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ObjectiveThis systematic review aimed at estimating the demographics, clinical characteristics, and prevalence of post-acute COVID-19 symptoms in view of published literature that studied prolonged clinical manifestations after recovery from acute COVID-19 infection. MethodsAfter protocol setting, relevant articles were searched on various databases including PubMed, Medline, the Cumulative Index to Nursing and Allied Health Literature (CINAHL), Embase, and Web of Sciences using MeSH keywords. The data regarding demographic, clinical characteristics, and prevalence of each persisting symptom were carefully studied and tabulated. Data analysis was carried out using Statistical Package for Social Sciences (SPSS) version 26. ResultsOut of the 153 articles reviewed, 21 articles qualified for the final analysis. The most common persistent clinical manifestations were fatigue (54.11%), dyspnea (24.38%), alopecia (23.21%), hyperhidrosis (23.6%), insomnia (25.98%), anxiety (17.29%), and arthralgia (16.35%). In addition to these symptoms, new onset hypertension, diabetes, neuropsychiatric disorders, and bladder incontinence were also reported. ConclusionClinical features of post-acute COVID-19 infection can manifest even after 60 days of initial infection. Constitutional symptoms include fatigue, dyspnea, anosmia, and insomnia were the most commonly reported in literature. Multidisciplinary care along with regular follow-up must be a provided to such patients. Curation and modification of guidelines is required for the assessment of discharged hospitalized patients for better management of their post-acute COVID-19 syndrome.
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Background and objectiveThe ABO blood group system has been associated with infectious and noninfectious disease, including dengue, hepatitis B virus (HBV), and severe respiratory syndrome coronavirus (SARS), etc. Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) is the ongoing pandemic with multitude of manifestations and association of ABO blood group in South-East Asian population needs to be explored. MethodsIt was a retrospective study of patients with real time polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR) diagnosis of COVID-19 at Advanced Diagnostics and Liver Center between April 2020 to January 2021. Blood group A, B, O, and AB were identified in every participant, irrespective of their RH type and allotted groups 1, 2,3, and 4, respectively. Cox regression and logistic regression were used for inferential statistics. ResultsThe cohort included 1067 patients: 521 (48.8%) of blood group O, 295 (27.6%) of blood group B, 202 (18.9%) of blood group A, and 49 (4.5%) of blood group AB. The majority of the patients were males 712 (66.7%) with an average body mass index (BMI) of 27.45 {+/-} 3.53. Patients with AB blood group stayed a median (IQR) of 14 (5, 27) days while A blood group cohort stayed 13 (6,27) days and overall 10.6% COVID-19-related mortality was observed at our center, with 13.9% in blood group A as the majority of COVID-19 deaths. Regarding severity of COVID-19 disease, there was a trend towards critical disease in blood group A and O (n=83, 41.1%; n=183, 35.1%; OR, 11.34 (95% CI, 46.79-53.22); p<0.001). Logistic regression demonstrates blood group O and AB as predictors for severe COVID-19 disease (O: OR: 0.438 (95% CI: 0.168-1.139) p=0.090; AB: OR: 0.415 (95% CI: 0.165-1.046) p=0.062) and cause-specific hazards ratio (HR) for survival function was 3.206 (p=0.361) among all blood groups. ConclusionAlthough the prevalence of blood group O was higher in this cohort, hospital stay, severity of disease, and mortality were associated with blood group A. Further studies are needed for understanding the underlying mechanism behind the association of blood groups with COVID-19.
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Background and objectives Salmonella typhi is involved in one of the most prevalent infectious diseases of South East Asia, typhoid fever, but diagnostic tests cannot be performed regularly in developing countries. The objective of the study is to determine the association of eosinopenia with culture or serology-proven typhoid fever in patients, to determine the association of leukopenia with culture or serology-proven typhoid fever in patients and to determine independent predictors of eosinopenia. Methods This case-control study, done at Fauji Foundation Hospital, Pakistan, included patients with symptoms suggestive of typhoid fever, culture, or serology positive for typhoid fever and excluded patients who had been previously diagnosed with malaria and dengue hemorrhagic fever. After flagging cultures and serology, the records were viewed for leukocyte counts. Data, including age, gender, and clinical symptoms, were also recorded for analysis. Results Out of 200 participants, 59 participants with diagnosed typhoid fever had eosinopenia. There were 29 participants who had been diagnosed with typhoid fever via culture or serology and had leukopenia. Eosinopenia and leukopenia were more likely to be present in patients with a diagnosis of typhoid (OR: 9.60, 20.00). The independent predictors for eosinopenia were DOT enzyme immunoassay (DOT EIA) positive for Salmonella typhi, culture positive for Salmonella typhi and leukopenia (p<0.05). Conclusion The presence of eosinopenia and features or serology suggestive of typhoid would most likely be associated with cultures being positive and, therefore, might provide an efficient means to begin treatment.
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Objective To evaluate characteristics and outcomes of patients presenting with mechanical prosthetic valve thrombosis in a tertiary cardiac center in Pakistan. Methods This was a prospective and interventional study conducted at Rawalpindi Institute of Cardiology over a period of two years. The clinical characteristics of patients presenting with clinical suspicion of prosthetic valve thrombosis were recorded. They were, then, subjected to streptokinase, redo surgery and heparin based on their hemodynamic stability, thrombus burden and surgical risk. The patients were then followed for the outcomes of the study. Results Out of 576 patients with mechanical valve replacement during the study period, 70 patients had developed prosthetic valve thrombosis. Out of 70 patients, there were 41 female (58.50%) and 29 male (41.50%) participants. The mean age of the participants was 48.40±15.00 years. The overall incidence of mechanical prosthetic valve thrombosis was 12.15%. There were 30 patients (42.80%) with a suboptimal international normalized ratio (INR) and 28 patients (40.00%) were non-compliant to warfarin therapy. The overall incidence of adverse clinical outcome was 18.00%, while the overall mortality rate was 10.00%. The mortality was higher for patients who underwent redo surgery (16.60%) as compared to patients who had received fibrinolytic therapy (9.60%). Conclusion Poor compliance with warfarin and suboptimal INR are the important factors causing mechanical prosthetic valve. Because of lower mortality rate, fibrinolysis with streptokinase is a reasonable treatment option for mechanical prosthetic valve thrombosis.
