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Adolescent mental health and well-being have been adversely impacted by the COVID-19 pandemic. In this preregistered longitudinal study, we evaluated whether adolescents' well-being improved after playing the multiplayer serious game app Grow It! During the first lockdown (May-June 2020), 1282 Dutch adolescents played the Grow It! app (age = 16.67, SD = 3.07, 68% girls). During the second lockdown (December-May 2020 onwards), an independent cohort of 1871 adolescents participated (age = 18.66, SD = 3.70, 81% girls). Adolescents answered online questionnaires regarding affective and cognitive well-being, depressive symptoms, anxiety, and impact of COVID-19 at baseline. Three to six weeks later, the baseline questionnaire was repeated and user experience questions were asked (N = 462 and N = 733 for the first and second cohort). In both cohorts, affective and cognitive well-being increased after playing the Grow It! app (t = - 6.806, p < 0.001; t = - 6.77, p < 0.001; t = - 6.12, p < 0.001; t = - 5.93, p < 0.001; Cohen's d range 0.20-0.32). At the individual level, 41-53% of the adolescents increased in their affective or cognitive well-being. Adolescents with higher risk profiles (i.e., more depressive symptoms, lower atmosphere at home, and more COVID-19 impact) improved more strongly in their well-being. Positive user evaluations and app engagement were unrelated to changes in affective and cognitive well-being. This proof-of-concept study tentatively suggests that Grow It! supported adolescents during the pandemic.
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Despite their effectiveness in minimizing the spread of infection, movement restrictions adopted during the Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic have not been without their health-related consequences, including decreases in physical activity and increases in sedentary behavior. This study aimed to investigate differences in stress and sense of community among Korean citizens in various age groups according to the degree of their participation in physical activity during the COVID-19 pandemic. We analyzed data collected during the Social Survey of Busan Metropolitan City 2020, the population of which included all household members over the age of 15. Data for a total of 33,082 participants (male = 15,129;female = 17,953) were extracted using a two-stage cluster sampling method. Age, stress level, and sense of community were analyzed using independent t-tests, while the frequency of participation in physical activity was analyzed using a Mann-Whitney U test. Differences in stress level and community consciousness according to the frequency of physical activity were examined via multivariate analysis of variance. Variables exhibiting significant differences were evaluated for differences between groups through Scheffe's post hoc analysis. First, stress levels were higher among female adolescents than male adolescents. Among adults and older adults, men exhibited higher overall stress levels than women, whereas sense of community was stronger in women than men. Second, male adolescents in the regular physical activity participation group showed lower levels in some factors of stress than those in the nonparticipating group. Finally, a higher frequency of participation in physical activity among adults and older adults was associated with lower stress and higher sense of community, regardless of gender. In conclusion, regular participation in physical activity should be considered when designing strategies for managing stress and promoting social relationships at the national and individual levels during COVID-19 and any similar pandemics in the future.Copyright ©2023 The Author(s). Published by MRE Press.
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Introduction: This paper aims at conducting a legal analysis of the health workers' authority in telemedicine service in Indonesia. This article discusses an issue related to the importance of telemedicine usage in health services. That is beneficial to reduce virus transmission. Therefore, government issued regulations regarding telemedicine services by medical personnel. So, there is a change in the legal relationship that previously occurred in health care facilities into a legal relationship between doctors and patients. This case creates legal problems in the form of legal ambiguity regarding the authority of medical personnel through telemedicine services. Methods: Normative legal research implemented in this research and the approach implemented is the state and the conceptual approach. Results: Telemedicine provides medical services and health information. In Indonesia, telemedicine was made mandatory by Law Number 36 on Health in 2009, particularly in terms of medical expertise. Legal basis of telemedicine in Indonesia is the Law on health however the regulation is general. Conclusions: The conclusion is the need for detailed regulation of the limits of authority of health workers in health services through telemedicine. This article suggests that legal reform of the authority of medical personnel in providing services through telemedicine during the pandemic and after it. © 2023 UPM Press. All rights reserved.
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Objective: The Covid-19 pandemic has revealed the importance of an evidence-based efficient triage system in the early identification of high risk patients and the rational use of limited medical resources for reducing mortality. The aim of this study was to evaluate the role of various inflammatory indices that can be easily calculated using readily accessible, inexpensive routine test parameters in risk stratification and prediction of prognosis in patients with Covid-19. Material and Methods: The study was carried out retrospectively with the data of 8036 patients with Covid-19, who were grouped according to their prognosis in outpatient and inpatient follow-ups, and inpatients as survivors and death. Using the complete blood count and C-reactive protein baseline results of the patients at admission, neutrophillymphocyte ratio (NLR), platelet-lymphocyte ratio (PLR), monocytelymphocyte ratio (MLR), MVP-platelet ratio (MPR), platelet mass index (PMI), systemic immune-inflammatory index (SII), systemic inflammatory response index (SIRI), and multi-inflammatory indices (MII) were calculated. Results: Our results demonstrate that almost all of the inflammatory indices were significantly different in severe patients and in patients with high mortality risk, but not all of them had a predictive value. It has been seen that the most effective factors in determining the disease severity at the onset of Covid-19 are SIRI and age, and SII, MII-1 and MII-3 may also contribute to this prediction. Our results have also revealed that NLR is the most effective independent factor to predict mortality both at disease onset and for inpatients. Conclusion: Inflammatory indices, especially SIRI, NLR, SII, MII-1 and MII-3 can substantially contribute to clinical decisions in the early identification of high-risk patients and predicting mortality beginning from the onset of Covid-19.
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Objective: Coronavirus disease-2019 (COVID-19) is a newly emerging infectious disease that has become a global pandemic. This study aimed to identify the risk factors at presentation to predict intensive care unit (ICU) admissions. Materials & Methods: This retrospective observational study recruited 188 confirmed laboratory COVID-19 patients who were hospitalized in Jidhafs Maternity Hospital (JMH) from 1st June to 5th July 2020. Univariate and multivariate analyses were used to Explore risk factors associated with the increased risk of ICU admission. Results: The study revealed that older age (>60 years old) (16[38.1%], P=0.044), male gender (30 [40.0%], P=0.000) were significantly associated with the increased risk of ICU admissions. The most prevalent symptoms in admission were myalgia (13[40.6%], P=0.035), fever (39[34.2%], P=0.002) and cough (37[31.4%], P=0.032). In addition, raised serum level of alanine amino-transferase (ALAT) (34.7% vs. 20.7%, P=0.033), D-dimers (30.7% vs 12.2%, P=0.012), lactate dehydrogenase (LDH) (31.6% vs 0.0%, P=0.025) and ferritin (37.7% vs 16.7%, P=0.011) found to be important predictor of ICU admission. Conclusion: The finding indicates that older age, male gender, with increased alanine transferase (ALT), increased lactate dehydrogenase (LDH), high D-dimer and high ferritin was associated with an increased risk of ICU admissions. Identification of such factors will help to detect people who are more likely to develop severe COVID-19 disease and will help physicians to determine if patients need regular health care or ICU admission.
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SARS-CoV-2 is an infection that affects several organs and has a wide range of symptoms in addition to producing severe acute respiratory syndrome. Millions of individuals were infected when it first started because of how quickly it travelled from its starting location to nearby countries. Anticipating positive Covid-19 incidences is required in order to better understand future risk and take the proper preventative and precautionary measures. As a result, it is critical to create mathematical models that are durable and have as few prediction errors as possible. This study suggests a unique hybrid strategy for examining the status of Covid-19 confirmed patients in conjunction with complete vaccination. First, the selective opposition technique is initially included into the Grey Wolf Optimizer (GWO) in this study to improve the exploration and exploitation capacity for the given challenge. Second, to execute the prediction task with the optimized hyper-parameter values, the Least Squares Support Vector Machines (LSSVM) method is integrated with Selective Opposition based GWO as an objective function. The data source includes daily occurrences of confirmed cases in Malaysia from February 24, 2021 to July 27, 2022. Based on the experimental results, this paper shows that SOGWO-LSSVM outperforms a few other hybrid techniques with ideally adjusted parameters. © 2022 IEEE.
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The importance of measuring trust in health systems has been accentuated due to its correlation with important health outcomes aimed at reducing COVID-19 transmission. A systematic review published almost a decade ago identified gaps in measures including the lack of focus on trust in systems, inconsistency regarding the dimensionality of trust and need for research to strengthen the validity of measures. Given developments in our understandings of trust since its publication, we sought to identify new scales developed, existing ones adapted in response to identified gaps, and agendas for future research. Using the PRISMA approach for systematic reviews, we conducted a search in four databases. A total of 26 articles were assessed. Twelve new scales were identified, while 14 were adapted for different settings and populations. Literature continues to focus on measuring trust in health professionals rather than systems. Various shortcomings were identified, including some articles not mentioning the dimensions included in the scale and suboptimal use of validity and reliability testing and/or reporting. Moreover, a variety of terms were used for dimensions. Future research is needed to address these gaps and consequently, to understand their correlation with health behaviors and outcomes more accurately. © 2023 The Authors. Sociology Compass published by John Wiley & Sons Ltd.
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Background: Hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) is the second leading cause of malignancy-related mortality and the fifth most common worldwide. Immuno-cancer microenvironment (ICME) was highlighted recently because scientists want to unlock the detailed mechanism in carcinogenesis pathway and find the novel interactions in ICME. Besides, single cell analysis could mitigate the interrupted signals between cells and tissues. On the other hand, COVID-19 angiotensin I converting enzyme (ACE) previously was reported associated with cancer. However, the robust association between COVID-19 and HCC ICME is still unaddressed. Aim(s): We plan to investigate the COVID-19 ACE relevant genes to HCC ICME regarding survival. Method(s): We used Reactome for COVID-19 ACE gene pathway mapping and explored the positive relevant gene expression. DISCO website was applied for single cell analyses using the above-collected genes from Reactome. Finally, we implanted the biomedical informatics into TIMER 2.0 for ICME survival analyses. Result(s): In Fig. 1, the gene-gene interaction mapping was shown. We collected 13 genes (CPB2, ACE2, AGT, MME, ANPEP, CPA3, ENPEP, GZMH, CTSZ, CTSD, CES1, ATP6AP2, and AOPEP) for further single cell relevant analyses, in Table 1, with detailed expression level (TPM). Among the above 13 genes, AGT, GZMH, CTSZ, CTSD, CES1, and ATP6AP2 were strongly expressed in liver tissue. We then applied the initial 13 genes to TIMER 2.0 for HCC ICME 2-year survival analyses. CPA3 and GZMH low expressions with high macrophage infiltration in HCC ICME showed significantly worse 2-year cumulative survival [hazard ratio (HR):CPA3 2.21, p-value 0.018;GZMH 2.07, p-value 0.0341]. ACE2, CPB2, AGT, MME, ANPEP, ENPEP, CTSZ, CTSD, CES1, and ATP6AP2 high expressions with high macrophage infiltration in HCC ICME revealed significantly worse 2-year cumulative survival. Conclusion(s): We demonstrate that ACE2 was strongly associated with HCC clinical survival with macrophage infiltration. However, the bidirectional translational roles about ACE2 relevant genes in HCC should be documented.
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Background: Anticipating the correlation between SARS-CoV-2 infection and ‘triplenegative breast cancer (TNBC)' remains challenging. It has been reported that people currently diagnosed with cancer have a higher risk of severe complications if they are affected by the viral infection. Cancer treatments, including chemotherapy, targeted therapies, and immunotherapy, may weaken the immune system and possibly cause critical lung damage and breathing problems. Special attention must be paid to the ‘comorbidity condition' while estimating the risk of severe SARSCoV- 2 infection in TNBC patients. Hence the work aims to study the correlation between triplenegative breast cancer (TNBC) and SARS-CoV-2 using biomolecular networking.Methods: The genes associated with SARS CoV-2 have been collected from curated data in Bio- GRID. TNBC-related genes have been collected from expression profiles. Molecular networking has generated a Protein-Protein Interaction (PPI) network and a Protein-Drug Interaction (PDI) network. The network results were further evaluated through molecular docking studies followed by molecular dynamic simulation.Results: The genetic correlation of TNBC and SARS-Cov-2 has been observed from the combined PPI of their proteins. The drugs interacting with the disease's closely associated genes have been identified. The docking and simulation study showed that anti-TNBC and anti-viral drugs interact with these associated targets, suggesting their influence in inhibiting both the disease mutations.Conclusion: The study suggests a slight influence of SARS-CoV-2 viral infection on Triple Negative Breast Cancer. Few anticancer drugs such as Lapatinib, Docetaxel and Paclitaxel are found to inhibit both TNBC and viral mutations. The computational studies suggest these molecules are also useful for TNBC patients to control SARS-CoV-2 infection.
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Viral RNA in fine (< 5 µm) aerosols from 13 patients infected by the SARS-CoV-2 virus were obtained using the Gesundheit-II (G-II) equipment which collects respiratory emissions. The collection was performed in isolation wards of the National Centre for Infectious Diseases of Singapore under an approved protocol. The patients breathed normally for 30 minutes, talk, and sing for 15 minutes each (with 30 minutes rest in between activity) into a specially designed aerosol collector in two size fractions. The coarse fraction (> 5 µm) and the fine aerosols (< 5 µm) are subsequently collected and subjected to PCR analysis for their viral load quantification. Viral RNA detected from 59% of the patients showed that patients earlier in illness were more likely to emit detectable RNA, and loads differed significantly between breathing, talking, and singing. © 2022 17th International Conference on Indoor Air Quality and Climate, INDOOR AIR 2022. All rights reserved.
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Through and after the quarantine period of the COVID-19 epidemic, Mobile Applications developed for different purposes and goals, such as contacts and patient tracing, digital services, monitoring and testing, epidemiological research, and quarantine compliance. The main aim of this study is to highlight the effect of mobile pandemic applications in Iraqi society and the trustworthiness of developers and distributors of apps. To this end, we explored differences in the attitudes of smartphone users toward pandemic apps and shared the data to conduct research. The method adopted to achieve the Survey in this study is an Email and telephone-based Survey of (318) participants adults over 18 years old in Iraq. We used a total of (315) for Statistical Analysis. This 9-item Survey examined the current use of epidemic applications, motivations for using them, trust in app distributors, data handling, willingness to share coded data with researchers using a pandemic app, attitudes toward app use among people, demographics, and personal characteristics. The results of this study showed that most participants stated they were using smartphones (307/315, 97.5), but only (77/307, 24.4) were using pandemic apps on their smartphones. Intriguingly, in this Survey, when participants asked for the preferable organizations for storing data and application division, trust in federal or state government, regional health office, public-appointed such as statutory health insurance, or government-funded organizations (research institutes) was much higher than in private organizations (private research institutions, clinics, health insurances, information technology companies). © University of Garmian. All Rights Reserved.
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Objective Neonatal bronchiolitis is not well characterized. We studied the profile of acute bronchiolitis in term newborns during a respiratory syncytial virus (RSV) surge following relaxation in coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) appropriate behavior.Methods This was a retrospective descriptive study performed in the neonatology division of a tertiary care pediatric hospital at Srinagar, Jammu and Kashmir, India. Term neonates (born at =37 completed gestational weeks) from 7 up to 28 days of life admitted with bronchiolitis over a 1-month period (November 2021) were included.Results Out of total 480 neonatal admissions over a month, 35 (7%) had acute bronchiolitis. Eight neonates were excluded. Out of 27 included neonates, 13 were males. Mean age at presentation was 20 days. All neonates were born at term (=37 completed gestational weeks). Cough (26), rapid breathing (20), and lower chest indrawing (20) were the predominant presenting features. Median SPO2 was 87% (interquartile range 85-92%). Fourteen (52%) neonates needed admission to neonatal intensive care unit. Respiratory support was needed in the form of oxygen through nasal prongs in 24 (89%) newborns. Heated humidified high-flow nasal cannula (HHHFNC) and bubble continuous positive airway pressure were used in five neonates each. Two neonates were mechanically ventilated. The mean duration of the hospital stay was 6.2 days. All neonates survived.Conclusion A series of 27 term neonates with bronchiolitis during an RSV surge is reported in the aftermath of lifting of COVID-19 restrictions. Many of these neonates were sick enough to require significant respiratory support. The outcome was good in all neonates.
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The transition from secondary education to university education has become a critical moment for the lifestyle of young people, especially for the practice of physical activity. Therefore, the main objective of the present study was to assess the levels of physical activity in university students, by correlating the results of the IPAQ-SF and the different physical fitness variables (Eurofit). The sample consisted of 194 students of the Primary Education Degree, with a mean age of 21.37 +/- 2.66 years. The main results obtained reflect the direct relationship between the practice of physical activity in general, and vigorous physical activity in particular, and optimal physical fitness of university students, linked above all to the strength component. As for the comparison between prepandemic ( 18/19) and post-pandemic (21/ 22) university students, the increase in physical activity after the pandemic did not show substantial differences in the physical fitness components. In conclusion, these results should lead us to reflect on the influence of an active lifestyle on physical fitness, which has an impact on overall health status and quality of life.
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Classification of uncertain conditions requires computational modeling to obtain exact non-vague results for making the right decision, such as opening and closing school cases during a pandemic. We cannot rely solely on normative and textual government regulations because of numerous constraints and uncertainty in implementation. Unsupervised classification techniques can deal with such issues without needing prior references that contain definitive hesitancy. This motivates us to use a fuzzy system based on knowledge-based composition rules for complex problems such as the dynamics of COVID-19 because of its ability to adapt to changes and uncertainties. Therefore, we construct rules based on knowledge about COVID-19 to the issue of opening/closing schools using three fuzzy approaches: conventional fuzzy, intuitionistic fuzzy system (IFS), and fuzzy c-means (FCM). We can demonstrate a correlation between the number of school openings and the COVID-19 dynamics by utilizing the fuzzy approach to reduce the degree of hesitance. Experiments on available public time-series datasets demonstrate that the IFS is more efficient in forming rigidly distinct two classes. The results indicate that the accuracy of IFS is 99.47%, FCM is 91.28, and conventional FS is 84.33%, including the IFS silhouette score, which is higher than the others, at 0.91 or closer to 1, indicating excellent classification results. IFS is less superior in running time, while FCM is the fastest. This is because there are multiple stages in the IFS by considering non-membership functions © 2023, International Journal of Intelligent Engineering and Systems.All Rights Reserved.
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This work focuses on the development of a portable physiological monitoring framework that can continuously monitor the patient's heartbeat, oxygen levels, temperature, ECG measurement, blood pressure, and other fundamental patient's data. As a result of this, the workload and the chances of being infected by COVID-19 of the health workers will be reduced and an efficient patient monitoring system can be maintained. In this paper, an IoT based continuous monitoring system has been developed to monitor all COVID-19 patient conditions and store patient data in the cloud server using Wi-Fi Module-based remote communication. In this monitoring system, data stored on IoT platform can be accessed by an authorized individual and ailments can be examined by the doctors from a distance based on the values obtained. If a patient's physical condition deteriorates, the doctor will immediately receive the emergency alert notification. This model proposed in this research work would be extremely important in dealing with the Corona epidemic around the world. © 2022 IEEE.
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Objective: to investigate the relationship between procalcitonin in the differential diagnosis of bacterial coinfection in COVID-19 patients. Method: a cross-sectional retrospective study conducted between February and March 2021 in the Intensive Care Unit of a public hospital from southern Brazil by filling in a form. Descriptive statistical analyses were performed, as well as of association between variables. Results: of the 231 patients, 28.14% presented infection (63.20% in the lungs), 25% had bacteria isolated, 77.49% used antimicrobials and, in 14.72% of the cases, procalcitonin > 2 ng/mL. There was a significant association between antimicrobial use and infection (p=0.001), isolation of bacteria (p<0.001), topography of the infection (p<0.001) and procalcitonin values (p<0.001). Procalcitonin use showed an association with bacterial infection (p<0.001), isolation of bacteria (p<0.001), antimicrobial use (p=0.001) and death (p<0.001). Conclusion: procalcitonin can reduce empirical antimicrobial use and stimulate detection and identification of pathogens, taking into account the clinical and epidemiological data. © 2023, Universidade Federal do Parana. All rights reserved.
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We analyze the impact of COVID-19 vaccine announcements by leading vaccine companies on the financial and commodity markets from January to December 2020. We show that the vaccine announcements had varied and economically significant impacts on asset prices. The announcements moved interest rates, stock markets in the U.S. and numerous other countries as well as commodities used in transportation and some agricultural commodities. We show that the stock and commodity markets that experienced larger declines at the beginning of the pandemic receive a larger boost from good vaccine news. We also find that the vaccine news affects stock returns through changes in the expectations of the corporate cash flows and the expected equity risk premium. © 2023 The Eastern Finance Association.
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Aims. The aim is to study the features of life and the incidence rate of anxiety and depressive disorders among medical faculty students studying remotely during the epidemic of a new coronavirus infection (Covid 19) at the Kabardino-Balkarian State University named after H.M. Berbekov. Materials and methods. We examined 335 students (34% males, 66% females) at the Faculty of Medicine in November- December 2020. The average age of the students examined was 20.3+/-2.3 years. The study included an anonymous mail survey to examine educational conditions, lifestyle, levels of anxiety and depression. Results. 43.8% of the students had insufficient sleep duration, 58.5% had low physical activity, in 24.8% of them we recorded high levels of situational anxiety and in 82.1% of them personal anxiety, in 7.1% of the students we recorded clinically expressed anxiety and 1.8% had clinically expressed depression. During the transition to remote learning, students increased the time use to prepare for classes (51.2%) and the duration of sleep (61.5%), while their physical activity decreased (76.5%). Statistically significant linear correlations were identified between the level of anxiety and depression and the duration of sleep, low physical activity, preparation time for classes, academic performance, and academic debt. Conclusions. The results obtained by us can be used to optimize the educational process, as well as to preserve the mental health of students during the transition to distance learning.Copyright © 2020 Novyi Russkii Universitet. All rights reserved.
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After a full year of intermittent observation of pandemic conditions, this research analyzes the way street life of neighborhoods in two Southeast Asian cities has adapted to government-intensified sanitation measures, scarcity of essential goods and services, and movement restrictions that characterize the persistence of the COVID-19 influenza in selected sites in and around Manila, in the Philippines and in Hanoi, Vietnam. This study describes how citizens negotiate the morbid geography - the reshaping of public space as well as its encompassed social, institutional and economic processes in response to the pervasive state of pandemic - in relation to well-meaning but sometimes draconian government health regulations in the Global South. We draw on the dynamics of institutional strategy and citizen tactics as a theoretical lens, as informed by literature on coping and transgressive practices. Learning from comparable patterns of citizens' everyday life on the streets, even in countries with distinct administrative traditions, the study highlights the significance of agency under crisis and emphasizes the different meanings of public space for varied social groups. It suggests how urban planning and administration can be improved to prepare cities for future health emergencies and make them more resilient. © The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer Nature Switzerland AG 2022.
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BACKGROUND: The Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-1 9) pandemic's impact on essential health services is of great concern. The most important step in managing any patient with chronic disease is compliance with follow-up visits.AIM: This study aims to assess healthcare services during the period of the COVID-1 9 pandemic lockdown regarding chronic patient visits and care, as well as to assess patient satisfaction with the provision of healthcare services during the lockdown period.METHODS: A cross-sectional study was performed at Cairo University Specialized Children Hospital, Egypt, through an interview questionnaire with the caregivers of chronic patients about the health care services throughout the COVID-19 pandemic from December 2020 to July 2021.RESULTS: More than 60% were satisfied with the healthcare service provision during the COVI D-1 9 pandemic lockdown. Satisfaction toward medical sub-specialties was significantly higher than that of surgical ones. Patients who attended for follow-up m arkedly decreased during the lockdown.CONCLUSION: During the COVI D-1 9 pandemic, healthcare service provision was negatively affected. Follow-up of chronic patients and continued medical care were challenging points.