Epidemiological, clinical and imaging characteristics of female prisoners with definite COVID-19 in a prison in the southwest, Iran, 2020

Purpose>Prisoners are at greater risk of infectious diseases compared to the general population. While imprisoned, it is often difficult to observe Coronavirus 2019 (COVID-19) prevention strategies such as social distancing. To the authors’ knowledge, no study has been conducted worldwide to examine the condition of female prisoners with COVID-19. Therefore, this study aims to investigate the epidemiological, clinical and imaging characteristics of prisoners with COVID-19 in Ahvaz Women’s Prison (southwest, Iran).Design/methodology/approach>The data for this descriptive cross-sectional study was collected using a checklist including epidemiological information, clinical symptoms, X-ray and computed tomography scan findings of the chest, underlying diseases and the final status of all female prisoners whose COVID-19 test was positive.Findings>This study included 139 female prisoners with COVID-19 with a mean age of 37.19 ± 12.67 years. The most common underlying diseases were hypertension (14.4%), obesity (10.8%) and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (9.4%). The most common symptoms at the onset of the disease were myalgia (59.0%), cough (41.0%) and dyspnea (37.4%). The most common radiological symptoms were ground-glass opacity (12.9%) and atelectasis (7.2%). In terms of extension of involvement, both lungs were involved in 8.6% of patients. In terms of zonal involvement, the lower lobes were more involved (8.6%). In terms of involvement position, the most common was sub-pleural (10.1%). None of the patients died.Originality/value>Because the incidence, morbidity and mortality rate of COVID-19 in the prison population are likely to differ from those of the public. This study sought to investigate the situation of prisoners with COVID-19 in Ahvaz Prison, Khuzestan Province. To the best of the authors’ knowledge, this is the first worldwide study in this regard in women’s prisons.

Epidemiological, clinical and imaging characteristics of female prisoners with definite COVID-19 in a prison in the southwest, Iran, 2020

Purpose Prisoners are at greater risk of infectious diseases compared to the general population. While imprisoned, it is often difficult to observe Coronavirus 2019 (COVID-19) prevention strategies such as social distancing. To the authors' knowledge, no study has been conducted worldwide to examine the condition of female prisoners with COVID-19. Therefore, this study aims to investigate the epidemiological, clinical and imaging characteristics of prisoners with COVID-19 in Ahvaz Women's Prison (southwest, Iran). Design/methodology/approach The data for this descriptive cross-sectional study was collected using a checklist including epidemiological information, clinical symptoms, X-ray and computed tomography scan findings of the chest, underlying diseases and the final status of all female prisoners whose COVID-19 test was positive. Findings This study included 139 female prisoners with COVID-19 with a mean age of 37.19 +/- 12.67 years. The most common underlying diseases were hypertension (14.4%), obesity (10.8%) and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (9.4%). The most common symptoms at the onset of the disease were myalgia (59.0%), cough (41.0%) and dyspnea (37.4%). The most common radiological symptoms were ground-glass opacity (12.9%) and atelectasis (7.2%). In terms of extension of involvement, both lungs were involved in 8.6% of patients. In terms of zonal involvement, the lower lobes were more involved (8.6%). In terms of involvement position, the most common was sub-pleural (10.1%). None of the patients died. Originality/value Because the incidence, morbidity and mortality rate of COVID-19 in the prison population are likely to differ from those of the public. This study sought to investigate the situation of prisoners with COVID-19 in Ahvaz Prison, Khuzestan Province. To the best of the authors' knowledge, this is the first worldwide study in this regard in women's prisons.

Imaging characteristics of initial chest computed tomography and clinical manifestations of patients with COVID-19 pneumonia.

PURPOSE: To investigate the chest CT imaging characteristics and clinical manifestations of patients with COVID-19 pneumonia. METHODS: This study included 150 patients with COVID-19 pneumonia diagnosed from January 10 to February 12, 2020 to analyze their clinical and CT imaging characteristics. RESULTS: The period between symptom onset and initial CT examination ranged from 1 to 8 days. There were 83 cases (55.33%) involving both lungs, 67 cases (44.67%) involving a single lung (left 25 cases and right 42 cases). There were 49 cases (32.67%) of single intrapulmonary lesion, 33 cases (22.00%) of multiple intrapulmonary lesions, 68 cases (44.00%) of diffused intrapulmonary lesions, 67 cases (44.67%) of subpleural lesions, 24 cases (16.00%) of lesions localizing along the bronchovascular bundles, and 59 cases (39.33%) with lesions in both locations. There were 18 cases (12.00%) exhibiting ground-glass nodules of < 10 mm, 124 cases (82.67%) of patchy ground-glass opacities with or without consolidation, 8 cases (5.33%) of cord-like lesions, 6 cases (4.00%) of pleural effusion, and 2 cases (1.33%) of enlarged lymph nodes. CONCLUSIONS: The main manifestations of initial chest CT in COVID-19 pneumonia patients was ground-glass opacities, commonly involving single site in patients < 35 years old and multiple sites and extensive area in patients > 60 years old. The common lesion sites were the subpleural region and the posterior basal segments of the lower lobes, mostly showing thickening of the interlobular septum and mixed with consolidation.

Imaging characteristics of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) in pediatric cases: a systematic review and meta-analysis.

BACKGROUND: The confirmed coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) cases, caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2), have exceeded 21 million (with more than 775,000 fatalities), and the number of children with COVID-19 is also increasing. This study aimed to summarize the chest imaging characteristics of pediatric COVID-19 cases and provide a reference for the diagnosis and control of pediatric COVID-19. METHODS: The study protocol was registered in PROSPERO, number CRD42020177391. Studies related to pediatric COVID-19 imaging manifestations were accessed from PubMed, Web of Science, and the Cochrane library databases, without language limitations. The publication date was limited to April 1, 2020, and it was updated on May 1 and May 27, 2020. Data normalization was determined with the Freeman-Tukey double arcsine transformation. Summarized incidences with 95% confidence intervals of various imaging manifestations were assessed by random-effects models. Heterogeneity was assessed with meta-regression and subgroup analyses, robustness with sensitivity analyses; and publication biases with Egger's test. RESULTS: Twenty-three with 517 cases were included in this study. The summarized incidence of chest computed tomography abnormalities in pediatric COVID-19 cases was 70%, which was lower than what has been seen in adults. The incidence of halo signs in pediatric COVID-19 cases was 26%, which is rarely seen in adult COVID-19 cases. The incidences of ground-glass opacities (GGOs), GGOs and consolidations, consolidations, reverse halo signs, crazy paving signs, pleural effusion, bronchopneumonia-like signs, air bronchograms, and increased lung markings were 40%, 25%, 10%, 2%, 4%, 1%, 15%, 12%, and 31%, respectively. Pericardial effusions were found in the computed tomography images of adult COVID-19 cases but were scarcely seen in the computed tomography images of pediatric COVID-19 cases. The incidences of bilateral lesions, unilateral lesions, and peripheral lesions were 35%, 22%, and 26%, respectively. CONCLUSIONS: Chest computed tomography imaging of pediatric COVID-19 cases resulted in various abnormalities that were milder than those of adults. This study will hopefully provide a reference to help identify pediatric COVID-19 cases.

Clinical and Imaging Characteristics in Patients with SARS-CoV-2 Infection and Acute Intracranial Hemorrhage.

BACKGROUND AND PURPOSE: Intracranial hemorrhage has been observed in patients with severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) infection (COVID-19), but the clinical, imaging, and pathophysiological features of intracranial bleeding during COVID-19 infection remain poorly characterized. This study describes clinical and imaging characteristics of patients with COVID-19 infection who presented with intracranial bleeding in a European multicenter cohort. METHODS: This is a multicenter retrospective, observational case series including 18 consecutive patients with COVID-19 infection and intracranial hemorrhage. Data were collected from February to May 2020 at five designated European special care centers for COVID-19. The diagnosis of COVID-19 was based on laboratory-confirmed diagnosis of SARS-CoV-2. Intracranial bleeding was diagnosed on computed tomography (CT) of the brain within one month of the date of COVID-19 diagnosis. The clinical, laboratory, radiologic, and pathologic findings, therapy and outcomes in COVID-19 patients presenting with intracranial bleeding were analyzed. RESULTS: Eighteen patients had evidence of acute intracranial bleeding within 11 days (IQR 9-29) of admission. Six patients had parenchymal hemorrhage (33.3%), 11 had subarachnoid hemorrhage (SAH) (61.1%), and one patient had subdural hemorrhage (5.6%). Three patients presented with intraventricular hemorrhage (IVH) (16.7%). CONCLUSION: This study represents the largest case series of patients with intracranial hemorrhage diagnosed with COVID-19 based on key European countries with geospatial hotspots of SARS-CoV-2. Isolated SAH along the convexity may be a predominant bleeding manifestation and may occur in a late temporal course of severe COVID-19.