COVID-19 disease in hospitalized young adults in India and China: Evaluation of risk factors predicting progression across two major ethnic groups

Long COVID-19 syndrome: a 14-months longitudinal study during the two first epidemic peaks in Southeast Brazil

BACKGROUND

A growing number of long COVID cases after infection have been reported. By definition, long COVID is the condition whereby affected individuals do not recover for several weeks or months following the onset of symptoms suggestive of COVID-19, the profile and timeline of which remains uncertain.

METHODS

In this work, in-home, outpatient and hospitalized COVID-19 positive patients were monitored for up to 14 mo to establish the prevalence of long COVID symptoms and their correlation with age, pre-existing comorbidities and course of acute infection. The longitudinal study included 646 positive patients who were monitored once a month.

RESULTS

From the whole population, 50.2% presented with long COVID syndrome. Twenty-three different symptoms were reported. Most frequent were fatigue (35.6%), persistent cough (34.0%), dyspnea (26.5%), loss of smell/taste (20.1%) and frequent headaches (17.3%). Mental disorders (20.7%), change in blood pressure (7.4%) and thrombosis (6.2%) were also reported. Most patients presented with 2-3 symptoms at the same time. Long COVID started after mild, moderate and severe infection in 60, 13 and 27% of cases, respectively, and it was not restricted to specific age groups.

CONCLUSIONS

Older patients tended to have more severe symptoms, leading to a longer post-COVID-19 period. The presence of seven comorbidities was correlated with the severity of infection, and severity itself was the main factor that determined the duration of symptoms in long COVID cases.

COVID-19 Severity and Mortality in Two Pandemic Waves in Poland and Predictors of Poor Outcomes of SARS-CoV-2 Infection in Hospitalized Young Adults

SARS-CoV-2 variants pose a significant threat to global public health. However, their influence on disease severity, especially among young adults who may exhibit different clinical characteristics, is debatable. In this retrospective study of 229 young adults hospitalized with COVID-19, we investigated the differences between Poland's second and third waves of the pandemic. To identify potential predictors of severe COVID-19 in young adults, we analyzed patient characteristics and laboratory findings between survivors and non-survivors and we performed logistic regression to assess the risk of death, mechanical ventilation, and intensive care unit treatment. We found no increase in COVID-19 severity comparing the third and second waves of the pandemic, indicating that the alpha variant had no influence on disease severity. In addition, we found that factors, such as obesity, comorbidities, lung involvement, leukocytosis, neutrophilia, lymphopenia, higher IG count, the neutrophil-to-lymphocyte ratio, C-reactive protein, procalcitonin, interleukin-6, D-Dimer, lactate dehydrogenase, high-sensitive troponin I, creatine kinase-myocardial band, myoglobin, N-terminal-pro-B-type natriuretic peptide, creatinine, urea and gamma-glutamyl transferase, lower estimated glomerular filtration rate, albumin, calcium and vitamin D3, possibly a decrease in red blood cell counts, hemoglobin and hematocrit, and an increase in creatine kinase during hospitalization may be associated with poor outcomes of COVID-19.

Effects of SARS-CoV-2 infections in patients with cancer on mortality, ICU admission and incidence: a systematic review with meta-analysis involving 709,908 participants and 31,732 cancer patients

Background

Cancer patients constitute one of the highest-risk patient groups during the COVID-19 pandemic. In this study, it was aimed to perform a systematic review and meta-analysis to determine both the incidence and ICU (Intensive Care Unit) admission rates and mortality in SARS-CoV-2 infected cancer patients.

Methods

The PRISMA guidelines were closely followed during the design, analysis, and reporting of this systematic review and meta-analysis. A comprehensive literature search was performed for the published papers in PubMed/Medline, Scopus, medRxiv, Embase, and Web of Science (WoS) databases. SARS-CoV-2 infection pooled incidence in the cancer populations and the risk ratio (RR) of ICU admission rates/mortality in cancer and non-cancer groups, with 95% confidence intervals (CIs), were calculated using the random-effects model.

Results

A total of 58 studies, involving 709,908 participants and 31,732 cancer patients, were included in this study. The incidence in cancer patients was calculated as 8% (95% CI: 8–9%). Analysis results showed that mortality and ICU admission rate was significantly higher in patients with cancer (RR = 2.26, 95% CI: 1.94–2.62, P < 0.001; RR = 1.45, 95% CI: 1.28–1.64, p < 0.001, respectively).

Conclusion

As a result, cancer was an important comorbidity and risk factor for all SARS-CoV-2 infected patients. This infection could result in severe and even fatal events in cancer patients. Cancer is associated with a poor prognosis in the COVID-19 pandemic. Cancer patients should be assessed more sensitively in the COVID-19 outbreak.

Supplementary Information

The online version contains supplementary material available at 10.1007/s00432-022-04191-y.

CURB-65, qSOFA, and SIRS Criteria in Predicting In-Hospital Mortality of Critically Ill COVID-19 Patients; a Prognostic Accuracy Study

INTRODUCTION

Outcome prediction of intensive care unit (ICU)-admitted patients is one of the important issues for physicians. This study aimed to compare the accuracy of Quick Sequential Organ Failure Assessment (qSOFA), Confusion, Urea, Respiratory Rate, Blood Pressure and Age Above or Below 65 Years (CURB-65), and Systemic Inflammatory Response Syndrome (SIRS) scores in predicting the in-hospital mortality of COVID-19 patients.

METHODS

This prognostic accuracy study was performed on 225 ICU-admitted patients with a definitive diagnosis of COVID-19 from July to December 2021 in Tehran, Iran. The patients' clinical characteristics were evaluated at the time of ICU admission, and they were followed up until discharge from ICU. The screening performance characteristics of CURB-65, qSOFA, and SIRS in predicting their mortality was compared.

RESULTS

225 patients with the mean age of 63.27±14.89 years were studied (56.89% male). The in-hospital mortality rate of this series of patients was 39.10%. The area under the curve (AUC) of SIRS, CURB-65, and qSOFA were 0.62 (95% CI: 0.55 - 0.69), 0.66 (95% CI: 0.59 - 0.73), and 0.61(95% CI: 0.54 - 0.67), respectively (p = 0.508). In cut-off ≥1, the estimated sensitivity values of SIRS, CURB-65, and qSOFA were 85.23%, 96.59%, and 78.41%, respectively. The estimated specificity of scores were 34.31%, 6.57%, and 38.69%, respectively. In cut-off ≥2, the sensitivity values of SIRS, CURB-65, and qSOFA were evaluated as 39.77%, 87.50%, and 15.91%, respectively. Meanwhile, the specificity of scores were 72.99%, 34.31%, and 92.70%.

CONCLUSIONS

It seems that the performance of SIRS, CURB-65, and qSOFA is similar in predicting the ICU mortality of COVID-19 patients. However, the sensitivity of CURB-65 is higher than qSOFA and SIRS.