October 5, 2020
Community Venue Exposure Risk Estimator for the COVID-19 Pandemic
Sun et al. developed a probability model to estimate the county-level community exposure risk during the COVID-19 pandemic in the US. The model had three inputs: the real-time number of active and asymptomatic cases, the population in local communities, and the customer counts in public places. They reported that between April 1 and July 15,…
Psychological Distress during the COVID-19 Lockdown: The Young Adults Most at Risk
Young adults were more sensitive to lockdown conditions and psychological distress compared to older adults in a multinational study. An online survey conducted from April 17 to May 1, 2020 among 2,871 participants in Belgium, France and Canada found that during confinement, young participants aged 18–30 years reported having less living space and lower occupational…
The Prevalence of Depression, Anxiety, and Sleep Disturbances in COVID-19 Patients: A Meta-Analysis
A meta-analysis with 31 studies calculated the pooled prevalence of depression (45%), anxiety (47%) and sleeping disturbances (34%) among patients with COVID-19 (n=5,153). The prevalence estimates did not differ by gender. The depression and anxiety prevalence estimates varied between different screening tools. Deng et al. (Oct 2, 2020). The Prevalence of Depression, Anxiety, and Sleep…
Patient-Reported Outcome Measures after COVID-19: A Prospective Cohort Study
Among 78 patients who were hospitalized with COVID-19 from March to June 2020 in Vancouver, Canada, 76% reported having at least one lingering health effect 3 months after symptom onset and 56% reported at least 2 health effects. The most frequently reported complaints were lower quality of life (51%) and shortness of breath (50%). Wong…
An Analysis of Changes in Emergency Department Visits After a State Declaration During the Time of COVID-19
An urban level 1 trauma center in Minnesota experienced a 35% decline in emergency department visits in 28 days following the state emergency declaration of COVID-19 on March 13, 2020, as compared with a similar period in 2019. Disproportionate declines were seen in visits by pediatric and older patients, women, and Medicare recipients, as well…
Seroprevalence of SARS-COV-2 Antibodies in Scottish Healthcare Workers
[Preprint, not peer-reviewed] Health and social care workers in a National Health Service facility in the UK (n=2,062) were three times more likely to test positive for anti-SARS-CoV-2 antibodies, compared to a group of controls (n=231) matched for age and sex to the general population of their community (OR=3.4, 95%CI 1.9-6.2). Dentists (26%), healthcare assistants…
Frequent Neurologic Manifestations and Encephalopathy-Associated Morbidity in Covid-19 Patients
One third (162/509) of patients hospitalized with COVID-19 in the Chicago area experienced some type of altered mental function, ranging from confusion to delirium to unresponsiveness. These patients stayed three times as long in the hospital as patients without altered mental function, indicating patients with encephalopathy may have poorer outcomes and need closer post-discharge monitoring…
Association of Corticosteroids Use and Outcomes in COVID-19 Patients: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis
A systematic review with 1 randomized trial and 19 cohort studies (16,977 hospitalized COVID-19 patients) reported that corticosteroid therapy was not associated with a reduction in short-term mortality (RR=0.9, 95%CI 0.7-1.2) but possibly with a delay in viral clearance (RR=1.5, 95%CI 1.1-1.9). The authors call for caution in interpretation due to discordant results observed between…
Use and Content of Primary Care Office-Based vs Telemedicine Care Visits During the COVID-19 Pandemic in the US
A cross-sectional analysis of more than 125 million primary care visits between 2018 and 2020 indicated that the COVID-19 pandemic was associated with changes in the structure of primary care delivery during the second quarter of 2020, with the content of telemedicine visits differing from that of in-person visits. Primary care visits decreased by 21%…
Use of Hydroxychloroquine and Chloroquine in COVID-19: How Good Is the Quality of Randomized Controlled Trials?
A review of 16 clinical trials of hydroxychloroquine and chloroquine to treat COVID-19, of which 14 were randomized, reported concerns about the ability to derive meaningful results from the trials due to the assessed risk of bias in the studies. None of the trials met the CONSORT criteria in full for reporting harms data. None…
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