Humoral Immunity Response of COVID-19 Vaccine and Adverse Effect Among Solid Cancer Patient: A Prospective Cross-Sectional Study

Background and aim: Patients with cancer are at an increased risk for morbidity and mortality from coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19). Although cancer patients should have the priority for vaccination against SARS-CoV-2, data on vaccine immunogenicity and safety against severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus-2 (SARS-CoV-2) are scarce. The aim of this prospective study was to investigate the safety and efficacy of Pfizer-BioNTech's COVID-19 vaccine (BNT162b2) in solid cancer patients receiving active chemotherapy. Methods: We evaluated the safety and immunogenicity of BNT162b2 vaccine in 51 solid cancer patients undergoing active therapy in Azadi Hematology -- Oncology center in Duhok city. The serum IgG antibody titer for S1 protein was measured by using VIDAS at pre-vaccination and 14-30 days after the second dose. The adverse events of vaccine were collected by a standardized questionnaire. Results: From 51 patients, most were metastatic (35, 68.63%), stage IV (28,54.90%). Females were more than males (36, 70.59%), (15, 29.41%) respectively. The most common types of cancer were breast (16, 31.37%), colon (8, 15.69%). Anti-S1 antibody level was significantly high. Fifty patients were seropositive (98.04%). Vaccine showed high safety profile;most of the adverse effects were mild to moderate. Most of the side effects recovered over 1-3 days. Injection site reactions were the most frequent local adverse effects after first and second doses, 17.6% and 52.9, respectively. On the other hand, most prevalent systemic adverse effects were fever (17.65%, 44.00%), headache (16.00%, 21.57%), and myalgia (35.29%, 5.88%) after first and second doses, respectively. Conclusion: the COVID-19 vaccine acceptance rate was high (89.36%). The seropositivity, following BNT162b2 vaccine, was extremely high (98.04) among cancer patient on active chemotherapy. The vaccine showed good tolerance and an excellent safety profile. Hence, it should be strongly recommended for such a risky vulnerable group to SARSCoV- 2. Breast cancer showed significantly higher seropositivity in comparison to colon cancer, which may be attributed to chemotherapy regimen, degree of immunosuppression, and gender factors. [ FROM AUTHOR] Copyright of Journal of Pharmaceutical Negative Results is the property of ResearchTrentz and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full . (Copyright applies to all s.)

Memory impairment among recovered COVID-19 patients: The prevalence and risk factors, a retrospective cohort study.

The aim of this study is to demonstrate the prevalence of the long-term side effects of COVID-19, namely memory impairment among recovered patients, and obtaining the associated factors that link with memory impairment. It is a cross-sectional retrospective cohort study, that has been conducted from September to November 2022 in Iraq. People who were previously infected with COVID-19 were included. The study was performed by asking people to complete a questionnaire platform by either online or face-to-face interview. The Memory Assessment Clinic-Q (MAC-Q) test was utilized, scores that are equal or higher than 25 are indicative of memory decline. Thousand two hundred and eighty-seven participated in this study. However, only 1157 were included in the final analysis. Three hundred ninety-nine (34.49%) have memory impairment after COVID-19 recovery. Female gender, older age group, repeated exposure to COVID-19 infections, severe diseases, and exposure to multiple SARS-CoV-2 variants were independent risk factors of memory deficit in post-COVID-19 survivors with a p-value of 0.0001, 0.02, 0.0001, 0.001, 0.0001 respectively. It is crucial to pay particular attention to psychosocial rehabilitation of such risky groups. COVID-19 vaccine administrations with booster shots are necessary steps to decrease the disease incidence and avoid subsequent post-COVID-19 symptoms.

COVID-19 vaccine breakthrough infection among fully vaccinated healthcare workers in Duhok governorate, Iraqi Kurdistan: A retrospective cohort study.

The aims of this study were: to determine the incidence of Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome Coronavirus-2 (SARS-CoV-2) infection among vaccinated healthcare workers (HCWs), assess risk factors associated with the vaccine breakthrough (BT), and compare the effectiveness of vaccine manufacturers against SARS-CoV-2 variant of concern among HCWs in Duhok governorate. It is a multicenter retrospective cohort study, which enrolled 944 HCWs through March 2022. COVID-19 vaccinated HCWs aging 18 and above were included. A random sampling process was performed by asking the participants to fill out a standardized questionnaire by means of interviews or participant-completed surveys. Fully vaccinated HCWs with positive polymerase chain reaction tests were considered to have vaccine BT infection. Two hundred and eighty-four (30.1%) out of 944 vaccinated HCWs had SARS-CoV-2 infection postvaccination, of whom 241 (84.9%) were fully vaccinated, concluding that the incidence of BT infection is 25.5%. There were 422 (44.7%) males and 522 (55.3%) females. Most vaccine BT infections had developed in SARS-CoV-2 Omicron variant (53.5%). The majority of BT infections were mild to moderate (95.5%). Occupation, namely dentist was a significant risk factor, with a p value of 0.001. HCWs with a history of SARS-CoV-2 infection prevaccination were more prone to a vaccine BT infection (p value =0.002). Pfizer vaccine manufacturers revealed the highest effectiveness against BT infection (p value =0.0001). Paramedics showed a significant association with the disease severity (p value =0.02). The three available vaccine manufacturers in the Duhok governorate are effective against COVID-19 BT infections. Dentists and paramedics were significantly associated with poor COVID-19 outcomes.

Clinical and epidemiological characteristics and outcomes of Coronavirus disease-19 patients in a large longitudinal study.

OBJECTIVE: This study aimed to determine the clinical and epidemiological characteristics and outcomes of Coronavirus disease (COVID)-19 patients. METHODS: In this large cohort study, 15,409 confirmed patients with the COVID-19 of different severities were followed-up from three specialized COVID-19 hospitals between March 18 and October 11, 2020 in Iraqi Kurdistan. The predictors of mortality and severity were examined in binary logistic regression analysis. RESULTS: The incidence rate of severe/critical status was 12.3% with a median age of 36.0 and case fatality rate (CFR) of 1.98%. The incidence rate of severe/critical conditions and CFR rose with increased age groups; except for 0-14 years (11.9%). The incidence rate of severe/critical patients and CFR was 8.3% and 0.5%, 21.1% and 4.0%, and 23.7% and 8.7% in 15-49 years, 50-64 years, and 65 and older age groups, respectively. The severity of the disease and CFR was associated with coexisting chronic diseases such as cardiovascular diseases (18.2% and 3.1%) and diabetes mellitus (19.8% and 3.4%). The asymptomatic patients (8400 and 54.5%) had statistically higher CFR; 2.3% versus 1.6% (P = 0.006). The most common symptoms on diagnosis were fever (31.9%), cough (23.5%), loss of smell/taste (16.3%), sore throat (15.7%), shortness of breath (9.8%), and headache (9.5%). The results showed that being older was the only predictor of mortality and severity in COVID-19 patients. CONCLUSIONS: This region has a low incidence of severe-critic status and CFR. The patients with coexisting medical conditions are more likely to have severe conditions and die of COVID-19. The older age predicts severe/critic status and higher CFR.

Potential adverse effects of COVID19 vaccines among Iraqi population; a comparison between the three available vaccines in Iraq; a retrospective cross-sectional study.

AIMS: the objectives of this study are to reveal the potential side effects after taking the covid19 vaccines, associated risk factors with severe side effects, and to compare the three COVID-19 vaccines available in Iraq (Sinopharm, AstraZeneca-Oxford and Pfizer- BioNTech). METHODS: a randomized cross-sectional study was conducted in April 2021. A standardized questionnaire platform was utilized to collect information about the Iraqi population. RESULTS: 1012 were enrolled in the study, 60.2% were male and 39.8% were female. 84% were symptomatic post vaccination. Young aged participants, females, participants with history of COVID19 infection, those with comorbid diseases and AstraZeneca vaccine receivers were statistically significant risk factors for having adverse reactions post vaccination, P value (0.03, 0.028, 0.007, 0.019 and 0.0001) respectively. Regarding severity of symptoms, most symptoms were mild and moderate. Residency in Kurdistan Region of Iraq and AstraZeneca vaccine were the statistically significant risk factors for getting severe symptoms P value < 0.0001 of both. Females were an associated risk factor for D-dimer elevation P value = 0.05. CONCLUSION: fatigue, injection site reactions, fever, myalgia, headache and chills were the most reported side effects. Most symptoms were mild to moderate in term of severity.

COVID-19 outbreak in Iraqi Kurdistan: The first report characterizing epidemiological, clinical, laboratory, and radiological findings of the disease

Introduction On March 11, 2020, the novel coronavirus was declared a global pandemic. The disease was named COVID-19 standing for coronavirus disease 2019. The objectives were to determine the epidemiological, clinical, laboratory, and radiological characteristics of COVID-19 patients. Methods In this prospective descriptive study, 15 confirmed hospitalized cases of COVID-19 between 18th March and April 7, 2020 were followed-up till discharge. Results There were 15 reported patients infected by 3 imported index cases from Europe. The mean age of the patients was 28.06 (SD: 16.42 years). The patients' age stratification was as follows: 0–5 (2, 13.3%);6–18 (2, 13.3);19–50 (10, 66.7%), and 51–64 years (1, 6.7%). The patients were male (9, 60.0%) and female (6, 40.0%). Most of the patients had mild disease severity (13, 86.7%), followed by mild-moderate (1, 6.7%) and moderate-severe (1, 6.7%). The study revealed that 6 patients were asymptomatic, and 9 patients were symptomatic. The most common symptoms were: fever (n = 8;53.3%), cough (n = 7;46.7%), shortness of breath (n = 3;20.0%), fatigue (n = 3;20.0%), and taste and smell disorders (n = 4;26.7%). All patients were recovered and discharged over a median of 8 between 8 and 21 days. The mean and Std. deviation values of the hematological were: WBC: 6.57 (1.86);neutrophil count: 3.75 (1.26);lymphocyte count: 1.87 (0.41);Hb: 13.89 (1.26);platelet count: 207.67 (52.21). Conclusion All COVID-19 cases were linked to foreign visits with few local transmissions to close contacts without community transmission. The majority of cases were mild illnesses with full recovery.