Decreased Frequency of Small Talk Due to the COVID-19 Pandemic Has Deteriorated Mental Health: Findings From Longitudinal Surveys of Middle-Aged and Older People in Japan.

The coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) has reduced opportunities for small talk. As small talk involves socializing, such deprivation can be stressful. This study examined the association between the change in the frequency of small talk from before to during the pandemic and the mental health of middle-aged and older people. We obtained data from web-based longitudinal surveys for members of a Japanese social networking service. People who felt their small talk frequency decreased during the pandemic compared with the prepandemic period had lower psychological well-being and greater loneliness than those who did not. Our study quantitatively revealed the importance of small talk during the pandemic in maintaining people's mental health.

Predictive factors of persistent dyspnea after COVID-19 pneumonia

Persistent dyspnea (PD) is a common symptom in long Covid-19 syndrome. The aim of our study was to identify the prevalence and the predictive factors of PD This is a prospective study of patients infected with mild to severe SARS COV2 pneumonia and followed up at consultation dedicated to post COVID syndrome 4 weeks after infection. Dyspnea was assessed by the modified Medical Research Counsil score mMRC. Symptoms of post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) were assessed by Posttraumatic Stress Disorder Checklist5 and retained if score>23. The diagnosis of hyperventilation syndrome was made through the use of the Nijmegen questionnaire with a score>23. Post-COVID-19 Functional Status (PCFS) scale has been filled. Result(s): A total of 254 patients were enrolled. The population was majority male (62%) with a median age of 64 years old. One month after the infection, 53.2 % of the patients reported a PD and it was grade 1 or 2 mMRC in 87% of cases. PD was correlated with the severity of the initial dyspnea during the infection(16%,40%and 48% of patients suffered from mild,moderate and severe dyspnea respectively ;p=0.04). The initial presence of cough (65% ;p=0.007) and asthenia (89% ;p=0.003) were predictive factors of PD Women were more likely to report PD (p<0.001;p=0.041). There were no difference with the degree of scanner impairment, smoking status, and hospital stay with PD. Impairment of QL, hyperventilation syndrome(21% ;p=0.007) and PTSD(60% ;p<0.001)were associated with PD Conclusion(s): PD is common in women and not associated with the severity of scanner impairment. Furthermore, dyspnea has an important impact on physical status and mental health in patients with post-COVID syndrome.

Patient Monitoring and Medicine Dispenser Robot

Medications are the key instruments for preventing and effectively managing chronic illness;however, despite their significance and well-known benefits, proper medication use remains a hurdle for patients and doctors both. People frequently fail to take their medications as prescribed, resulting in poor clinical outcomes, higher healthcare costs, and negative effects for workforce productivity and public health. The patient monitoring and medicine dispenser robot keen advantage lies in multi-tasking. A patient’s well-being is taken care at crucial times. The main objective of this robot is to provide proper medication at regular time intervals. Yes, this robot, patient monitoring and medicine dispenser robot will be the interface between the patient and the doctor. Human to human contact is the most prevalent way for airborne infections to spread, hence in this scenario, our robot will administer patient medicines at regular intervals. Pills will be placed in a proper manner;the tablet is given to patients in their own hands using a robotic arm and it is precisely given to every patient inside a room. Temperature check is mandatory infra-red technology is used to measures the temperature without any touch to avoid infection we can also get immediate and accurate temperature measurement. This can be used not only in hospital wards but also in old age homes, people who need proper medical assistance during pandemic situations and those who have physical disability. No airborne diseases such as corona virus and COVID-19, common cold, influenza etc., will spread because everything is maintained by the robot. The voice signal of the patients is acquired through a microphone and processed by serial voice recognition module and the voice input is stored in a SD card. The inclusion of camera, speaker and microphone will provide a healthy communication between doctors and patients. The required direction and accurate coordinates of the robot is determined is using calibration of gyroscope, magnetometer and accelerometer. Also, our robot is subjected to certain limitations. © 2022 American Institute of Physics Inc.. All rights reserved.

Predictors and Consequences of Not Seeking Healthcare during the COVID-19 Pandemic: Findings from the HEAF Cohort.

The COVID-19 pandemic resulted in a dramatic reduction of routine healthcare availability in many European countries. Among a cohort of English middle-aged adults, we explored pre-pandemic and pandemic factors associated with not seeking healthcare during lockdown, and their effect on subsequent self-reported health measures. Longitudinal data from the Health and Employment After Fifty (HEAF) cohort were used. Pre-pandemic data came from the 5th annual follow-up (2019), when participants were aged 56-71 years, and pandemic data were collected by e-survey in February 2021 and November 2021. Response rates of the two e-surveys were 53% and 79%, respectively. Pre-pandemic predictors of not seeking healthcare were: female gender, higher BMI, higher comorbidity, poorer self-rated health and depression; non-care seekers were also more likely to report that family or friends were affected by COVID-19 and to have been advised to shield. Not seeking healthcare during lockdown was associated with a higher risk of reporting worsening of physical, but not mental, health during the later phase of the pandemic. In this cohort, those with generally poorer health were disproportionately more likely to not seek healthcare during lockdown, which may potentially exacerbate pre-existing inequalities and lead to longer-term health consequences.

Occupational disruptions during lockdown, by generation: A European descriptive cross-sectional survey

Introduction The periods of lockdown during 2020 led to changes in daily occupations. As participation relies on dynamic interactions between the person, his/her occupations and his/her environment, we wondered whether people from different generations shared the same perception of occupational disruptions during the lockdown. Methods We performed an online survey based on the Canadian Occupational Performance Measure (COPM) of adults in 27 European Union countries, the United Kingdom and Switzerland. Three groups were compared: young adults (YAs, aged 18–39), middle-aged adults (MAs, aged 40–59) and older adults (OAs, aged 60 and over). Results 2865 participants (YAs: 47%;MAs: 33%;OAs: 20%) reported a total of 6549 disrupted occupations. The most frequently disrupted domain was leisure (83%), followed by productivity (16%) and self-care (2%);there were no significant intergroup differences (p = 0.18). In a multivariate analysis, socializing disruptions were more likely to be associated with younger age (adjusted odds ratio (OR) [95% confidence interval (CI)] = 0.62 [0.50–0.76] for YAs versus MAs and 0.46 [0.30–0.71] for YAs versus OAs. Conclusion With the exception of socializing, the main disrupted occupations were similar from one generation to another. Our findings might enable the more accurate assessment of the risk of occupational disruption in a restrictive environment.

Recommendations on the practice of resistance training for older people during the COVID-19 pandemic

Resistance training (RT) is an alternative exercise modality that can promote and preserve the physical health and independence of older people during the COVID-19 pandemic. The purpose of this integrative review was to analyze the scientific production related to RT recommendations aiming at enhancing the functional performance and muscle function in older people during the COVID-19 pandemic. Sensitive searches were conducted in MEDLINE / PubMed, Embase, and Web of Science using the descriptors "coronavirus infection" and "resistance training". Articles published in English, Spanish, or Portuguese were considered without date restriction. Results: In the initial search, 139 articles were retrieved;13 were pre-selected and 7 were eligible considering the research question. The evidence presented suggests that home RT through bodyweight-based exercises represents an effective intervention strategy that positively impacts on the quality of life in older people.

Covid-19 and Aged People: A Scientometric Analysis of High-Cited Publications

Background: The study analyzed and evaluated the scientific research on "Covid-19 and Aged People" to find out the current status of research and to identify significant players (countries, organizations and authors) and important topics from the 469 high-cited publications receiving 100 and more citations using bibliometric methods. Methods: High-cited publications published from December 2019 to June 2021 were identified and analyzed. A list keywords were identified for Covid-19 ("Covid 19" or "2019 novel Coronavirus" or "Coronavirus 2019" or "Coronavirus disease 2019" or "2019-novel CoV" OR "2019 ncov" or "Covid 2019" or "Covid-19" or "Corona virus 2019" or "ncov-2019" or "ncov2019" or "nCoV 2019" or "2019-ncov" or "covid-19" or "Severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2" or "SARS-CoV-2") and Aged People ("Aged" or "Elderly" or "Old" or "Very Elderly") and these keywords are used for search on the topic of study (the title, , keywords). Results: A total of 469 high-cited publications were obtained on this topic, which registered 449.5 citations per paper and witnessed the participation of 64 countries, with China, USA and U.K. leading in global publication productivity (with 189, 162 and 70 publications each) and China (687.25), Singapore (409.20) and Switzerland (396.41) leading in citation impact per paper. The 2123 organizations and 5896 authors participated in these 469 high-cited publications. Huazong University of Science and Technology, China, Wuhan University, China and University of Oxford, U.K. leads in publications productivity (with 66, 37 and 20 publications each) and Capital Medical University, China, University of Hong Kong (1454.6) and Shanghai Jiao Tong University, China leads in citations impact per paper. L. Liu, J. Chen and Y. Hu leads in publications productivity (with 16, 13 and 13 publications each) and Y. Liu (17100.5), Y.Hu (15395.5) and L. Zhang (15079.0) leads in citations impact per paper. New England Journal of Medicine, Lancet and JAMA - Journal of the American Medical Association leads in both publication productivity and citations impact per paper. The keywords that appeared most were "Covid-19" and "Aged People" which had a strong links with "mortality", "hospitalization", "hypertension", "respiratory failure", "diabetes mellitus", "chronic kidney failure", "anxiety:, "depression" and "mental health". Conclusion: The current bibliometric analysis provides information about the quantity and quality of research in this area based on published literature. It provides information on current status of research in this area to decision-makers and practicing scholars and provides important clues about upcoming research topics for future research.

Prescription Habits Related to Chronic Pathologies of Elderly People in Primary Care in the Western Part of Romania: Current Practices, International Recommendations, and Future Perspectives Regarding the Overuse and Misuse of Medicines.

The European Commission's 2019 report regarding the state of health profiles highlighted the fact that Romania is among the countries with the lowest life expectancy in the European Union. Therefore, the objectives of the present study were to assess the current prescription habits of general physicians in Romania related to medicines taken by the elderly population for chronic conditions in both urban and rural setting and to discuss/compare these practices with the current international recommendations for the elderly (American-Beers 2019 criteria and European-STOPP/START v.2, 2015 criteria). A total of 2790 electronic prescriptions for chronic pathologies collected from 18 community pharmacies in the western part of Romania (urban and rural zones) were included. All medicines had been prescribed by general physicians. We identified the following situations of medicine overuse: 15% of the analyzed prescriptions involved the use of nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drugs (NSAIDs) for >2 weeks, 12% involved the use of a proton-pump inhibitor (PPI) for >8 weeks, theophylline was the bronchodilator used as a monotherapy in 3.17% of chronic obstructive pulmonary disease cases, and zopiclone was the hypnotic drug of choice for 2.31% of cases. Regarding the misuse of medicines, 2.33% of analyzed prescriptions contained an angiotensin-converting enzyme (ACE) inhibitor and an angiotensin II receptor blocker (ARB) for patients with renal failure in addition to vitamin K antagonists (AVKs) and NSAIDs in 0.43% of cases. Prescriptions for COX2 NSAIDs for periods longer than 2 weeks for patients with cardiovascular disorders accounted for 1.33% of prescriptions, and trihexyphenidyl was used as a monotherapy for patients with Parkinson's disease in 0.18% of cases. From the included medical prescriptions, 32.40% (the major percent of 2383 prescriptions) had two potentially inappropriate medications (PIMs). Rural zones were found to be risk factor for PIMs. Decreasing the chronic prescription of NSAIDs and PPIs, discontinuing the use of hypnotic drugs, and avoiding potentially harmful drug-drug associations will have long term beneficial effects for Romanian elderly patients.

The Age Structure, Stringency Policy, Income, and Spread of Coronavirus Disease 2019: Evidence From 209 Countries.

This article aims at answering the following questions: (1) What is the influence of age structure on the spread of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19)? (2) What can be the impact of stringency policy (policy responses to the coronavirus pandemic) on the spread of COVID-19? (3) What might be the quantitative effect of development levelincome and number of hospital beds on the number of deaths due to the COVID-19 epidemic? By employing the methodologies of generalized linear model, generalized moments method, and quantile regression models, this article reveals that the shares of median age, age 65, and age 70 and older population have significant positive impacts on the spread of COVID-19 and that the share of age 70 and older people in the population has a relatively greater influence on the spread of the pandemic. The second output of this research is the significant impact of stringency policy on diminishing COVID-19 total cases. The third finding of this paper reveals that the number of hospital beds appears to be vital in reducing the total number of COVID-19 deaths, while GDP per capita does not affect much the level of deaths of the COVID-19 pandemic. Finally, this article suggests some governmental health policies to control and decrease the spread of COVID-19.