Demographics, comorbidities, and laboratory parameters in hospitalized patients with SARS-CoV2 infection at a community hospital in rural Pennsylvania.

INTRODUCTION: Inherent differences as well as health disparities among rural and urban populations warrant further studies focused on the characteristics and outcomes in COVID-19 patients in a rural setting. The aim of this study was to describe these elements in patients infected with SARS-CoV2, hospitalized at a single center in rural Pennsylvania. METHODS: Patients with SARS-CoV2 infections hospitalized between March-December 2020 were studied. Data were obtained from electronic health records generated reports and was retrospectively analyzed. Patients were classified into three groups according to severity. Distribution of variables was studied among these three groups. Using certain variables, we ran logistic regression analysis to study the odds of death and requirement of mechanical ventilation (MV). RESULTS: Among 335 hospitalized patients infected with SARS-CoV2, age more than 65 years increased the severity of clinical status and in-hospital mortality. Gender did not affect odds of death nor need for MV. Hypertension was the most common comorbidity, but diabetes mellitus and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) increased the risk of death. In terms of laboratory parameters, our data suggests that maximum LDH marginally increased the risk of death and maximum WBC marginally increased the risk of need for MV and death. CONCLUSION: Through our basic analysis of various characteristics of SARS-CoV2 positive patients admitted in a rural hospital, we have identified certain risk factors associated with severe disease and increased in-hospital mortality. These were found to be largely similar to current literature from studies in urban populations, bolstering the reproducibility and generalizability of existing knowledge. This information lays the foundation for future studies to investigate the role of these factors in morbidity and mortality associated with COVID-19 in depth.

A systematic review of primary ileostomy site malignancies.

BACKGROUND: This paper aimed to elucidate the etiologies of all primary ileostomy site malignancies published in the literature. METHODS: A review of the literature was conducted following PRISMA guidelines by querying PubMed, Global Health, and Web of Science for articles published before November 2020. Search criteria contained broad terminology for ileostomy site neoplasms without language, date, or publication limitations. A full-text review of the abstracts confirmed primary malignant pathologies and was evaluated for study inclusion. RESULTS: Literature search discovered 858 publications, with 76 meeting eligibility criteria. The final sample contained 91 patients, with equal males and females. The mean age of patients with ileostomy site malignancy was 62.0 ± 12.2, with an average ileostomy age of 29.4 ± 12.4. The most common indications for ileostomy creation were inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) (73.6%) and familial adenomatous polyposis (FAP) (20.9%). There was a total of eight ileostomy malignant pathologies reported, with adenocarcinoma being the most common (76.9%), followed by squamous cell carcinoma (SCC) (11.0%). Adenocarcinoma was diagnosed at a younger age than SCC (59.7 vs. 72.3) and developed over a shorter time (28.8 vs. 37.0). Patients with FAP almost exclusively developed adenocarcinoma (94.4%) at a younger stoma age (25.8 vs. 31.4) than those with IBD who developed seven diverse pathologies. With a median follow-up of 0.75 years, four patients developed disease recurrence and received oncologic resection of their cancer less often than the 55 negative patients (p = 0.04). CONCLUSION: Ileostomy site malignancies are late-appearing complications that require curative surgery. Their presentation is associated with ileostomy duration and creation indication, such as FAP or IBD. We recommend screening at a stoma age ≥ 20 or patient age ≥ 50 for patients with FAP, while stoma age ≥ 25 or patient age ≥ 60 for IBD patients.