlife in markets that are likely to sell fresh food, and collated data about the characteristics of such markets, activities involving live wildlife, the species sold, their purpose, and animal, human, and environmental health risks that were identified. Of the 56 peer-reviewed records within scope, only 25% (n = 14) focussed on disease risks; the rest focused on the impact of wildlife sale on conservation. Although there were some global patterns (for example, the types of markets and purpose of sale of wildlife), there was wide diversity and huge epistemic uncertainty in all aspects associated with live, terrestrial wildlife sale in markets such that the feasibility of accurate assessment of the risk of emerging infectious disease associated with live wildlife trade in markets is currently limited. Given the value of both wet markets and wildlife trade and the need to support food affordability and accessibility, conservation, public health, and the social and economic aspects of livelihoods of often vulnerable people, there are major information gaps that need to be addressed to develop evidence-based policy in this environment. This review identifies these gaps and provides a foundation from which information for risk assessments can be collected.
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Animals, Wild , Communicable Diseases , Animals , Commerce , Public Health , ZoonosesABSTRACT
Introduction: The SARS-CoV-2 pandemic highlighted the need for a way to predict progression to critical illness and ICU admission amongst infected patients. Previous liver disease is a known risk for progression to critical illness. Attempts to identify biomarkers for progression to critical illness suggest inflammatory markers and coagulation markers as useful. We used a machine learning approach to compare the admission liver panel and inflammatory biomarker assays in hospitalized COVID-19 patients with extant mild or severe hepatic disease who progressed to critical illness (ICU admission) versus those who were progression-free. Methods: We included data ed under IRB exemption from electronic medical records (EMR) for SARS-CoV-2 patients admitted to the hospital with chronic liver disease ICD-10-CM codes. Demographics, laboratory results and administrative data were archived and analyzed (SAS, Cary, NC). Generalized regression identified inflammatory and liver panel biomarkers assayed within 8h of hospital admission associated (p<.05) with progression to critical illness. Retained biomarkers underwent bootstrap forest analysis forming a receiver operating characteristic (ROC) that optimized area under ROC (AUROC) estimating model accuracy (precision). Continuous data summarized with median [IQR] were compared using Kruskal-Wallis Test. Discrete data summarized as counts or proportions were compared with chi-squared test. Two-tailed p<.05 was significant. Results: Out of the 4411 COVID-19 patients who were discharged between March 14, 2020 and September 30, 2021, 333 with a previous diagnosis chronic liver disease were included in this study. Demographics for this population are presented in Table 1. Statistical values for biomarkers and progression to critical illness are seen in table 1. Statistically significant markers are compared via explained variance and ROC curve in Figure 1. Although AST and D-dimer were statistically significant markers of progression to critical illness, when modelled as a predictive biomarker, they were not informative in the aggregated ensemble. Therefore, they were not included in the modeling analysis. Conclusion: Hypoalbuminemia, inflammatory markers, D-dimer, and AST were significantly associated with progression to critical illness. Indexing liver specific synthetic function (albumin) to CoV-2 evoked inflammatory markers improves explained variance for progression to critical illness. Alternative liver synthetic function biomarker (INR), ALT, and ALP were not a significant prognostic indicator for progression to severe illness. To our knowledge, this is debut of modeling hypoalbuminemia indexed with multiple routinely assayed inflammatory biomarkers for baseline risk assessment in COVID-19 patients with liver disease. (Table Presented) (Figure Presented)
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RATIONALE: In-laboratory polysomnography (PSG) is recommended for the evaluation of obstructive sleep apnea (OSA) in children. However, PSG is challenged by insufficient facilities, disruption to families, and high cost, exacerbated during the COVID-19 pandemic, particularly for low-income families. Level II home sleep apnea testing (HSAT) with EEG has the potential to be more accurate than more limited polygraphy as it can provide sleep architecture and hypopneas scored due to arousals. We hypothesized that HSAT would be accurate in detecting even mild OSA in children and would be preferred by families compared to PSG. METHODS: Prospective comparative effectiveness study. Children <18 years old clinically referred for evaluation of sleep-disordered breathing underwent PSG and HSAT within one week. Parents completed a questionnaire assessing feasibility, acceptability, and preference of tests. Respiratory data and sleep architecture from HSAT were scored using AASM criteria blinded to PSG result and were compared to PSG as a reference, with an obstructive apnea hypopnea index (OAHI) greater than 2 events per hour considered a diagnosis of OSA on both tests. Questionnaire data were summarized. RESULTS: 10 children completed testing. Median (range) age was 9.3 years (3.8-17.1), including 6 Black and 4 White, with 2 Latinx, including 7 females. From PSG, OAHI was 2.0 (0, 21) events/hour and 4 participants met criteria for a diagnosis of OSA. OAHI strongly correlated between HSAT and PSG (Spearman's R=0.79, p=0.007, see Figure). There was one false negative OSA diagnosis using HSAT and area under receiver operating characteristics curve=0.9. Total sleep time on HSAT was 8.0 (4.3-10.2) versus 7.08 (2.9-8.6) hours on PSG (p=0.38). HSAT met parent approval for 8 participants, 7 parents preferred HSAT to PSG, and 6 parents found HSAT easier than PSG. CONCLUSIONS: Across a wide age range and a diverse clinical cohort, level II HSAT is highly accurate compared to PSG for the diagnosis of even mild OSA. Overall, HSAT was acceptable for parents and preferred compared to PSG. Level II HSAT may be more accurate compared to polygraphy that does not include an objective measure of sleep, particularly for mild OSA and younger children.
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How can entrepreneurs protect their wellbeing during a crisis? Does engaging agility (namely, opportunity agility and planning agility) in response to adversity help entrepreneurs safeguard their wellbeing? Activated by adversity, agility may function as a specific resilience mechanism enabling positive adaption to crisis. We studied 3162 entrepreneurs from 20 countries during the COVID-19 pandemic and found that more severe national lockdowns enhanced firm-level adversity for entrepreneurs and diminished their wellbeing. Moreover, entrepreneurs who combined opportunity agility with planning agility experienced higher wellbeing but planning agility alone lowered wellbeing. Entrepreneur agility offers a new agentic perspective to research on entrepreneur wellbeing.