Duration of Acute Kidney Injury and In-Hospital Mortality in Elder Patients with Severe COVID-19: A Retrospective Cohort Study.

Background: Patients with severe coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) who develop acute kidney injury (AKI) in the intensive care unit (ICU) have extremely high rates of mortality. This study evaluated the prognostic impact of AKI duration on in-hospital mortality in elder patients. Methods: We performed a retrospective study of 126 patients with confirmed COVID-19 with severe or critical disease who treated in the ICU from February 4, 2020, to April 16, 2020. AKI was defined according to the Kidney Disease Improving Global Outcomes serum creatinine (Scr) criteria. AKI patients were divided into transient AKI and persistent AKI groups based on whether Scr level returned to baseline within 48 h post-AKI. Results: In total, 107 patients were included in the final analysis. The mean age was 70 (64-78) years, and 69 (64.5%) patients were men. AKI occurred in 48 (44.9%) during their ICU stay. Of these, 11 (22.9%) had transient AKI, and 37 (77.9%) had persistent AKI. In-hospital mortality was 18.6% (n = 11) for patients without AKI, 72.7% (n = 8) for patients with transient AKI, and 86.5% (n = 32) for patients with persistent AKI (P < 0.001). Kaplan-Meier curve analysis revealed that patients with both transient AKI and persistent AKI had significantly higher death rates than those without AKI (log-rank P < 0.001). Multivariate Cox regression analysis revealed that transient and persistent AKI were an important risk factor for in-hospital mortality in older patients with severe COVID-19 even after adjustment for variables (hazard ratio [HR] = 2.582; 95% CI: 1.025-6.505; P = 0.044; and HR = 6.974; 95% CI: 3.334-14.588; P < 0.001). Conclusions: AKI duration can be an important predictive parameter in elder patients suffering from COVID-19 and are admitted to ICU. Among these patients, those exhibiting persistent AKI have a lower in-hospital survival rate than those with transient AKI, emphasizing the importance of identifying an appropriate treatment window for early intervention.

Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) complicated with human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) infection: a case report of nursing experience.

In this paper, we report a case of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) complicated with human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) infection. The 50-year-old male patient had unexplained "intermittent fever with sore throat" on February 9th, 2020. Chest computed tomography (CT) showed bilateral multiple patchy opacities and ground-glass opacities. A COVID-19 RNA test was positive. After admission, additional laboratory tests revealed the following: white blood cell (WBC) count, 4.7×109/L; neutrophil percentage, 85.1%; lymphocyte percentage, 12.3%; lymphocyte count, 0.59×109/L; hypersensitivity C-reactive protein, 5.52 mg/L; four coagulation factors, +; D-dimer, 1.32 mg/L; and procalcitonin, normal. He was HIV (+). The patient was diagnosed with COVID-19 complicated with HIV infection. The healthcare team administered symptomatic care, including nasal oxygen, oseltamivir, Lianhua Qingwen capsule, moxifloxacin, ribavirin, and thymus faxin, as well as nutritional support, mental care, diet and life management, and close monitoring. Moreover, the team implemented strict disinfection and quarantine and occupational protection. The patient's temperature returned to normal and sore throat significantly improved by day 10, and COVID-19 RNA tests were negative on February 19th, February 21st, and February 22nd. Reexamination by chest CT on February 22nd showed significant absorption of inflammation. After rounds by the chief physician and consultation with specialists, the patient was released from quarantine and discharged on February 23rd per the Diagnosis and Treatment Protocol for Novel Coronavirus Pneumonia (Trial Version 6). Patients with COVID-19 and HIV infection face both physical and mental challenges. More attention should be paid to nursing as we understand more about COVID-19. We hope to share our nursing experience through this case.

Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) complicated with acute myocardial infarction: etiology and nursing experience of three case reports.

Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19), an acute infectious disease, which is characterized by influenza, fever, cough and dyspnea. Up to now, the pathogenic mechanism and radical cure treatment for COVID-19 are still unknown. However, COVID-19 could lead to pneumonia, multiple organ failure and even death with disease development. During the period of February 10 and March 26, 2020, we admitted and treated three COVID-19 patients complicated with acute myocardial infarction. As we all know, acute myocardial infarction is a kind of disease that induces myocardial ischemia necrosis and leads to high mortality. Through the three COVID-19 patients complicated with acute myocardial infarction, we have strengthened our nursing experience. Thus, we wish to share our nursing experience with these cases by analyzing the etiology of three patients with coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) complicated with acute myocardial infarction in this paper. First, we retrospectively analyzed the clinical data, including patient complaints, diagnosis, treatment, and prognosis, of three patients with COVID-19 complicated with acute myocardial infarction admitted to Ward II, Department of Infectious Diseases III, Huoshenshan Hospital, Wuhan, Hubei Province, China, between February 10 and March 26, 2020. Then, we searched for relevant literature, analyzed etiology, and summarized the nursing measures taken. For COVID-19 patients with a high risk of acute myocardial infarction, nurses should stay vigilant, closely monitor any change in condition, and implement early measures to maintain vital signs and enable timely visits with specialists. Finally, we importantly found that these nursing measures are keys to managing the patient's condition, improving patient outcomes, and increasing the chance of treatment success.

Liver injury in COVID-19: Detection, pathogenesis, and treatment.

In the early December 2019, a novel coronavirus named severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 was first reported in Wuhan, China, followed by an outbreak that spread around the world. Numerous studies have shown that liver injury is common in patients with coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19), and may aggravate the severity of the disease. However, the exact cause and specific mechanism of COVID-associated liver injury needs to be elucidated further. In this review, we present an analysis of the clinical features, potential mechanisms, and treatment strategies for liver injury associated with COVID-19. We hope that this review would benefit clinicians in devising better strategies for management of such patients.

Prediction of Re-positivity for Coronavirus Nucleic Acid Among COVID-19 Patients in the Recovery Phase.

Background and Objectives: Although the pathogenesis and treatment of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) have been gradually revealed, the risk for re-emergence of coronavirus nucleic acids in recovered patients remains poorly understood. Hence, this study evaluated the risk predictors associated with re-positivity for virus nucleic acid. Methods: Between February 1 and March 20, 2020, we retrospectively reviewed the clinical epidemiological data of 129 COVID-19 patients who were treated at Zhongxiang People's Hospital of Hubei Province in China. Subsequently, a risk prediction model for the re-positivity of virus nucleic acid was developed, and a receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curve was drawn for further validation. Results: In this study, the rate of re-positivity for virus nucleic acid was 17.8% (23/129) where all re-positivity cases were asymptomatic. The median time interval from discharge to nucleic acid re-positivity to discharge after being cured again was 11.5 days (range: 7-23 days). Multivariate logistic regression analysis showed that leukocytopenia [odds ratio (OR) 7.316, 95% confidence interval (CI) 2.319-23.080, p = 0.001], prealbumin < 150 mg/L (OR 4.199, 95% CI 1.461-12.071, p = 0.008), and hyperpyrexia (body temperature >39°C, OR 4.643, 95% CI 1.426-15.117, p = 0.011) were independent risk factors associated with re-positivity. The area under the ROC curve was 0.815 (95% CI, 0.729-0.902). Conclusion: COVID-19 patients with leukocytopenia, low prealbumin level, and hyperpyrexia are more likely to test positive for virus nucleic acid after discharge. Timely and effective treatment and appropriate extension of hospital stays and quarantine periods may be feasible strategies for managing such patients.

Acute Kidney Injury Can Predict In-Hospital Mortality in Elderly Patients with COVID-19 in the ICU: A Single-Center Study.

OBJECTIVE: Severe or critical patients with coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) are at increased risk for developing acute kidney injury (AKI). However, the rate of AKI in patients of different severities and independent predictive factors associated with AKI are not well understood. PATIENTS AND METHODS: We enrolled 107 severely or critically ill elderly patients with COVID-19 who were admitted to the intensive care unit (ICU) in Wuhan, China. AKI was defined according to the 2012 KDIGO criteria. We explored the association between AKI and in-hospital mortality using logistic regression. A predictive nomogram was formulated to predict the AKI development of patients with COVID-19 based on multivariate logistic regression. RESULTS: A total of 107 elderly patients were enrolled during the study period. The mean age was 70 (64-78) years, and 69 (64.5%) were men. For the 107 patients, the degree of severity of COVID-19 was categorized as 37 patients with the severe type (34.6%) and 70 patients with the critical type (65.4%). Overall, 48 of the 107 patients (44.9%) developed AKI during their hospitalization, while AKI occurred in 7 (18.9%) out of the 37 severe patients and 41 (44.9%) out of the 70 critical patients. Of the AKI patients, 35.4% (17/48) required continuous renal replacement therapy, including 14.3% of AKI patients in severe cases and 39.0% of AKI patients in critical cases. Kaplan-Meier analysis demonstrated that patients with AKI had a significantly higher risk for in-hospital mortality than severely and critically ill patients without AKI. Multivariate logistic regression analysis showed that AKI (OR = 33.74; 95% CI = 3.34-341.29; P = 0.003), septic shock (OR = 15.58; 95% CI = 2.08-116.78; P = 0.008), invasive mechanical ventilation (OR = 18.44; 95% CI = 2.35-144.69; P = 0.006), and oxygenation index (OR = 0.99; 95% CI = 0.98-1.000; P = 0.014) were independent risk factors for in-hospital mortality. A nomogram was established based on the multivariate analysis results. The C-index for the developed AKI model was 0.935 (95% CI, 0.892-0.978); when 10-fold cross validation was used to validate the model, the corrected C-index was 0.825. CONCLUSION: AKI is common among COVID-19 patients admitted to the ICU and is recognized as a marker of disease severity. The proposed nomogram accurately predicted AKI development in ICU patients with COVID-19 based on individual characteristics. Therefore, the strategy for kidney protection against severe or critical pneumonia is appropriate.

Emotional health status and social mentality of the Chinese general public during the 2019 novel coronavirus pneumonia pandemic (Special Section: COVID-19) [Chinese]

In order to evaluate the emotional state and the social mentality of the Chinese public during the 2019 novel coronavirus (2019-nCoV) pneumonia pandemic, the data of two online public surveys conducted on February 18-20 and 21-22 are analyzed. The results show that nearly 1/3 of the respondents have some degree of depression symptoms, and 22.4% have significant anxiety symptoms. The current level of depression is higher than in the 2008 national survey. Among various occupational groups, the anxiety and the depression are significantly higher among the unemployed, and the mental health state of private enterprises, self-employed and entrepreneurs is in a relatively low level. In terms of social mentality, the public are in different psychological stages, some of them are prone to be depressive and angry. The public tend to be more altruistic under pressure, especially toward medical workers. According to the survey results, the current mental health is a very important issue to work upon, in the current epidemic it is necessary to persistently strengthen the public mental health publicity and the psychological counseling, to deal with the mental health problems after the epidemic, to strengthen the construction of the social psychological service system, and to improve the public mental health literacy in the future.

Association of hypertension and antihypertensive treatment with COVID-19 mortality: a retrospective observational study.

AIMS: It remains unknown whether the treatment of hypertension influences the mortality of patients diagnosed with coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19). METHODS AND RESULTS: This is a retrospective observational study of all patients admitted with COVID-19 to Huo Shen Shan Hospital. The hospital was dedicated solely to the treatment of COVID-19 in Wuhan, China. Hypertension and the treatments were stratified according to the medical history or medications administrated prior to the infection. Among 2877 hospitalized patients, 29.5% (850/2877) had a history of hypertension. After adjustment for confounders, patients with hypertension had a two-fold increase in the relative risk of mortality as compared with patients without hypertension [4.0% vs. 1.1%, adjusted hazard ratio (HR) 2.12, 95% confidence interval (CI) 1.17-3.82, P = 0.013]. Patients with a history of hypertension but without antihypertensive treatment (n = 140) were associated with a significantly higher risk of mortality compared with those with antihypertensive treatments (n = 730) (7.9% vs. 3.2%, adjusted HR 2.17, 95% CI 1.03-4.57, P = 0.041). The mortality rates were similar between the renin-angiotensin-aldosterone system (RAAS) inhibitor (4/183) and non-RAAS inhibitor (19/527) cohorts (2.2% vs. 3.6%, adjusted HR 0.85, 95% CI 0.28-2.58, P = 0.774). However, in a study-level meta-analysis of four studies, the result showed that patients with RAAS inhibitor use tend to have a lower risk of mortality (relative risk 0.65, 95% CI 0.45-0.94, P = 0.20). CONCLUSION: While hypertension and the discontinuation of antihypertensive treatment are suspected to be related to increased risk of mortality, in this retrospective observational analysis, we did not detect any harm of RAAS inhibitors in patients infected with COVID-19. However, the results should be considered as exploratory and interpreted cautiously.