Comparing Covid-19 pandemic waves in hospitalized patients - a retrospective, multicenter, cohort study

BACKGROUND

Covid-19 disease was first diagnosed in Israel at the end of February 2020. Until the end of June 2021 842,536 confirmed cases and 6428 deaths were accumulated. The aim of our multicenter retrospective cohort study is to describe the demographic and clinical characteristics of hospitalized patients and to compare the pandemic waves before immunization.

METHODS

Out of 22302 patients hospitalized in general medical centers we randomly selected 6329 admissions for the study. Of these, 3582 and 1106 were eligible for the study in the first period (1 ^st & 2 ^nd waves), and in the second period (3 ^rd wave), respectively.

RESULTS

Thirty-day mortality was higher in the 2nd period than in the 1st period, 25.20% versus 13.68% (P<0.001). Invasive mechanical ventilation supported 9.19% and 14.21% of the patients in the 1st period and 2nd period, respectively. Extracorporeal Membrane Oxygenation (ECMO) was used more than twice as often on the 2nd period .

CONCLUSIONS

Invasive ventilation, use of ECMO and mortality rate were 1.5 to 2 times higher on the 2 ^nd period than in the 1 ^st period. Patients of the 2 ^nd period had a more severe presentation and higher mortality than those of the 1 ^st period.

[Calcitonin in direct and indirect pulp capping]

Calcitonin, the hormone produced by C cells of the thyroid playing a great role in calcium homeostasis, was used for direct and indirect pulp capping. This procedure was done on 200 teeth. Late follow-up after 12, 18 and 24 months or even longer was obtained in 146 cases: 110 with indirect pulp capping and 36 with direct capping. In the first follow-up examination 7 cases were regarded as failures, in late follow-up 5 failures were found, thus the total failure rate was 3.8%. The usefulness of calcitonin for biological treatment of pulp is unquestionable.