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In order to analyze the impact of COVID-19 prevention and control measures on the hotspots of residential burglary, the data of crimes that occurred during the First Level Response period of Major Public Health Emergencies in Beijing in 2020 and the same period in 2019 were collected, and the changes of hotspots during the two periods were compared by using kernel density estimation and predictive accuracy index. Consequently, the environmental features such as street network, point of interest (POI) diversity, crime locations, and repeat victimization in significantly varied hotspot areas were investigated. The results show that: 1) After the outbreak of the pandemic, the occurrence of residential burglary in the core urban areas of Beijing dropped significantly, and daily occurrence of crimes during the First Level Response period in 2020 decreased by 66.8% compared with the same days in 2019. 2) The eight major hotspots that existed in 2019 apparently declined during the corresponding days in 2020, five of them basically disappeared, and three hotspots weakened. 3) The declined hotspots were generally clustered around traffic hubs, areas with high diversity of POIs, clustered crimes, and repeat victimizations. 4) Home isolation and social restriction strategies implemented during the First Level Response period reduced the opportunities of offenders, and the real-name inspection adopted in public places increased the exposure risk of offenders, which are the main reasons for the hotspots decline during the pandemic. This work has some implications for crime prevention and police resources optimization during the pandemic. © 2023, Editorial office of PROGRESS IN GEOGRAPHY. All rights reserved.
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Inclusive digital financial services should welcome older populations and make them beneficiaries of the digital and financial revolution. To understand older adults' experience of using digital financial tools, we conducted an online survey of 268 older internet users aged 60 or above from urban areas of 14 Chinese provinces after China's nationwide COVID-19 lockdown in 2021. Our results revealed that older internet surfers were active in digital financial activities and engaged most with activities that were highly compatible with their lifestyles. Active users significantly differed from inactive users in sociodemographics, confirming that a digital divide related to social stratification exists among older internet users. Digital finance active users were also distinguished from inactive users' attitudes and perceptions toward digital finance. Logistic regression results indicated that perceived usefulness, access to proper devices for digital finance, risk perceptions, and perceived exclusion if not using technology were associated with their adoption of these advanced tools. Older adults reported the perceived inconvenience of in-person financial services during the lockdown. They also expressed a willingness to participate in relevant training if provided. The findings of this study could help aging-related practitioners to understand older adults' engagement in digital finance and guide policy and project design in the area of financial inclusion of the aging population.
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The COVID-19 pandemic has hit hard the Indonesian economy. Many businesses had to close because they could not cover operational costs, and many workers were laid off creating an unemployment crisis. Unemployment causes people's productivity and income to decrease, leading to poverty and other social problems, making it a crucial problem and great concern for the nation. Economic conditions during this pandemic have also provided an unusual pattern in economic data, in which outliers may occur, leading to biased parameter estimation results. For that reason, it is necessary to deal with outliers in research data appropriately. This study aims to find within-group estimators for unbalanced panel data regression model of the Open Unemployment Rate (OUR) in East Kalimantan Province and the factors that influence it. The method used is the within transformation with mean centering and median centering processing methods. The results of this study may provide advice on factors that can increase and decrease the OUR of East Kalimantan Province. The results show that the best model for estimating OUR data in East Kalimantan Province is the within-transformation estimation method using median centering. According to the best model, the Human Development Index (HDI) and Gross Regional Domestic Product (GRDP) are two factors that influence the OUR of East Kalimantan Province (GRDP). © 2023, International Association of Engineers. All rights reserved.
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Urban scaling law quantifies the disproportional growth of urban indicators with urban population size, which is one of the simple rules behind the complex urban system. Infectious diseases are closely related to social interactions that intensify in large cities, resulting in a faster speed of transmission in large cities. However, how this scaling relationship varies in an evolving pandemic is rarely investigated and remains unclear. Here, taking the COVID- 19 epidemic in the United States as an example, we collected daily added cases and deaths from January 2020 to June 2022 in more than three thousand counties to explore the scaling law of COVID- 19 cases and city size and its evolution over time. Results show that COVID- 19 cases super- linearly scaled with population size, which means cases increased faster than population size from a small city to a large city, resulting in a higher morbidity rate of COVID- 19 in large cities. Temporally, the scaling exponent that reflects the scaling relationship stabilized at around 1.25 after a fast increase from less than one. The scaling exponent gradually decreased until it was close to one. In comparison, deaths caused by the epidemic did not show a super-linear scaling relationship with population size, which revealed that the fatality rate of COVID-19 in large cities was not higher than that in small or medium-sized cities. The scaling exponent of COVID- 19 deaths shared a similar trend with that of COVID- 19 cases but with a lag in time. We further estimated scaling exponents in each wave of the epidemic, respectively, which experienced the common evolution process of first rising, then stabilizing, and then decreasing. We also analyzed the evolution of scaling exponents over time from regional and provincial perspectives. The northeast, where New York State is located, had the highest scaling exponent, and the scaling exponent of COVID- 19 deaths was higher than that of COVID-19 cases, which indicates that large cities in this region were more prominently affected by the epidemic. This study reveals the size effect of infectious diseases based on the urban scaling law, and the evolution process of scaling exponents over time also promotes the understanding of the urban scaling law. The mechanism behind temporal variations of scaling exponents is worthy of further exploration. © 2023 Science Press. All rights reserved.
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The COVID-19 pandemic and the policy measures imposed to contain the virus affected people's health and lifestyles. Based on data available to the Federal Agency "Statistics Austria”, this paper asks about the impact of the pandemic years 2020 and 2021 (and partly beyond) on the Austrian demographics and population. It shows that mortality increased significantly during this period but varied by waves of infection also with the introduction of different policy measures (e.g., lockdowns). There are also changes in the number of births over the course of the pandemic, which can be interpreted through insecurities related to lockdowns and vaccinations. People who wanted to marry or get divorced during the pandemic years were confronted with closed offices and restrictions on holding celebrations, which is why there were significantly fewer marriages and divorces. International migration dropped significantly, especially in the spring of 2020, when European and global mobility was severely restricted, with differences between people of different nationalities. This was also reflected in the number of asylum applications filed in Austria. Migrations within Austria were strongly reduced during the first lockdown in 2020, all further lockdowns had less influence on them. However, in 2020 and 2021 there were several phases in which more people moved from urban to rural areas than before the pandemic. The number of registered secondary residences – which took on new relevance in the context of mobility restrictions and the use of home offices – also changed: overall, their number increased during the pandemic, but in many municipalities, deregistrations of seasonal workers were also noticeable. © 2022 Austrian Geographical Society. All rights reserved.
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It is important to evaluate medical imaging artificial intelligence (AI) models for possible implicit discrimination (ability to distinguish between subgroups not related to the specific clinical task of the AI model) and disparate impact (difference in outcome rate between subgroups). We studied potential implicit discrimination and disparate impact of a published deep learning/AI model for the prediction of ICU admission for COVID-19 within 24 hours of imaging. The IRB-approved, HIPAA-compliant dataset contained 8,357 chest radiography exams from February 2020-January 2022 (12% ICU admission within 24 hours) and was separated by patient into training, validation, and test sets (64%, 16%, 20% split). The AI output was evaluated in two demographic categories: sex assigned at birth (subgroups male and female) and self-reported race (subgroups Black/African-American and White). We failed to show statistical evidence that the model could implicitly discriminate between members of subgroups categorized by race based on prediction scores (area under the receiver operating characteristic curve, AUC: median [95% confidence interval, CI]: 0.53 [0.48, 0.57]) but there was some marginal evidence of implicit discrimination between members of subgroups categorized by sex (AUC: 0.54 [0.51, 0.57]). No statistical evidence for disparate impact (DI) was observed between the race subgroups (i.e. the 95% CI of the ratio of the favorable outcome rate between two subgroups included one) for the example operating point of the maximized Youden index but some evidence of disparate impact to the male subgroup based on sex was observed. These results help develop evaluation of implicit discrimination and disparate impact of AI models in the context of decision thresholds © COPYRIGHT SPIE. Downloading of the is permitted for personal use only.
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BackgroundThis study was aimed to investigate whether patients with epilepsy (PWE) have higher depression and anxiety levels than the normal population in low-risk areas for coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) in the northern part of Guizhou Province, China, during the COVID-19 epidemic, to evaluate their knowledge on COVID-19, and to analyze related factors for the psychological distress of PWE at this special time.MethodsThe survey was conducted online from February 28, 2020 to March 7, 2020 via a questionnaire. PWE from the outpatient clinic of epilepsy of the Affiliated Hospital of Zunyi Medical University, and healthy people matched for age and sex, participated in this study. Mental health was assessed via a generalized anxiety self-rating scale (GAD-7) and the self-rating depression scale (PHQ-9). The knowledge of COVID-19 in both groups was investigated.ResultsThere were no significant differences in the general demographics between the PWE and healthy control groups. The scores of PHQ-9 (P < 0.01) and GAD-7 (P < 0.001) were higher in the PWE group than in the healthy group. There was a significant difference in the proportions of respondents with different severities of depression and anxiety, between the two groups, which revealed significantly higher degree of depression and anxiety in PWE than in healthy people (P = 0, P = 0). Overwhelming awareness and stressful concerns for the pandemic and female patients with epilepsy were key factors that affect the level of anxiety and depression in PWE. Further, the PWE had less accurate knowledge of COVID-19 than healthy people (P < 0.001). There was no statistically significant difference between the two groups in the knowledge of virus transmission route, incubation period, susceptible population, transmission speed, clinical characteristics, and isolation measures on COVID-19 (P > 0.05). PWE knew less about some of the prevention and control measures of COVID-19 than healthy people.ConclusionsDuring the COVID-19 epidemic, excessive attention to the epidemic and the female sex are factors associated with anxiety and depression in PWE, even in low-risk areas.
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Objectives: Social determinants of health (SDoH) including income, education, employment, and housing are known to affect health outcomes;while use in real-world database studies are limited. This study assessed socioeconomic differences in burden of disease and utilization of COVID-19 specific medications in a large cohort of patients in the US. Method(s): A total of 17,682,111 patients having a COVID-19 diagnosis between 4/1/2020 and 4/30/2022 were identified in the IQVIA longitudinal medical and pharmacy claims databases of >277 million patients. For SDoH, a 3-digit zip code median Area Deprivation Index (ADI) (v2.0 University of Wisconsin School of Medicine and Public Health 2015) was calculated for each patient, maintaining patient privacy. The ADI is a validated tool ranking neighborhoods by socioeconomic disadvantage. Medical and pharmacy utilization was assessed and stratified by ADI pentiles, where 0-20 was the least disadvantaged, and 81-100 was the most disadvantaged. Result(s): The proportion of patients having a claim with COVID-19 diagnosis was higher in the most disadvantaged (7.75%) compared to the least disadvantaged group (5.94%) (US overall: 6.37%). Medical claims prior to COVID-19 diagnosis were highest in the least disadvantaged, while prior pharmacy utilization was highest in the most-disadvantaged group. There was sparse use of COVID-19 medications overall;the least disadvantaged patients had the lowest use of COVID-19 specific medications. Casirivimab/imdevimab use was highest in the 61-80 (2.01%) and 81-100 (1.79%) ADI groups, and remdesivir use was highest in the moderately disadvantaged (ADI 41-60 and 61-80) groups (both 2.33%). Utilization of hydroxychloroquine (unapproved for COVID-19) increased from 0.91% in the least to 2.13% in the most disadvantaged groups. Conclusion(s): This study shows unequal burden of COVID-19 prevalence by SDoH, with the most disadvantaged having a higher disease burden and utilization of certain approved and unapproved COVID-19 medications, highlighting the need for further study of the reasons for these disparities.Copyright © 2023
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Healthy lifestyle promotion from the perspective of state policy, journalism, healthcare, sociology, and psychology was analyzed. The objective of the study was to analyze changes in the financial and agitation state policy aimed at increasing the motivational activity of citizens of the Russian Federation towards a healthy lifestyle (HLS) in the Soviet era and at the post-Soviet stage and assess the effectiveness of these measures. The effectiveness of the Soviet propaganda of healthy lifestyles among the population was evaluated. Crisis phenomena in public health, low persuasiveness of the media presentation of the healthy lifestyle value, the COVID-19 pandemic, difficulties in implementing corporate health promotion programs in the workplace at individual en-terprises, and ignoring gender stereotypes in attitudes to health are the reasons that contribute to the adherence of Russian workers to unhealthy behaviors, that cause an increase in the incidence of chronic non-communicable diseases. The historical aspect of changes in state policy for health promotion made it possible to determine the tasks in developing health-saving programs.Copyright © 2023, Media Sphera Publishing Group. All rights reserved.
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The economic crisis caused by Covid-19 differs from previous economic crises in several ways. It is a global event that developed unexpectedly and hit the world unprepared, primarily attacking human resources, requiring strong governmental measures. The involvement of the human sphere directly affected people's income and lives through labour market effects. Based on literature and statistical data, this study analyses the evolution of the unemployment data of 11 countries (Australia, Chile, the UK, Israel, Japan, China, Hungary, Germany, Italy, Turkey, and the US) and two country groups (EU-27 and the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development - OECD) during the economic crisis. Based on the results, the authors identified three distinct groups of countries with 1. moderate growth, slow consolidation;2. robustious upturn, fast then slow correction, and 3. individual patterns. The study demonstrated how government measures took effect differently from the unemployment perspective. The authors referred to the influence of the inhabitants' collective way of thinking and considered it essential to emphasise the positive impact of vaccines.
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Sustainable agriculture is the backbone of food security systems and a driver of human well-being in global economic development (Sustainable Development Goal SDG 3). With the increase in world population and the effects of climate change due to the industrialization of economies, food security systems are under pressure to sustain communities. This situation calls for the implementation of innovative solutions to increase and sustain efficacy from farm to table. Agricultural social networks (ASNs) are central in agriculture value chain (AVC) management and sustainability and consist of a complex network inclusive of interdependent actors such as farmers, distributors, processors, and retailers. Hence, social network structures (SNSs) and practices are a means to contextualize user scenarios in agricultural value chain digitalization and digital solutions development. Therefore, this research aimed to unearth the roles of agricultural social networks in AVC digitalization, enabling an inclusive digital economy. We conducted automated literature content analysis followed by the application of case studies to develop a conceptual framework for the digitalization of the AVC toward an inclusive digital economy. Furthermore, we propose a transdisciplinary framework that guides the digitalization systematization of the AVC, while articulating resilience principles that aim to attain sustainability. The outcomes of this study offer software developers, agricultural stakeholders, and policymakers a platform to gain an understanding of technological infrastructure capabilities toward sustaining communities through digitalized AVCs.
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Housing quality and affordability are well established as social determinants of health through direct and indirect mechanisms. Respiratory illnesses related to housing are nearly all the result of housing disrepair that allows intrusion into the home of environmental agents that are directly or indirectly associated with disease. Structural deficiencies such as leaks, cracks in the foundation or holes in the home's exterior can facilitate the presence of mould, which is causally linked to the development of asthma and is associated with exacerbation of asthma symptoms in children and adults. Indoor cleanliness can also contribute to the presence of mice and cockroaches. Proper ventilation can improve air quality, reducing exposure to PM, VOCs and infectious respiratory agents. Disparities in exposure to the housing conditions associated with respiratory disease are readily apparent across socioeconomic lines. Low-income families are less likely to be able to afford the costs of maintaining a home, which prevents them from making repairs that could improve respiratory health.Copyright © ERS 2023.
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Population growth and urbanization increasingly put pressure on our planet's availability of areas needed for food production. The dependencies on domestically produced food are increasingly judged favourable, following the consequences of the Ukrainian war, with escalating fuel and grain prices and less accessibilities to low-income groups. It is, however, unclear whether land is domestically available. Applying a food system approach, the main aim of this article is to investigate spatial foodsheds and theoretical self-sufficiency for food production needed to supply increasing future populations in a selection of cities, including estimates for Dhaka in Bangladesh, Nairobi in Kenya and Kampala in Uganda. The projected foodshed scenario areas for the years 2020 and 2050 are estimated for the production of three core products currently extensively produced and consumed in the three countries. They show that it is not possible to feed an ever-increasing urban population based on domestic production alone. International trade, new technological developments and new consumer demands for less area-intensive food production systems may give solutions to the immense challenge of feeding the world's population with nutritious food in 2050. However, to ensure fair and inclusive transition pathways for low-income groups: (1) affordability and accessibility of trade opportunities, technologies and products, (2) a common vision aiming for the SDGs, including SDG2: Zero hunger and SDG11: Sustainable Cities and Communities as well as (3) best practices in co-creation and cooperation with the most vulnerable urban and rural populations, are highly needed.
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Aims: Children and adolescents were affected in various ways by the measures due to COVID-19 pandemic. The aims of this study were to investigate and compare the effects on mental health across age, to identify latent class trajectories of emotional and behavioural problems over 12-months and to examine the association of classes of trajectories with baseline demographic and clinical predictors. Method(s): Children (n = 1854) and adolescents (n = 1243) from the general population were assessed baseline, at 6-, 9-, and 12-month follow-up. They were eligible if they were residents in Austria, Germany, or Switzerland, were parents/caregivers of a child aged between 7 and 10 years or adolescents >=11 years, had sufficient German language skills and provided informed consent. Results and Conclusion(s): Significant age-effects were found regarding type and frequency of problems. While children had the largest increase in aggressive behaviours, adolescents reported the largest increase in emotional problems. Sociodemographic variables, exposure to and appraisal of COVID-19, psychotherapy before COVID-19 and parental mental health significantly predicted change in problemscores (F >= 3.69, p <= .001). Using growth mixture modelling, a oneclass solution was detected for the trajectory of aggressive behaviours and a two- and three-class solution for withdrawn/depression and anxiety/depression. A substantial proportion of children and adolescents experienced age-related mental health problems during the different stages of the COVID-19 pandemic. These results suggest that psychological problems of specific sub-groups should be monitored over the longer-term and interventions to improve communication, emotion regulation, and appraisal style should be offered to risk groups.
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BackgroundThe exact pathogenesis of fibromyalgia (FM) syndrome is unclear. However, different infections including hepatitis C virus, Human immunodeficiency virus and Lyme disease have already been implicated with the development of FM after their acute phase[1]. Imbalance between pro-inflammatory and anti-inflammatory cytokines has been suggested as a possible mechanism that facilitates the neuropathic pain[2].ObjectivesTo investigate the incidence of FM syndrome among convalesced individuals following hospitalization for Acute Coronavirus Disease-2019 (COVID-19) and to identify possible risk factors.MethodsWe performed a cross-sectional study on patients who were discharged after COVID-19 hospitalization from the Sheba Medical Center, Israel, between July 2020 to November 2020. A phone interview was performed consisting of the following questionnaires: the Fibromyalgia Survey Diagnostic Criteria Questionnaire, Sense of Coherence Questionnaire to evaluate resilience, and the Subjective Traumatic Outlook Questionnaire to assess the associated psychological aspects of the trauma. The incidence of post-COVID FM was calculated and regression models were performed to identify predictors.ResultsThe study population consisted of 198 eligible patients who completed the phone interview. The median age was 64 (52-72) and 37% were women. The median follow-up was 5.2 months (IQR 4.4-5.8). The incidence of FM was 15% (30 patients) and 87% (172 patients) had at least one FM-related symptom. Female gender was significantly associated with post-COVID FM (OR 3.65, p=0.002). In addition, high median Subjective Traumatic Outlook scores and low median Sense of Coherence scores were both significantly associated with post-COVID FM (OR 1.19, p<0.001 and OR 0.92, p<0.001, respectively).ConclusionFM is highly prevalent among COVID-19 convalescent patients. Our finding suggests that a significant subjective traumatic experience and a low resilience are highly associated with post-COVID FM.References[1]Buskila D, Atzeni F, Sarzi-Puttini P. Etiology of fibromyalgia: the possible role of infection and vaccination. Autoimmun Rev. 2008;8: 41-43. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.autrev.2008.07.023[2]Amital M, Ben-Shabat N, Amital H, Buskila D, Cohen AD, Amital D. COVID-19 associated hospitalization in 571 patients with fibromyalgia—A population-based study. PLoS ONE. 2021:16: e0261772. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0261772Acknowledgements:NIL.Disclosure of InterestsNone Declared.
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BackgroundSystemic lupus erythematosus (SLE) is an autoimmune disease, which presents an immune disorder that leads to the production of autoantibodies with potential involvement of multiple organs. Infections are one of the most frequent causes of hospitalization and death in lupus patients, and SARS-CoV-2 infection has been a global threat since March 2020. Immunization of these patients has been strongly recommended, although vaccine evaluation studies have not included this profile of patients.ObjectivesTo evaluate the immunogenicity and safety after 2 doses of the vaccine against SARS-CoV2 in patients with SLE.MethodsSubgroup of SLE patients from the prospective multicenter cohort of patients with immune-mediated diseases "SAFER” – Safety and Efficacy on COVID-19 Vaccine in Rheumatic Disease, a phase IV study. Vaccination against SARS-CoV-2 took place with vaccines approved by Brazilian regulatory bodies CoronaVac (Inactivated SARS-CoV-2 Vaccine), ChadOx-1 (AstraZeneca) and BNT162b2 (Pfizer-BioNTech) and this project followed in line with the guidelines of the National Immunization Plan in Brazil. Patients aged 18 years or older with a previous diagnosis of SLE (according to the 2019 ACR/EULAR criteria) were included. Patients were evaluated by telephone contact and in a face-to-face visit on the 28th day after each dose. Patients were followed up by means of blood collection for measurement of IgG antibody against SARS-COV-2 by chemiluminescence and disease activity assessed using SLEDAI-2K score.ResultsA total of 367 individuals with SLE were included, of whom 207 received 2 doses of CoronaVac, 128 received 2 doses of ChadOx-1 and 32 received 2 doses of BNT162b2. 90% of the subjects were female with a mean age of 37 years. About 42% (154) of the individuals included did not have any other associated comorbidity. 50% (182) of patients were using oral glucocorticoids and azathioprine was the most frequent immunosuppressive therapy. Regarding disease activity parameters, 38% (140) of patients had zero SLEDAI-2K at baseline and 41% (147) had zero SLEDAI-2K 28 days after the 2nd dose. Anti-DNA positivity was 30.7% (16/52) at inclusion and 32.6% (17/52) 28 days after the 2nd dose. Complement consumption was present in 18% (10/55) at inclusion and in 14.5% (8/55) 28 days after the 2nd vaccine dose. The geometric mean titers of IgG antibodies against SARS-COV-2 increased in the different vaccine groups, log 2.27 BAU/mL at inclusion and log 5.58 BAU/mL 28 days after the 2nd dose. Antibody titers after second dose varied between different vaccines, 4.96 BAU/mL CoronaVac, 6.00 BAU/mL ChadOx-1 and 7.31 BAU/mL BNT162b2 vaccine, p < 0.001. Only 3.54% (13/367) patients had covid-19 infection after the 15th day of the second dose of immunization, 9 of them having received 2 doses of CoronaVac, 4 of them of ChadOx-1 and none of them receiving BNT162b2, with p-value of 0.63.ConclusionThis study suggests that vaccines against SARS-COV-2 are safe in SLE patients. Induction of immunogenicity occurred in different vaccine regimens. Only 3.5% of individuals had COVID-19 infection with no difference between the types of vaccines evaluated. Future analyzes to explore the association of the effect of immunosuppressive medication, as well as the impact of booster doses and longer follow-up on clinical outcome will be performed.References[1]Mason A, et al. Lupus, vaccinations and COVID-19: What we know now. Lupus. 2021;30(10):1541-1552.[2]Furer V, Eviatar T, Zisman D, et al. Immunogenicity and safety of the BNT162b2 mRNA COVID-19 vaccine in adult patients with autoimmune inflammatory rheumatic diseases and in the general population: A multicentre study. Ann Rheum Dis. 2021;80(10):1330-1338.[3]Izmirly PM, Kim MY, Samanovic M, et al. Evaluation of Immune Response and Disease Status in SLE Patients Following SARS-CoV-2 Vaccination. Arthritis Rheumatol. Published online 2021.Acknowledgements:NIL.Disclosure of InterestsNone Declared.
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Objectives: The prospective, longitudinal, community-based CONTACT study aimed to improve our understanding of COVID-19 immunity, and other characteristics related to SARS-CoV-2 long-term, including the assessment of health-related quality of life (HRQoL) at baseline and over time by infection status. Method(s): Participants living or working in Lake County, IL were recruited between November 2020 and January 2021. At baseline and follow up visits (3-, 6-, and 9-Months-M-), participants self-reported their occupational exposure, COVID-19 vaccination status and provided nasal and blood serum specimens for molecular (RT-PCR) and serologic (IgG) testing to detect current or previous SARS-CoV-2 infection. HRQoL questionnaires EQ-5D-5L were completed online approximately within two weeks post-testing (at 0.5, 3.5, 6.5, and 9.5 months) after results were communicated. EQ-5D-5L information was described and stratified by COVID-19 status at baseline, 3M, 6M and 9M - software: SAS-v9.4. Result(s): Data from 1008 participants were analyzed. Participants testing positive to COVID-19 were 56/952, 48/751, 40/693, and 19/654, respectively, at baseline, 3M, 6M, and 9M. Of the five domains of EQ-5D-5L, a higher percentage of participants who tested positive for COVID-19 reported having no anxiety or depression versus those who tested negative: at baseline (55.4% [31/56] vs 50.5% [481/952]);3M (68.8% [33/48] vs. 56.3% [423/751]);6M (67.5% [27/40] vs. 56.3% [390/693]);and 9M (73.7% [14/19] vs. 60.4% [395/654]). Median Visual Analogue Scale (VAS) score was at least 2 points higher at all time- points for participants who tested positive except at last visit (baseline: 89.0 vs. 87.0;3M: 88.0 vs. 86.0;6M: 87.5 vs. 85.0;9M: 85.0 vs. 87.0) Conclusion(s): This analysis provides insight into participant HRQoL burden at enrollment and over time when a positive test to COVID-19 was communicated. At all time-points, anxiety or depression was experienced by more participants who tested negative versus those who didn't.Copyright © 2023
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The sudden onset of the 2019 SARS-CoV-2 pandemic required agile development of standards and efficient validation of assays to assess prevalence of infection as well as immune responses to infection and vaccination. Leveraging their experience in HPV serology and standards, the Vaccine, Immunity and Cancer Directorate (VICD) at the Frederick National Laboratory for Cancer Research (FNCLR) pivoted to address this unmet need in SARS-Co-V2 serology clinical testing and research. This standardization effort required the collection and processing of large volumes of blood from SARS-Co-V2 infected and uninfected individuals into serum and peripheral blood mononuclear cells (PBMCs). Collaborations with specimen collection sites across the United States were established. Following qualification for anti-SARS-CoV-2 IgG and IgM levels in independent laboratories, VICD assembled reference evaluation panels, which were used to assist the FDA's performance evaluation of commercial assays submitted for EUA approval. To date, 185 different shipments of the standard or validation panel have been sent to both domestic and international labs. These materials are also available to the SARS-CoV-2 serology community for assay calibration and performance evaluation which greatly facilitates assay data harmonization. In addition, the NCI Serological Sciences Network (SeroNet) was born from this initiative and expertise, resulting in the establishment of Capacity Building Centers (CBCs) for sample collection from different healthy, cancer and immunocompromised cohorts at Mount Sinai, Arizona State University, the University of Minnesota, and Northwell Feinstein. The NCI and FNLCR simultaneously collaborated to develop a network of investigators focused on advancing research on the immune response to SARS-CoV-2 infection and vaccination among diverse and vulnerable populations, including cancer patients. Their research has resulted in over 326 peer-reviewed publications. The CBC's have enrolled patients in longitudinal studies, resulting in a centralized collection of annotated, well characterized serum, PBMCs and clinical data. Numerous cancer cohorts, but predominantly Multiple Myeloma, are included. Furthermore, technology development was supported at the CBC's. Based upon this success, the VICD in collaboration with NCI is pursuing an even more innovative effort in pandemic preparedness to establish a Center for Serology and Data Emergency Preparedness (CESDEP);a global network able to activate and pivot to address pandemic-level threats, while continuing to expand the development of immunological assays that can inform clinical decisions for cancer and other immunocompromised patients.
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Introduction: Cancer patients have a high risk of severe COVID-19 and complications from it. Although the COVID-19 pandemic has led to an increase in the conduction of clinical trials (CTs), there is a scarcity of data on CT participation among cancer patients. We aimed to describe the level of participation in a COVID-19 CT, willingness to participate, as well as trust in sources of information for CTs among persons with and without a previous cancer diagnosis in Puerto Rico. Method(s): Data collected from November 2021 to March 2022 from two cross-sectional studies were merged and used for analysis. Informed consent, telephone, face-to-face, and online interviews were conducted among participants >=18 years old living in Puerto Rico (n=987). Descriptive statistics and bivariate analysis (Fisher's exact text and chi-squared test) was done to describe the outcomes of interest, overall and by cancer status. Result(s): Mean age of participants was 41+/-15.5 years. Most participants were women (71.3%), with an educational level greater than high school (89.5%) and with an annual family income below $20,000 (75.1%). Overall, 4.4% of participants (n=43) reported history of cancer diagnosis. Only 1.8% of the population reported to have participated in a COVID-19 CT to receive either a treatment or vaccine;stratifying by cancer, none of the cancer patients had participated in a COVID-19 CT, and only 1.9% of non-cancer patients participated. While 37.0% of the participants indicated being very willing to sign up for a CT assessing COVID-19 treatment, willingness was higher in cancer patients (55.8%) than among participants without cancer (36.1%). Regarding trust in sources of information for CTs, the level of trust ("a great deal/a fair amount") was higher for their physicians (87.6%), researchers (87.0%), the National Institute of Health (86.7%), their local clinics (82.9%), and a university hospital (82.7%), while it was lower for a pharmaceutical company (64.0%), and for friend, relative, or community leader (37.6%);no differences were observed by cancer status. Conclusion(s): While participation in COVID-19 CTs was extremely low in the study population, the willingness to participate was higher among cancer patients. Education on CTs and their availability are necessary to increase participation in this understudied group. Such efforts will enhance the representation of Hispanic and vulnerable populations, such as cancer patients, on COVID-19 CTs, and thus proper generalizability of study findings in the future.