Is there a diurnal variation of COVID-19 patients warranting presentation to the health centre? A chronobiological observational cross-sectional study.
Ann Med
; 54(1): 3060-3068, 2022 12.
Article
in English
| MEDLINE | ID: covidwho-2087517
ABSTRACT
BACKGROUND:
The circadian clock regulates the function of the immune system, the replication of viruses, and the magnitude of infections. The aim of this study was to analyse whether hospital attendance in Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) patients presents a diurnal variation.METHODS:
Data from the electronic medical records of 1094 COVID-19 patients who presented to a Health Centre in Qatar during the month of July 2020 was retrospectively analysed. The following demographic (i.e. time of day (TOD), sex, age), clinical (i.e. cycle threshold (CT), temperature, oxy-haemoglobin saturation and resting heart-rate), biochemical (i.e. uraemia, glycaemia and albuminia) and haematological (i.e. leukocytes, erythrocytes ad platelets) parameters were collected.RESULTS:
Univariate analysis showed a significant effect of TOD on hospital admission (p < 0.001), with patients attending the health care centre more during the active behavioural phase (08h00-00h00) compared to the resting phase (00h00-08h00). COVID-19 infection blunted the circadian rhythms of core body temperature, neutrophils and leukocytes family and shifted the circadian rhythms of resting heart-rate and uraemia. Correlation analysis showed a near perfect negative correlation between the age of patients and the TOD (r=-0.97), with older patients attending the care centre earlier during the day.CONCLUSION:
COVID-19 infection affected the circadian rhythms of the host through disrupting the circadian rhythms of core temperature and innate immunity mediators. Old patients attend the health care centre earlier compared to younger ones. However, CT during polymerase chain reaction-test was unaffected by the TOD, which limits the conclusion that COVID-19 viral infection exhibits diurnal variation.Keywords
Full text:
Available
Collection:
International databases
Database:
MEDLINE
Main subject:
Uremia
/
COVID-19
Type of study:
Observational study
/
Prognostic study
/
Randomized controlled trials
Limits:
Humans
Language:
English
Journal:
Ann Med
Journal subject:
Medicine
Year:
2022
Document Type:
Article
Affiliation country:
07853890.2022.2136399
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