Urban-regional disparities in mental health signals in Australia during the COVID-19 pandemic: a study via Twitter data and machine learning models

This study establishes a novel empirical framework using machine learning techniques to measure the urban-regional disparity of the public's mental health signals in Australia during the pandemic, and to examine the interrelationships amongst mental health, demographic and socioeconomic profiles of neighbourhoods, health risks and healthcare access. Our results show that the public's mental health signals in capital cities were better than those in regional areas. The negative mental health signals in capital cities are associated with a lower level of income, more crowded living space, a lower level of healthcare availability and more difficulties in healthcare access.

Clinical characteristics of 134 convalescent patients with COVID-19 in Guizhou, China (preprint)

Background: Previous studies have focused on the clinical characteristics of hospitalized patients with the novel 2019 coronavirus disease (COVID-19). Limited data are available for convalescent patients. This study aimed to evaluate the clinical characteristics of discharged COVID-19 patients. Methods: : In this retrospective study, we extracted data for 134 convalescent patients with COVID-19 in Guizhou Provincial Staff Hospital from February 15 to March 31, 2020. Cases were analyzed on the basis of demographic, clinical, and laboratory data as well as radiological features. Results: : Of 134 convalescent patients with COVID-19, 19 (14.2%) were severe cases, while 115 (85.8%) were non-severe cases. The median patient age was 33 years (IQR, 21.8 to 46.3), and the cohort included 69 men and 65 women. Compared with non-severe cases, severe patients were older and had more chronic comorbidities, especially hypertension, diabetes, and thyroid disease (P<0.05). Leukopenia was present in 32.1% of the convalescent patients and lymphocytopenia was present in 6.7%, both of which were more common in severe patients. 48 (35.8%) of discharged patients had elevated levels of alanine aminotransferase, which was more common in adults than in children (40.2% vs 13.6%, P=0.018). A normal chest CT was found in 61 (45.5%) patients during rehabilitation. Severe patients had more ground-glass opacity, bilateral patchy shadowing, and fibrosis. No significant differences were observed in the positive rate of IgG and/or IgM antibodies between severe and non-severe patients. Conclusion: Leukopenia, lymphopenia, ground-glass opacity, and fibrosis are common in discharged severe COVID-19 patients, and liver injury is common in discharged adult patients. We suggest physicians develop follow-up treatment plans based on the different clinical characteristics of convalescent patients.