ABSTRACT
OBJECTIVE: To compare the mental health of undergraduates before the COVID-19 pandemic lockdown to their mental health one year later. PARTICIPANTS: Data from the American College Health Association (ACHA)'s National College Health Assessment III (ACHA-NCHAIII) were used, averaging a sample size of 54,844 undergraduate students and 106 schools nationwide per time point of assessment in the study. METHODS: Secondary analyses of the ACHA-NCHAIII compared undergraduates' scores on five measures of mental health measures (loneliness, psychological distress, suicidality, flourishing, and resilience) from Spring 2020 to Spring 2021. RESULTS: Undergraduates' responses showed an increase in loneliness, psychological distress, and suicidality as well as a decrease in flourishing and resilience. CONCLUSIONS: The worsening of undergraduates' mental health calls for greater action by schools to alleviate students' distress and improve their wellbeing.
ABSTRACT
In order to determine the impact of COVID-19 on the treatment and outcomes in patients with proximal femoral fracture's (PFF), we analyzed a national US sample. This is a retrospective review of American College of Surgery's (ACS) National Surgical Quality Improvement Program (NSQIP) for patients with proximal femoral fractures. A total of 26,830 and 26,300 patients sustaining PFF and undergoing surgical treatment were sampled during 2019 and 2020, respectively. On multivariable logistic regression, patients were less likely to have 'presence of non-healing wound' (p < 0.001), functional status 'independent' (p = 0.012), undergo surgical procedures of 'hemiarthroplasty'(p = 0.002) and 'ORIF IT, Peritroch, Subtroch with plates and screws' (p < 0.001) and to be 'alive at 30-days post-op' (p = 0.001) in 2020 as compared to 2019. Patients were more likely to have a case status 'emergent', 'loss of ≥10% body weight', discharge destination of 'home' (p < 0.001 for each) or 'leaving against medical advice' (p = 0.026), postoperative 'acute renal failure (ARF)' (p = 0.011), 'myocardial infarction (MI)' (p = 0.006), 'pulmonary embolism (PE)' (p = 0.047), and 'deep venous thrombosis (DVT)' (p = 0.049) in 2020 as compared to 2019. Patients sustaining PFF and undergoing surgical treatment during pandemic year 2020 differed significantly in preoperative characteristics and 30-day postoperative complications when compared to patients from the previous year.
ABSTRACT
Since the beginning of 2020, COVID-19 has been the biggest public health crisis in the world. To help develop appropriate public health measures and deploy corresponding resources, many governments have been actively tracking COVID-19 in real time within their jurisdictions. However, one of the key unresolved issues is whether COVID-19 was distributed differently among different age groups and between the two sexes in the ongoing pandemic. The objectives of this study were to use publicly available data to investigate the relative distributions of COVID-19 cases, hospitalizations, and deaths among age groups and between the sexes throughout 2020; and to analyze temporal changes in the relative frequencies of COVID-19 for each age group and each sex. Fifteen countries reported age group and/or sex data of patients with COVID-19. Our analyses revealed that different age groups and sexes were distributed differently in COVID-19 cases, hospitalizations, and deaths. However, there were differences among countries in both their age group and sex distributions. Though there was no consistent temporal change across all countries for any age group or either sex in COVID-19 cases, hospitalizations, and deaths, several countries showed statistically significant patterns. We discuss the potential mechanisms for these observations, the limitations of this study, and the implications of our results on the management of this ongoing pandemic.
ABSTRACT
BACKGROUND: The coronavirus disease (COVID-19) pandemic is the biggest global economic and health challenge of the century. Its effect and impact are still evolving, with deaths estimated to reach 40 million if unchecked. One effective and complementary strategy to slow the spread and reduce the impact is to trace the primary and secondary contacts of confirmed COVID-19 cases using contact tracing technology. OBJECTIVE: The objective of this paper is to survey strategies for digital contact tracing for the COVID-19 pandemic and to present how using mobile positioning data conforms with Nigeria's data privacy regulations. METHODS: We conducted an exploratory review of current measures for COVID-19 contact tracing implemented around the world. We then analyzed how countries are using mobile positioning data technology to reduce the spread of COVID-19. We made recommendations on how Nigeria can adopt this approach while adhering to the guidelines provided by the National Data Protection Regulation (NDPR). RESULTS: Despite the potential of digital contact tracing, it always conflicts with patient data privacy regulations. We found that Nigeria's response complies with the NDPR, and that it is possible to leverage call detail records to complement current strategies within the NDPR. CONCLUSIONS: Our study shows that mobile position data contact tracing is important for epidemic control as long as it conforms to relevant data privacy regulations. Implementation guidelines will limit data misuse.