E-cigarette use among Ecuadorian adults: A national cross-sectional study on use rates, perceptions, and associated factors.

INTRODUCTION: Electronic cigarettes (e-cigarettes) have emerged as a new paradigm in nicotine delivery systems. Although they are marketed as safer alternatives to tobacco, public perceptions of their safety and utility vary widely. This study aims to understand the percentage of use, factors associated, perceptions, and attitudes about e-cigarettes among Ecuadorian adults. METHODS: A cross-sectional survey was conducted among the Ecuadorian population aged 18-65 years through a convenience sample, using a structured online questionnaire designed to collect responses from voluntary participants over three months, from February to April 2023. The questionnaire assessed the respondents' attitudes and perceptions towards e-cigarettes. Data were analyzed using descriptive statistics, chi-squared tests, and adjusted logistic regression analyses to identify factors associated with e-cigarette use. RESULTS: Out of a total of 3047 Ecuadorian adults, the percentage of e-cigarette ever use was 27.9% (n=850), with 19.4% being current users and 8.5% former users. A negative stance towards e-cigarettes was predominant, with 66.3% considering e-cigarette use a public health problem in Ecuador. A significant association was observed between e-cigarette use and perceived harmfulness (p<0.001). Among non-users, there was a predominant stance in favor of control measures and disapproval of e-cigarette use among minors (p<0.001). The factors associated with the use of electronic cigarettes included being health personnel (AOR=1.51; 95% CI: 1.26-1.80). Older age (aged >24 years) and a history of tobacco use were associated with lower e-cigarette use (current users, OR=0.31; 95% CI: 0.25-0.38; previous users, OR=0.23; 95% CI: 0.18-0.28). CONCLUSIONS: The findings highlight a significant percentage of e-cigarette use among Ecuadorian adults, especially among younger groups. There is a need for comprehensive public health education about e-cigarettes in Ecuador. There is strong support from the public for control measures, suggesting the potential acceptability of regulations concerning e-cigarettes.

Long COVID at Different Altitudes: A Countrywide Epidemiological Analysis.

BACKGROUND: Several reports from around the world have reported that some patients who have recovered from COVID-19 have experienced a range of persistent or new clinical symptoms after a SARS-CoV-2 infection. These symptoms can last from weeks to months, impacting everyday functioning to a significant number of patients. METHODS: A cross-sectional analysis based on an online, self-reporting questionnaire was conducted in Ecuador from April to July 2022. Participants were invited by social media, radio, and TV to voluntarily participate in our study. A total of 2103 surveys were included in this study. We compared socio-demographic variables and long-term persisting symptoms at low (<2500 m) and high altitude (>2500 m). RESULTS: Overall, 1100 (52.3%) responders claimed to have Long-COVID symptoms after SARS-CoV-2 infection. Most of these were reported by women (64.0%); the most affected group was young adults between 21 to 40 years (68.5%), and most long-haulers were mestizos (91.6%). We found that high altitude residents were more likely to report persisting symptoms (71.7%) versus those living at lower altitudes (29.3%). The most common symptoms were fatigue or tiredness (8.4%), hair loss (5.1%) and difficulty concentrating (5.0%). The highest proportion of symptoms was observed in the group that received less than 2 doses. CONCLUSIONS: This is the first study describing post-COVID symptoms' persistence in low and high-altitude residents. Our findings demonstrate that women, especially those aging between 21-40, are more likely to describe Long-COVID. We also found that living at a high altitude was associated with higher reports of mood changes, tachycardia, decreased libido, insomnia, and palpitations compared to lowlanders. Finally, we found a greater risk to report Long-COVID symptoms among women, those with previous comorbidities and those who had a severer acute SARS-CoV-2 infection.

Statistical data driven approach of COVID-19 in Ecuador: R 0 and R t estimation via new method.

The growth of COVID-19 pandemic throughout more than 213 countries around the world have put a lot of pressures on governments and health services to try to stop the rapid expansion of the pandemic. During 2009, H1N1 Influenza pandemic, statistical and mathematical methods were used to track how the virus spreads around countries. Most of these models that were developed at the beginning of the XXI century are based on the classical susceptible-infected-recovered (SIR) model developed almost a hundred years ago. The evolution of this model allows us to forecast and compute basic and effective reproduction numbers (R t and R 0 ), measures that quantify the epidemic potential of a pathogen and estimates different scenarios. In this study, we present a traditional estimation technique for R 0 with statistical distributions by best fitting and a Bayesian approach based on continuous feed of prior distributions to obtain posterior distributions and computing real time R t . We use data from COVID-19 officially reported cases in Ecuador since the first confirmed case on February 29th. Because of the lack of data, in the case of R 0 we compare two methods for the estimation of these parameters below exponential growth and maximum likelihood estimation. We do not make any assumption about the evolution of cases due to limited information and we use previous methods to compare scenarios about R 0 and in the case of R t we used Bayesian inference to model uncertainty in contagious proposing a new modification to the well-known model of Bettencourt and Ribeiro based on a time window of m days to improve estimations. Ecuadorian R 0 with exponential growth criteria was 3.45 and with the maximum likelihood estimation method was 2.93. The results show that Guayas, Pichincha and Manabí were the provinces with the highest number of cases due to COVID-19. Some reasons explain the increased transmissibility in these localities: massive events, population density, cities dispersion patterns, and the delayed time of public health actions to contain pandemic. In conclusion, this is a novel approach that allow us to measure infection dynamics and outbreak distribution when not enough detailed data is available. The use of this model can be used to predict pandemic distribution and to implement data-based effective measures.

Epidemiological, socio-demographic and clinical features of the early phase of the COVID-19 epidemic in Ecuador.

The SARS-CoV-2 virus has spread rapidly around the globe. Nevertheless, there is limited information describing the characteristics and outcomes of COVID-19 patients in Latin America. We conducted a cross-sectional analysis of 9,468 confirmed COVID-19 cases reported in Ecuador. We calculated overall incidence, mortality, case fatality rates, disability adjusted life years, attack and crude mortality rates, as well as relative risk and relative odds of death, adjusted for age, sex and presence of comorbidities. A total of 9,468 positive COVID-19 cases and 474 deaths were included in the analysis. Men accounted for 55.4% (n = 5, 247) of cases and women for 44.6% (n = 4, 221). We found the presence of comorbidities, being male and older than 65 years were important determinants of mortality. Coastal regions were most affected by COVID-19, with higher mortality rates than the highlands. Fatigue was reported in 53.2% of the patients, followed by headache (43%), dry cough (41.7%), ageusia (37.1%) and anosmia (36.1%). We present an analysis of the burden of COVID-19 in Ecuador. Our findings show that men are at higher risk of dying from COVID-19 than women, and risk increases with age and the presence of comorbidities. We also found that blue-collar workers and the unemployed are at greater risk of dying. These early observations offer clinical insights for the medical community to help improve patient care and for public health officials to strengthen Ecuador's response to the outbreak.