Systematic Review on COVID-19 Readmission and Risk Factors: Future of Machine Learning in COVID-19 Readmission Studies

Care Home Safety Incidents and Safeguarding Reports Relating to Hospital to Care Home Transitions: A Retrospective Content Analysis

OBJECTIVE

The purpose of this study was to further the understanding of reported patient safety events at the interface between hospital and care home including what active failings and latent conditions were present and how reporting helped learning.

METHODS

Two care home organizations, one in the North East and one in the South West of England, participated in the study. Reports relating to a transition and where a patient safety event had occurred were sought during the COVID-19 (SARS-CoV-2) virus prepandemic and intrapandemic periods. All reports were screened for eligibility and analyzed using content analysis.

RESULTS

Seventeen South West England care homes and 15 North East England care homes sent 114 safety incident reports and after screening 91 were eligible for review. A hospital discharge transition (n = 78, 86%) was most common. Pressure damage (n = 29, 32%), medication errors (n = 26, 29%) and premature discharge (n = 21, 23%) contributed to 84% of the total reporting. Many 'active failings' (n = 340) were identified with fewer latent conditions (failings) (n = 14, 15%) being reported. No examples of individual learning were identified. Organization and systems learning were identified in 12 reports (n = 12, 13%).

CONCLUSIONS

The findings highlight potentially high levels of underreporting. The most common safety incidents reported were pressure damage, medication errors, and premature discharge. Many active failings causing numerous staff actions were identified emphasizing the cost to patients and services. Additionally, latent conditions (failings) were not emphasized; similarly, evidence of learning from safety incidents was not addressed.

Swiss COVID-19 hospital surveillance: an in-depth analysis of the factors associated with hospital readmission dynamics in community-acquired COVID-19 cases

BACKGROUND

The COVID-19 pandemic has placed unprecedented pressure on hospitals worldwide. In such a context of tension in healthcare systems, efficiently allocating hospital resources is a crucial aspect of crisis management. The aim of this study was to describe the clinical characteristics of readmitted patients and to determine risk factors for hospital readmission using data from the Swiss COVID-19 Hospital-Based Surveillance system (CH-SUR).

METHODS

We investigated hospital readmissions within 60 days after discharge of patients from the CH-SUR surveillance system with a first hospitalisation between 1 December 2020 and 1 December 2021. Only community-acquired cases were considered. We compared the baseline characteristics of readmitted and non-readmitted patients. We performed univariable and multivariable logistic regression analyses to investigate the risk factors for hospital readmission.

FINDINGS

Of the 8039 eligible patients, 239 (3.0%, 95% confidence interval [CI] 2.6-3.3%) were readmitted to hospital within 60 days of discharge, with no significant variations observed over the study period; 80% of all readmissions occurred within 10 days of discharge of the index hospital stay. Based on our multivariable logistic regression models, factors increasing the odds of hospital readmission were age ≥65 years (odds ratio [OR] 1.63, 95% CI 1.24-2.15), male sex (OR 1.47, 95% CI 1.12-1.93), being discharged to home after first hospitalisation (OR 1.77, 95% CI 1.19-2.62), having oncological pathology (OR 1.82, 95% CI 1.27-2.61) and being immunosuppressed (OR 2.34, 95% CI 1.67-3.29).

INTERPRETATIONS

Age, sex, cardiovascular diseases, oncological pathologies and immunosuppression were the main risk factors identified for hospital readmission.

Rate and Risk Factors of Reinfection, Recurrence, and Hospital Readmission Among SARS-Cov-2 Hospitalized Patients; a National Cohort Study

Introduction

Reinfection and hospital readmission due to COVID-19 were significant and costly during the pandemic. This study aimed to assess the rate and risk factors of SARS-Cov-2 reinfection, recurrence, and hospital readmission, by analyzing the national data registry in Iran.

Methods

This study was a retrospective cohort conducted from March 2020 to May 2021. A census method was used to consider all of the possible information in the national Medical Care Monitoring Center (MCMC) database obtained from the Ministry of Health and Medical Education; the data included information from all confirmed COVID-19 patients who were hospitalized and diagnosed using at least one positive Polymerase Chain Reaction (PCR) test by nasopharyngeal swab specimens. Univariate and multivariable Cox regression analyses were performed to assess the factors related to each studied outcome.

Results

After analyzing data from 1,445,441 patients who had been hospitalized due to COVID-19 in Iran, the rates of overall reinfection, reinfection occurring at least 90 days after the initial infection, recurrence, and hospital readmission among hospitalized patients were 67.79, 26.8, 41.61, and 30.53 per 1000 person-years, respectively. Among all cases of hospitalized reinfection (48292 cases), 38.61% occurred more than 90 days from the initial SARS-Cov-2 infection. Getting infected with COVID-19 in the fifth wave of the disease compared to getting infected in the first wave (P<0.001), having cancer (P<0.001), chronic kidney disease (P<0.001), and age over 80 years (P<0.001) were respectively the most important risk factors for overall reinfection. In contrast, age 19-44 years (P<0.001), intubation (P<0.001), fever (P<0.001), and cough (P<0.001) in the initial admission were the most important protective factors of overall reinfection, respectively.

Conclusion

Reinfection and recurrence of COVID-19 after recovery and the rate of hospital readmission after discharge were remarkable. Advanced or young age, as well as having underlying conditions like cancer and chronic kidney disease, increase the risk of infection and readmission.

The incidence of neurological complications in mechanically ventilated COVID-19 ICU patients: An observational single-center cohort study in three COVID-19 periods

BACKGROUND

Neurological complications in COVID-19 patients admitted to an intensive care unit (ICU) have been previously reported. As the pandemic progressed, therapeutic strategies were tailored to new insights. This study describes the incidence, outcome, and types of reported neurological complications in invasively mechanically ventilated (IMV) COVID-19 patients in relation to three periods during the pandemic.

METHODS

IMV COVID-19 ICU patients from the Dutch Maastricht Intensive Care COVID (MaastrICCht) cohort were included in a single-center study (March 2020 - October 2021). Demographic, clinical, and follow-up data were collected. Electronic medical records were screened for neurological complications during hospitalization. Three distinct periods (P1, P2, P3) were defined, corresponding to periods with high hospitalization rates. ICU survivors with and without reported neurological complications were compared in an exploratory analysis.

RESULTS

IMV COVID-19 ICU patients (n=324; median age 64 [IQR 57-72] years; 238 males (73.5%)) were stratified into P1 (n=94), P2 (n=138), and P3 (n=92). ICU mortality did not significantly change over time (P1=38.3%; P2=41.3%; P3=37.0%; p=.787). The incidence of reported neurological complications during ICU admission gradually decreased over the periods (P1=29.8%; P2=24.6%; P3=18.5%; p=.028). Encephalopathy/delirium (48/324 (14.8%)) and ICU-acquired weakness (32/324 (9.9%)) were most frequently reported and associated with ICU treatment intensity. ICU survivors with neurological complications (n=53) were older (p=.025), predominantly male (p=.037), and had a longer duration of IMV (p<.001) and ICU stay (p<.001), compared to survivors without neurological complications (n=132). A multivariable analysis revealed that only age was independently associated with the occurrence of neurological complications (ORadj=1.0541; 95% CI=1.0171-1.0925; p=.004). Health-related quality-of-life at follow-up was not significantly different between survivors with and without neurological complications (n = 82, p=.054).

CONCLUSIONS

A high but decreasing incidence of neurological complications was reported during three consecutive COVID-19 periods in IMV COVID-19 patients. Neurological complications were related to the intensity of ICU support and treatment, and associated with prolonged ICU stay, but did not lead to significantly worse reported health-related quality-of-life at follow-up.

Analysis of 30-day hospital readmissions and related risk factors for COVID-19 patients with myocarditis hospitalized in the United States during 2020

Background

Despite extensive research on COVID-19 and its association with myocarditis, limited data are available on readmission rates for this subset of patients. Thirty-day hospital readmission rate is an established quality metric that is associated with increased mortality and cost.

Methods

This retrospective analysis utilized the Nationwide Readmission Database for the year 2020 to evaluate 30-day hospital readmission rates, risk factors, and clinical outcomes among COVID-19 patients who presented with myocarditis at their index hospitalization.

Results

Our analysis revealed that 1) the 30-day all-cause hospital readmission rate for patients initially hospitalized with COVID-19 and myocarditis was 11.7%; 2) after multivariate adjustment, the primary predictor of readmission for COVID-19 patients with myocarditis was discharge against medical advice; 3) COVID-19 patients with myocarditis who required readmission had a higher proportion of older patients and Medicare beneficiaries; 4) the most common diagnoses at readmission were COVID-19, sepsis, congestive heart failure, acute myocardial infarction, and pneumonia; and 5) readmitted patients were more likely to require renal replacement therapy during their index hospitalization.

Conclusion

This study underscores the importance of optimizing discharge plans, preventing irregular discharges through shared decision-making, and ensuring robust post-hospital follow-up for patients with COVID-19 and myocarditis at index admission.

[COVID-19 readmissions during the first three epidemic periods in Orihuela, Spain: incidence, risk factors and letality]

OBJECTIVE

Readmission for COVID-19 is associated with high mortality, saturation of health services, and high costs. This study aimed to assess the incidence and risk factors of readmissions in COVID-19 patients in a regional hospital of Spain from February 2020 to March 2021.

METHODS

A retrospective cohort study describing the characteristics of adult patients readmitted within thirty days of discharge after being infected with SARS-CoV-2 was carried out. Readmission associated risk factors were analysed using a binary logistic regression model.

RESULTS

Of the 967 patients who survived their first COVID-19 admission, 70 (7.2%) were readmitted within thirty days. Of these, 34.3% presented pneumonia progression, 15.7% functional deterioration, and 12.9% other infections. The mortality rate during readmission was 28.6%. There were no statistically significant differences in the cumulative incidence of readmissions between the epidemic periods (p=0.241). Factors independently associated with readmission were: diabetes mellitus (aOR 1.96, 95%CI 1.07-3.57, p=0.030); acute kidney failure (aOR 2.69, 95%CI 1.43-5.07, p=0.002); not being a candidate for intensive care (aOR 7.68, 95% CI 4.28-13.80, p<0.001); and not being prescribed corticosteroids at discharge (aOR 2.15, 95% CI 1.04-4.44; p=0.039).

CONCLUSIONS

A substantial proportion of patients admitted due to COVID-19 are readmitted, and they carry a high letality. Diabetes mellitus, acute kidney failure, not being a candidate for ICU admission, and not being prescribed corticosteroids on discharge are independently associated with an increased risk of readmission.

A Digital Respiratory Ward in Leicester, Leicestershire, and Rutland, England, for Patients With COVID-19: Economic Evaluation of the Impact on Acute Capacity and Wider National Health Service Resource Use

BACKGROUND

The COVID-19 pandemic stressed global health care systems' acute capacity and caused a diversion of resources from elective care to the treatment of acute respiratory disease. In preparing for a second wave of COVID-19 infections, England's National Health Service (NHS) in Leicester, Leicestershire, and Rutland sought to protect acute capacity in the winter of 2020-2021. Their plans included the introduction of a digital ward where patients were discharged home early and supported remotely by community-based respiratory specialists, who were informed about patient health status by a digital patient monitoring system.

OBJECTIVE

The objective of the digital ward was to maintain acute capacity through safe, early discharge of patients with COVID-19 respiratory disease. The study objective was to establish what impact this digital ward had on overall NHS resource use.

METHODS

There were no expected differences in patient outcomes. A cost minimization was performed to demonstrate the impact on the NHS resource use from discharging patients into a digital COVID-19 respiratory ward, compared to acute care length of stay (LOS). This evaluation included all 310 patients enrolled in the service from November 2020 (service commencement) to November 2021. Two primary methods, along with sensitivity analyses, were used to help overcome the uncertainty associated with the estimated comparators for the observational data on COVID-19 respiratory acute LOS, compared with the actual LOS of the 279 (90%) patients who were not discharged on oxygen nor were in critical care. Historic comparative LOS and an ordinary least squares model based on local monthly COVID-19 respiratory median LOS were used as comparators. Actual comparator data were sourced for the 31 (10%) patients who were discharged home and into the digital ward for oxygen weaning. Resource use associated with delivering care in the digital ward was sourced from the digital system and respiratory specialists.

RESULTS

In the base case, the digital ward delivered estimated health care system savings of 846.5 bed-days and US $504,197 in net financial savings across the 2 key groups of patients-those on oxygen and those not on oxygen at acute discharge (both P<.001). The mean gross and net savings per patient were US $1850 and US $1626 in the base case, respectively, without including any savings associated with a potential reduction in readmissions. The 30-day readmission rate was 2.9%, which was below comparative data. The mean cost of the intervention was US $223.53 per patient, 12.1% of the estimated gross savings. It was not until the costs were increased and the effect reduced simultaneously by 78.4% in the sensitivity analysis that the intervention was no longer cost saving.

CONCLUSIONS

The digital ward delivered increased capacity and substantial financial savings and did so with a high degree of confidence, at a very low absolute and relative cost.

Respiratory Interventions, Hospital Utilization, and Clinical Outcomes of Persons with COPD and COVID-19

Purpose

Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) impacted outcomes of persons with chronic respiratory diseases such as chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD). This study investigated the differences in respiratory interventions, hospital utilization, smoking status, and 30-day readmission in those with COPD and COVID-19 based on hospital survival status.

Methods

A retrospective cross-sectional study was conducted from February 2020 to October 2020 and included persons with COPD and COVID-19 infection. We examined respiratory interventions, hospital utilization and outcomes, and 30-day hospital readmission. Chi-square test analysis was used to assess categorical variables, and t-test or Mann-Whitney was used to analyze continuous data based on normality.

Results

Ninety persons were included in the study, 78 (87%) were survivors. The most common comorbidity was hypertension 71 (78.9%) (p = 0.003). Twenty-two (24%) persons were intubated, from whom 12 (15%) survived (p < 0.001). There were 25 (32.1%) and 12 (100%), (p < 0.001) persons who required an ICU admission from the survivor and non-survivor groups, respectively. Among the survivor group, fifteen (19%) persons required 30-day hospital readmission.

Conclusion

Persons with COPD and COVID-19 had a lower mortality rate (13%) compared to other studies in the early pandemic phase. Non-survivors had increased ICU utilization, endotracheal intubation, and more frequent application of volume control mode. Discharging survivors to long-term acute care facilities may reduce 30-day hospital readmissions.

COVID-19 and Nutrition: Focus on Chronic Kidney Disease

Some chronic diseases, including chronic kidney disease (CKD), may be associated with poor outcomes, including a high rate of hospitalization and death after COVID-19 infection. In addition to the vaccination program, diet intervention is essential for boosting immunity and preventing complications. A healthy diet containing bioactive compounds may help mitigate inflammatory responses and oxidative stress caused by COVID-19. In this review, we discuss dietary interventions for mitigating COVID-19 complications, including in persons with CKD, which can worsen COVID-19 symptoms and its clinical outcomes, while diet may help patients with CKD to resist the ravages of COVID-19 by improving the immune system, modulating gut dysbiosis, mitigating COVID-19 complications, and reducing hospitalization and mortality. The concept of food as medicine, also known as culinary medicine, for patients with CKD can be extrapolated to COVID-19 infection because healthy foods and nutraceuticals have the potential to exert an important antiviral, anti-inflammatory, and antioxidant role.

Postdischarge Video Visits for Adherence to Hospital Discharge Recommendations: A Randomized Clinical Trial

Objective

To determine whether a postdischarge video visit with patients, conducted by hospital medicine advanced practice providers, improves adherence to hospital discharge recommendations.

Patients and Methods

We conducted a single-institution 2-site randomized clinical trial with 1:1 assignment to intervention vs control, with enrollment from August 10, 2020, to June 23, 2022. Hospital medicine patients discharged home or to an assisted living facility were randomized to a video visit 2-5 days postdischarge in addition to usual care (intervention) vs usual care (control). During the video visit, advanced practice providers reviewed discharge recommendations. Both intervention and control groups received telephone follow-up 3-6 days postdischarge to ascertain the primary outcome of adherence to all discharge recommendations for new and chronic medication management, self-management and action plan, and home support.

Results

Among 1190 participants (594 intervention; 596 control), the primary outcome was ascertained in 768 participants (314 intervention; 454 control). In intervention vs control, there was no difference in the proportion of participants with the primary outcome (76.7% vs 72.5%; P=.19) or in the individual domains of the primary outcome: new and chronic medication management (94.1% vs 92.8%; P=.50), self-management and action plan (76.5% vs 71.5%; P=.18), and home support (94.1% vs 94.3%; P=.94). Women receiving intervention vs control had higher adherence to recommendations (odds ratio, 1.77; 95% CI, 1.08-2.91).

Conclusion

In hospital medicine patients, a postdischarge video visit did not improve adherence to discharge recommendations. Potential gender differences in adherence require further investigation.Clinicaltrials.gov number, NCT04547803.

Readmission rates and outcomes in adults with and without COVID-19 following inpatient chemotherapy admission: A nationwide analysis

BACKGROUND

The coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic has received considerable attention in the scientific community due to its impact on healthcare systems and various diseases. However, little focus has been given to its effect on cancer treatment.

AIM

To determine the effect of COVID-19 pandemic on cancer patients' care.

METHODS

A retrospective review of a Nationwide Readmission Database (NRD) was conducted to analyze hospitalization patterns of patients receiving inpatient chemotherapy (IPCT) during the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020. Two cohorts were defined based on readmission within 30 d and 90 d. Demographic information, readmission rates, hospital-specific variables, length of hospital stay (LOS), and treatment costs were analyzed. Comorbidities were assessed using the Elixhauser comorbidity index. Multivariate Cox regression analysis was performed to identify independent predictors of readmission. Statistical analysis was conducted using Stata® Version 16 software. As the NRD data is anonymous and cannot be used to identify patients, institutional review board approval was not required for this study.

RESULTS

A total of 87755 hospitalizations for IPCT were identified during the pandemic. Among the 30-day index admission cohort, 55005 patients were included, with 32903 readmissions observed, resulting in a readmission rate of 59.8%. For the 90-day index admission cohort, 33142 patients were included, with 24503 readmissions observed, leading to a readmission rate of 73.93%. The most common causes of readmission included encounters with chemotherapy (66.7%), neutropenia (4.36%), and sepsis (3.3%). Comorbidities were significantly higher among readmitted hospitalizations compared to index hospitalizations in both readmission cohorts. The total cost of readmission for both cohorts amounted to 1193000000.00 dollars. Major predictors of 30-day readmission included peripheral vascular disorders [Hazard ratio (HR) = 1.09, P < 0.05], paralysis (HR = 1.26, P < 0.001), and human immunodeficiency virus/acquired immuno-deficiency syndrome (HR = 1.14, P = 0.03). Predictors of 90-day readmission included lymphoma (HR = 1.14, P < 0.01), paralysis (HR = 1.21, P = 0.02), and peripheral vascular disorders (HR = 1.15, P < 0.01).

CONCLUSION

The COVID-19 pandemic has significantly impacted the management of patients undergoing IPCT. These findings highlight the urgent need for a more strategic approach to the care of patients receiving IPCT during pandemics.

Association of Blood Inflammatory Biomarkers with Clinical Outcomes in Patients with AECOPD: An 8-Year Retrospective Study in Beijing

Purpose

To discover potential inflammatory biomarkers, which can compare favorably with traditional biomarkers, and their best cut-offs at first admission to predict clinical outcomes (short-term and long-term) and the risk of readmission among acute exacerbations of chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (AECOPD) patients.

Patients and Methods

Novel inflammatory biomarkers (such as the neutrophil-lymphocyte ratio [NLR], platelet-lymphocyte ratio [PLR], etc.) were compared with traditional biomarkers by Pearson's correlation test. Logistic regression analysis and receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curves were applied to judge the accuracy of these novel biomarkers to predict in-hospital mortality.

Results

Surviving AECOPD patients had lower NLR, PLR, and lymphocyte-to-monocyte ratios than non-survival patients (all P < 0.001). According to Pearson's correlation test, there was a linear correlation between novel and traditional biomarkers (all P < 0.05). In terms of a single biomarker, the AUC value of NLR was the largest, which was not inferior to C-reactive protein (Z-P = 0.064), and superior to erythrocyte sedimentation rate (Z-P = 0.002) and other novel single inflammatory biomarkers (all Z-P < 0.05). The mortality of patients with NLR ≥ 4.43 was 2.308-fold higher than that of patients with NLR < 4.43. After dividing patients into a higher or lower NLR group, pooled results showed that patients with NLR ≥ 4.43 had a higher rate of treatment failure, intensive care unit admission, longer hospital length of stay, one-year mortality after the index hospitalization, and overall mortality than patients with NLR < 4.43 (all P < 0.001). Patients with NLR ≥ 4.43 were associated with higher and earlier first readmission due to AECOPD than patients with lower NLR.

Conclusion

NLR was the best to forecast the clinical prognosis and readmission risk among AECOPD patients, which was not inferior to CRP, and the best cut-off value of NLR was 4.43.

Remdesivir for Hospitalized COVID-19 Patients in the United States: Optimization of Health Care Resources

INTRODUCTION

In addition to significant morbidity and mortality, the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) has strained health care systems globally. This study investigated the cost-effectiveness of remdesivir + standard of care (SOC) for hospitalized COVID-19 patients in the USA.

METHODS

This cost-effectiveness analysis considered direct and indirect costs of remdesivir + SOC versus SOC alone among hospitalized COVID-19 patients in the US. Patients entered the model stratified according to their baseline ordinal score. At day 15, patients could transition to another health state, and on day 29, they were assumed to have either died or been discharged. Patients were then followed over a 1-year time horizon, where they could transition to death or be rehospitalized.

RESULTS

Treatment with remdesivir + SOC avoided, per patient, a total of 4 hospitalization days: two general ward days and a day for both the intensive care unit and the intensive care unit plus invasive mechanical ventilation compared to SOC alone. Treatment with remdesivir + SOC presented net cost savings due to lower hospitalization and lost productivity costs compared to SOC alone. In increased and decreased hospital capacity scenarios, remdesivir + SOC resulted in more beds and ventilators being available versus SOC alone.

CONCLUSIONS

Remdesivir + SOC alone represents a cost-effective treatment for hospitalized patients with COVID-19. This analysis can aid in future decisions on the allocation of healthcare resources.

PneuNet: deep learning for COVID-19 pneumonia diagnosis on chest X-ray image analysis using Vision Transformer

A long-standing challenge in pneumonia diagnosis is recognizing the pathological lung texture, especially the ground-glass appearance pathological texture. One main difficulty lies in precisely extracting and recognizing the pathological features. The patients, especially those with mild symptoms, show very little difference in lung texture, neither conventional computer vision methods nor convolutional neural networks perform well on pneumonia diagnosis based on chest X-ray (CXR) images. In the meanwhile, the Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic continues wreaking havoc around the world, where quick and accurate diagnosis backed by CXR images is in high demand. Rather than simply recognizing the patterns, extracting feature maps from the original CXR image is what we need in the classification process. Thus, we propose a Vision Transformer (VIT)-based model called PneuNet to make an accurate diagnosis backed by channel-based attention through X-ray images of the lung, where multi-head attention is applied on channel patches rather than feature patches. The techniques presented in this paper are oriented toward the medical application of deep neural networks and VIT. Extensive experiment results show that our method can reach 94.96% accuracy in the three-categories classification problem on the test set, which outperforms previous deep learning models.

Cellular and Humoral Responses to Recombinant and Inactivated SARS-CoV-2 Vaccines in CKD Patients: An Observational Study

BACKGROUND

It remains unclear what B cell and humoral responses are mounted by chronic kidney disease (CKD) patients in response to recombinant and inactivated SARS-CoV-2 vaccines. In this study, we aimed to explore the cellular and humoral responses, and the safety of recombinant and inactivated SARS-CoV-2 vaccines in CKD patients.

METHODS

79 CKD and 420 non-CKD individuals, who completed a full course of vaccination, were enrolled in the study. Adverse events (AEs) were collected via a questionnaire. Cellular and humoral responses were detected at 1, 3, and 6 months, including IgG antibody against the receptor-binding domain (RBD) of the SARS-CoV-2 spike protein (anti-RBD-IgG), neutralizing antibodies (NAbs), the positive rate of NAbs and anti-RBD-IgG, RBD-atypical memory B cells (MBCs) (CD3 - CD19 + RBD + CD21 - CD27-), RBD-activated MBCs (CD3 - CD19 + RBD + CD21 - CD27+), RBD-resting MBCs (CD3 - CD19 + RBD + CD21 + CD27+), and RBD-intermediate MBCs (CD3 - CD19 + RBD + CD21 + CD27-).

RESULTS

We found no differences in the positivity rates of NAbs (70.89% vs. 79.49%, p = 0.212) and anti-RBD IgG (72.15% vs. 83.33%, p = 0.092) between the CKD and control groups. A total of 22 CKD individuals completed the full follow-up (1, 3, and 6 months). Significant and sustained declines were found at 3 months in anti-RBD IgG (26.64 BAU/mL vs. 9.08 BAU/mL, p < 0.001) and NAbs (161.60 IU/mL vs. 68.45 IU/mL p < 0.001), and at 6 months in anti-RBD IgG (9.08 BAU/mL vs. 5.40 BAU/mL, p = 0.064) and NAbs (68.45 IU/mL vs. 51.03 IU/mL, p = 0.001). Significant differences were identified in MBC subgroups between CKD patients and healthy controls, including RBD-specific atypical MBCs (60.5% vs. 17.9%, p < 0.001), RBD-specific activated MBCs (36.3% vs. 14.8%, p < 0.001), RBD-specific intermediate MBCs (1.24% vs. 42.6%, p < 0.001), and resting MBCs (1.34% vs. 22.4%, p < 0.001). Most AEs in CKD patients were mild (grade 1 and 2) and self-limiting. One patient with CKD presented with a recurrence of nephrotic syndrome after vaccination.

CONCLUSIONS

The recombinant and inactivated SARS-CoV-2 vaccine was well-tolerated and showed a good response in the CKD cohort. Our study also revealed differences in MBC subtypes after SARS-CoV-2 vaccination between CKD patients and healthy controls.

An Interplay between Oxidative Stress (Lactate Dehydrogenase) and Inflammation (Anisocytosis) Mediates COVID-19 Severity Defined by Routine Clinical Markers

Viral infections activate the innate immune response and the secretion of inflammatory cytokines. They also alter oxidative stress markers, which potentially can have an involvement in the pathogenesis of the disease. The aim of this research was to study the role of the oxidative stress process assessed through lactate dehydrogenase (LDH) on the severity of COVID-19 measured by oxygen saturation (SaO₂) and the putative interaction with inflammation. The investigation enrolled 1808 patients (mean age of 68 and 60% male) with COVID-19 from the HM Hospitals database. To explore interactions, a regression model and mediation analyses were performed. The patients with lower SaO₂ presented lymphopenia and higher values of neutrophils-to-lymphocytes ratio and on the anisocytosis coefficient. The regression model showed an interaction between LDH and anisocytosis, suggesting that high levels of LDH (>544 U/L) and an anisocytosis coefficient higher than 10% can impact SaO₂ in COVID-19 patients. Moreover, analysis revealed that LDH mediated 41% (p value = 0.001) of the effect of anisocytosis on SaO₂ in this cohort. This investigation revealed that the oxidative stress marker LDH and the interaction with anisocytosis have an important role in the severity of COVID-19 infection and should be considered for the management and treatment of the oxidative phenomena concerning this within a precision medicine strategy.

Argument mining as rapid screening tool of COVID-19 literature quality: Preliminary evidence

Background

The COVID-19 pandemic prompted the scientific community to share timely evidence, also in the form of pre-printed papers, not peer reviewed yet.

Purpose

To develop an artificial intelligence system for the analysis of the scientific literature by leveraging on recent developments in the field of Argument Mining.

Methodology

Scientific quality criteria were borrowed from two selected Cochrane systematic reviews. Four independent reviewers gave a blind evaluation on a 1-5 scale to 40 papers for each review. These scores were matched with the automatic analysis performed by an AM system named MARGOT, which detected claims and supporting evidence for the cited papers. Outcomes were evaluated with inter-rater indices (Cohen's Kappa, Krippendorff's Alpha, s* statistics).

Results

MARGOT performs differently on the two selected Cochrane reviews: the inter-rater indices show a fair-to-moderate agreement of the most relevant MARGOT metrics both with Cochrane and the skilled interval scores, with larger values for one of the two reviews.

Discussion and conclusions

The noted discrepancy could rely on a limitation of the MARGOT system that can be improved; yet, the level of agreement between human reviewers also suggests a different complexity between the two reviews in debating controversial arguments. These preliminary results encourage to expand and deepen the investigation to other topics and a larger number of highly specialized reviewers, to reduce uncertainty in the evaluation process, thus supporting the retraining of AM systems.