A comparative analysis of the outcomes of patients with influenza or COVID-19 in a tertiary hospital in Belgium.

INTRODUCTION: The COVID-19 pandemic has emerged as a global health problem, associated with high morbidity and mortality rates. The aim of this study was to compare the outcomes of hospitalized patients with COVID-19 or with seasonal influenza in a teaching hospital in Belgium. METHODS: In this retrospective, single-center cohort study, 1384 patients with COVID-19 and 226 patients with influenza were matched using a propensity score with a ratio of 3:1. Primary outcomes included admission to intensive care unit (ICU), intubation rates, hospital length of stay, readmissions within 30 days and in-hospital mortality. Secondary outcomes included pulmonary bacterial superinfection, cardiovascular complications and ECMO. RESULTS: Based on the analysis of the matched sample, patients with influenza had an increased risk of readmission within 30 days (Risk Difference (RD): 0.07, 95% CI: 0.03 to 0.11) and admission to intensive care unit (RD: 0.09, 95% CI: 0.03 to 0.15) compared with those with COVID-19. Patients with influenza had also more pulmonary bacterial superinfections (46.2% vs 7.4%) and more cardiovascular complications (32% vs 3.9%) than patients with COVID-19.However, a two-fold increased risk of mortality (RD: -0.10, 95% CI: 0.15 to -0.05) was observed in COVID-19 compared to influenza. ECMO was also more required among the COVID-19 patients who died than among influenza patients (5% vs 0%). CONCLUSIONS: COVID-19 is associated with a higher in-hospital mortality compared to influenza infection, despite a high rate of ICU admission in the influenza group. These findings highlighted that the severity of hospitalized patients with influenza should not be underestimated.

IN-CLASS AND ONLINE TEACHING OF MATHEMATICS – A COMPARISON OF STUDENTS’ OUTCOMES AT THE MIDTERM EXAMS

The paper describes the results of the case study where the students’ outcomes in the mathematics midterm exams were compared regarding the type of teaching method used during the course: in-class or online. In the analyses, various factors such as prior knowledge of math from secondary school, engagement in learning activities, and success in e-lessons were taken into account. The results of the case study could not confirm any significant difference in the average outcomes of students from both groups. We can therefore conclude that the type of teaching method (in-class or online), as well as the method of knowledge examination, have no significant impact on students’ outcome. Furthermore, the results also showed that the students who took the course online expressed a higher level of engagement in comparison to those who participated in class. Their greater engagement in learning activities can be explained through the fact that the online course took place during lock-down due to the COVID-19 pandemic in Slovenia. Namely, the strong lock-down measures disable the students to perform various extracurricular activities, which can result in their stronger motivation to perform study activities on a regular basis. © 2021 Samo Drobne – Lidija Zadnik Stirn – Mirjana Kljajić Borštnar – Janez Povh – Janez Žerovnik