Development of Mobile Application for Assessment of Basic Echocardiographic Parameters in Apparently Healthy Population.

Background: Development of tools, making for easier assessment of the age- and body size-specific echocardiographic parameters in the general population, becomes increasingly important. Materials and Methods: The application was developed on the basis of the previously designed model of normal values for basic echocardiographic parameters. The source population for the normal values was 10,604 apparently healthy people aged from 1 day to 65 years old, in which optimal visualization of the heart in the parasternal and apical echocardiographic views could be obtained. The whole population surveyed was categorized into three age groups. The predicted parameters were calculated by the group-specific regression equations. Deviation from the norm for one or another echocardiographic parameter was determined based on the value of z-score. Results: The mobile application was designed for the medical community and allows for a selective assessment of basic echocardiographic parameters in apparently healthy people with high accuracy. The application has a friendly graphical interface and provides color output on display of the results obtained. Discussion: The value of this application is in its uniqueness, since having analyzed available scientific works on mobile applications in medicine we could hardly find similar developments. Conclusions: Using the mobile application can save a doctor's time by simplifying the process of entering initial data, automating calculations, and providing convenient displaying of results. From this perspective, the application developed can become a useful tool in the sphere of telemedicine, in particular-the mobile medicine for remote consultation of patients.

Interactions between Anxiety Levels and Life Habits Changes in General Population during the Pandemic Lockdown: Decreased Physical Activity, Falling Asleep Late and Internet Browsing about COVID-19 Are Risk Factors for Anxiety, whereas Social Media Use Is not.

BACKGROUND: The COVID-19 pandemic has substantially contributed to increased anxiety rates among the general population worldwide. Pandemic-related health anxiety and worries about getting COVID-19 can lead to generalized anxiety and anxiety somatization, which, together with insalubrious daily life habits, are risk factors of worsening somatic health in people with SARS-Cov-2 infection. SUBJECTS AND METHODS: The current study is a part of the COMET-G project (40 countries, n=55589; approved by the Ethics Committee of the Aristotle University of Thessaloniki), which represents an intermediate analysis of data collected anonymously via online links from a national sample of the Russian general population (n=9936, 31.09±12.16 y.o., 58.7% females) to estimate anxiety using STAI-S and self-reported changes in anxiety and life habits (physical activity, nutrition and weight, internet use, sleep) during the lockdown. All statistical calculations (descriptive statistics, between group comparisons using chi-square test, MANOVA, ANOVA, significant at p<0.05) were performed with IBM SPSS 27. RESULTS: Overall STAI-S scores were 29±5.4, a subjective feeling of anxiety increase was reported in 40.3% of respondents (43.9% significantly > in females), worsening to clinical anxiety in 2.1% (2.4% > in females). 54.2% of respondents reported decreased physical activity, 33.1% gained weight, 72% used internet more often, 52.6% experienced worries related to the information about COVID-19 (56.8% > in females). 88% experienced worsened sleep quality, 69.2% stayed up until late, 23.2% took sleeping pills, and 31% had nightmares in which they felt trapped. To ANOVA, such life habits as reduced physical activity during the lockdown, increased time spent online, internet browsing about COVID-19, tendency to stay up late, use of sleeping pills and disturbing dreams with scenario of being trapped were significantly related to worsening of clinical anxiety. However, eating behaviour, weight changes, and social media use did not contribute to the clinical anxiety increase. CONCLUSIONS: Factors of decreased physical activity and sleep disturbances related to the lockdown, as well as excessive internet browsing for information about COVID-19, emerged as risk factors for increased anxiety, more notably in women than in men. Preventive measures should be targeted against relevant factors imparting anxiety in the vulnerable population.