Browsing by Subject "COVID-19"
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Item A Single Site Retrospective Analysis of the Safety and Efficacy of the Amgen COMMUNITY Study(2023-05) Bling, Delaina A.; Chaudhary, PankajIn 2019, a novel respiratory virus surfaced that lead to severe complications in patients and a global pandemic. One of the major issues was COVID-19 associated ARDS. The mortality rate of patients who develop ARDS from a COIVD-19 infection is 45% and at this time there are not many safe and efficacious treatments for the virus. This project exams the Amgen COMMUNITY study at a single site for efficacy and safety. The Amgen study looked at three potential treatments for COVID-19 that would hopefully lessen the occurrence and severity of ARDS; therefore, leading to a lower mortality rate. The efficacy and safety of the Amgen COMMUNITY study was evaluated retrospectively from patients data who participated in the study at the Sunbeam site.Item Acceleration of Anxiety, Depression, and Suicide: Secondary Effects of Economic Disruption Related to COVID-19(Frontiers Media S.A., 2020-12-15) Brenner, M. Harvey; Bhugra, DineshThe SARS-CoV-2 (COVID-19) pandemic has contributed to increasing levels of anxiety, depression and other symptoms of stress around the globe. Reasons for this increase are understandable in the context of individual level factors such as self-isolation, lockdown, grief, survivor guilt, and other factors but also broader social and economic factors such as unemployment, insecure employment and resulting poverty, especially as the impacts of 2008 recession are still being felt in many countries further accompanied by social isolation. For those who are actively employed a fear of job and income loss and those who have actually become ill and recovered or those who have lost family and friends to illness, it is not surprising that they are stressed and feeling the psychological impact. Furthermore, multiple uncertainties contribute to this sense of anxiety. These fears and losses are major immediate stresses and undoubtedly can have long-term implications on mental health. Economic uncertainty combined with a sense of feeling trapped and resulting lack of control can contribute to helplessness and hopelessness where people may see suicide as a way out. Taking a macro view, we present a statistical model of the impact of unemployment, and national income declines, on suicide, separately for males and females over the life cycle in developed countries. This impact may reflect a potent combination of social changes and economic factors resulting in anomie. The governments and policymakers have a moral and ethical obligation to ensure the physical health and well-being of their populations. While setting in place preventive measures to avoid infections and then subsequent mortality, the focus on economic and social recovery is crucial. A global pandemic requires a global response with a clear inter-linked strategy for health as well as economic solutions. The models we have constructed represent predictions of suicide rates among the 38 highly industrialized OECD countries over a period of 18 years (2000-2017). Unemployment has a major effect on increasing suicide, especially in middle-aged groups. However, the impact of economic decline through losses of national income (GDP per capita) are substantially greater than those of unemployment and influence suicide throughout the life course, especially at the oldest ages.Item Aging During the Pandemic: Untangling the Complexities of COVID-19 and Geriatric Care(JKL International, 2023-05-16) Su, Kaimeng; Jin, KunlinThe COVID-19 pandemic has posed unprecedented challenges to the global healthcare system, with the elderly population being particularly vulnerable. This comprehensive review synthesizes the findings from publications in "Aging and Disease", highlighting the unique challenges older adults encountered during the pandemic and providing solutions thereof. These studies provide invaluable insights into the elderly population's vulnerabilities and needs during the COVID-19 pandemic. The susceptibility to the virus in older individuals remains debatable, and research on the clinical picture of COVID-19 in older populations has yielded insights into clinical features, molecular mechanisms, and potential therapeutic strategies. This review intends to shed light on the need of sustaining physical and mental well-being among older adults during the periods of lockdown by extensively exploring these concerns and emphasizing the need for targeted interventions and support systems for this population. Ultimately, the findings of these studies contribute to developing more effective and comprehensive approaches to managing and mitigating the risks posed by the pandemic to the elderly.Item Bodyweight Changes During COVID-19 for Patients Diagnosed with Depression: A Retrospective Cohort Study(2022-05) Arellano Villanueva, Elias; Fulda, Kimberly; Franks, Susan; Schranz, DamonBackground: The COVID-19 pandemic led to an unprecedented lockdown of millions of Americans from the spring of 2020 to the fall of 2020 This lockdown exacerbated the mental and physical health status of millions of individuals worldwide. Studies done on the impact of COVID-19 on mental health and body weight have been important to our understanding of the effects of the pandemic. However, these studies on depression and BMI change have not identified a possible direction of the causality of the relationship between depression and body weight as affected by lockdown measures during a pandemic. Therefore, this study examined whether a diagnosis of depression is associated with changes in BMI during the COVID-19 pandemic for adults (aged ≥ 18 years). Methods: A retrospective cohort study design using EHR data from a family medicine university clinic was utilized. Adults > 18 years who visited the clinic within a 6-month period prior to lockdown and at least once in the 6-month post-lockdown period were included. Diagnosis of depression, BMI, and potential confounding variables were obtained from EHR. Mann-Whitney U was used to compare the median change in BMI between depressed and non-depressed patients Simple linear regression was used to identify the relationship between diagnosis of depression and BMI change. Multiple linear regression was used to control for age, sex, race/ethnicity, medications, and chronic conditions; and to predict age effects in BMI change while stratified by diagnosis of depression and no diagnosis of depression. Results: Statistical analysis showed that there was a significant difference in BMI changes (p=<0.001) between the group diagnosed with depression and the group with no depression. Similarly, a diagnosis of depression significantly predicted BMI changes (p = >0.001]). This significance was maintained even while including confounding variables in the model (p=0.009). Further statistical analysis showed that age between 31 and 50 significantly predicted BMI changes in those patients with no depression while controlling for confounding variables (p = 0.027). Conclusion: This study demonstrated that individuals with depression had significant changes in BMI during the COVID-19 pandemic and age predicted these changes in middle-aged adults (30-50 years old). The significance of this finding places importance in identifying and following up with individuals with a depression diagnosis given the effects on their BMI in extended isolation periods. Future studies could investigate other variables that might impact BMI change to influence the directionality of this relationship. Providing insight into this relationship could enable providers to inform patients that might be at risk for these types of changes over extended periods of isolation, and hopefully result in positive patient health outcomes.Item Demographic and Psychosocial Correlates of COVID-19 Vaccination Status among a Statewide Sample in Texas(MDPI, 2023-04-28) Luningham, Justin M.; Akpan, Idara N.; Taskin, Tanjila; Alkhatib, Sarah A.; Vishwanatha, Jamboor K.; Thompson, Erika L.The COVID-19 pandemic has been a global public health concern since early 2020 and has required local and state-level responses in the United States. There were several Food and Drug Administration (FDA) approved vaccines available for the prevention of COVID-19 as of August 2022, yet not all states have achieved high vaccination coverage. Texas is a particularly unique state with a history of opposing vaccination mandates, as well as a large and ethnically/racially diverse population. This study explored the demographic and psychosocial correlates of COVID-19 vaccinations among a statewide sample in Texas. A quota sample of 1089 individuals was surveyed online from June-July 2022. The primary outcome in this study was COVID-19 vaccination status (fully vaccinated, partially vaccinated, or unvaccinated) and included independent variables related to demographics, COVID-19 infection/vaccine attitudes and beliefs, and challenges related to the COVID-19 pandemic. Hispanic/Latinx individuals were more likely than non-Hispanic White individuals to be partially vaccinated as opposed to unvaccinated. Higher education levels and confidence that the FDA would ensure a safe COVID-19 vaccine were strongly associated with a higher likelihood of being fully vaccinated. In addition, some challenges brought on by the pandemic and concerns about becoming infected or infecting others were associated with a higher likelihood of being partially or fully vaccinated. These findings emphasize the need to further investigate the interaction between individual and contextual factors in improving COVID-19 vaccination rates, especially among vulnerable and disadvantaged populations.Item Direct-to-Consumer Sexually Transmitted Infection Testing Services: A Position Statement from the American Sexually Transmitted Diseases Association(Wolters Kluwer Health, Inc., 2021-11-01) Exten, Cara; Pinto, Casey N.; Gaynor, Anne M.; Meyerson, Beth; Griner, Stacey B.; Van Der Pol, Barbara; Board of Directors of the American Sexually Transmitted Diseases, AssociationABSTRACT: Direct-to-consumer test services have gained popularity for sexually transmitted infections in recent years, with substantially increased use as a result of the SARS-CoV-2 (CoVID-19) global pandemic. This method of access has been variously known as "self-testing," "home testing," and "direct access testing." Although these online services may be offered through different mechanisms, here we focus on those that are consumer-driven and require self-collected samples, and sample shipment to a centralized laboratory without involvement of health care providers and/or local health departments. We provide the American Sexually Transmitted Diseases Association's position on utilization of these services and recommendations for both consumers and health care providers.Item Intermittent Hypoxic Preconditioning: A Potential New Powerful Strategy for COVID-19 Rehabilitation(Frontiers Media S.A., 2021-04-30) Cai, Ming; Chen, Xuan; Shan, Jieling; Yang, Ruoyu; Guo, Qi; Bi, Xia; Xu, Ping; Shi, Xiangrong; Chu, Lixi; Wang, LiyanCOVID-19 is a highly infectious respiratory virus, which can proliferate by invading the ACE2 receptor of host cells. Clinical studies have found that the virus can cause dyspnea, pneumonia and other cardiopulmonary system damage. In severe cases, it can lead to respiratory failure and even death. Although there are currently no effective drugs or vaccines for the prevention and treatment of COVID-19, the patient's prognosis recovery can be effectively improved by ameliorating the dysfunction of the respiratory system, cardiovascular systems, and immune function. Intermittent hypoxic preconditioning (IHP) as a new non-drug treatment has been applied in the clinical and rehabilitative practice for treating chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD), diabetes, coronary heart disease, heart failure, hypertension, and other diseases. Many clinical studies have confirmed that IHP can improve the cardiopulmonary function of patients and increase the cardiorespiratory fitness and the tolerance of tissues and organs to ischemia. This article introduces the physiological and biochemical functions of IHP and proposes the potential application plan of IHP for the rehabilitation of patients with COVID-19, so as to provide a better prognosis for patients and speed up the recovery of the disease. The aim of this narrative review is to propose possible causes and pathophysiology of COVID-19 based on the mechanisms of the oxidative stress, inflammation, and immune response, and to provide a new, safe and efficacious strategy for the better rehabilitation from COVID-19.Item Providers' Satisfaction with Provision of Prenatal Care During the COVID-19 Pandemic(2021-05) Zulifqar, Bisma A.; Fulda, Kimberly; Franks, Susan; Hodge, Lisa M.Pregnant women are among a high-risk patient population for contracting COVID-19, but they still require adequate prenatal care throughout pregnancy to ensure optimal health for both the fetus and mother. Many prenatal appointments have transitioned to telemedicine visits due to the contagious nature of COVID-19. Provider satisfaction is an important metric to study as there is an association between provider satisfaction, the quality of care they provide, and patient satisfaction. Thus, understanding provider satisfaction with providing prenatal care via various visit types and factors that determine this satisfaction is fundamental, especially as there are limited studies on provider satisfaction with prenatal care. A survey questionnaire was disseminated to prenatal care providers through email and online methods. The questionnaire was developed from an adapted provider satisfaction theoretical framework to evaluate health care professionals' satisfaction with delivering prenatal care using telemedicine. The adapted model assesses five main components: Professionals' Demographics, Care Setting, Intrinsic Factors, Motivations, and Experiences. Twenty-six physicians completed the survey questionnaire. Demographics factors, such as provider age and providers years in practice, compared with categories of audio telehealth and video telehealth satisfaction did not have statistically significant differences. 100% of providers reported being satisfied with their overall ability to provide prenatal care, and 92.3% reported being satisfied with the overall prenatal care provided after the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic. 63.6% of providers reported satisfaction with their ability to provide appropriate prenatal care via telehealth. 60% of providers reported being satisfied with video telehealth prenatal care provided compared to 36% being satisfied with audio telehealth prenatal care provided. 48% of providers reported that they will continue to use telehealth prenatal care visits after the COVID-19 pandemic. Statistical analysis used to compare continuation of telehealth use in the future to certain demographic factors, provider age and provider years in practice, found that neither provider age nor years of practice were statistically different. Prenatal care provider demographics, experiences, motivations, and intrinsic factors were not associated with providers' satisfaction of provision of prenatal care, and providers reported differing satisfaction between prenatal care visit types.Item Short-term forecasting of the COVID-19 outbreak in India(Oxford University Press, 2021-06-05) Mangla, Sherry; Pathak, Ashok Kumar; Arshad, Mohd; Haque, UbydulAs the outbreak of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) is rapidly spreading in different parts of India, a reliable forecast for the cumulative confirmed cases and the number of deaths can be helpful for policymakers in making the decisions for utilizing available resources in the country. Recently, various mathematical models have been used to predict the outbreak of COVID-19 worldwide and also in India. In this article we use exponential, logistic, Gompertz growth and autoregressive integrated moving average (ARIMA) models to predict the spread of COVID-19 in India after the announcement of various unlock phases. The mean absolute percentage error and root mean square error comparative measures were used to check the goodness-of-fit of the growth models and Akaike information criterion for ARIMA model selection. Using COVID-19 pandemic data up to 20 December 2020 from India and its five most affected states (Maharashtra, Karnataka, Andhra Pradesh, Tamil Nadu and Kerala), we report 15-days-ahead forecasts for cumulative confirmed cases and the number of deaths. Based on available data, we found that the ARIMA model is the best-fitting model for COVID-19 cases in India and its most affected states.Item Survey of Clinical Research Industry Site Success among Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19) Pandemic(2021-05) Barrett, Ethan W.; Chaudhary, Pankaj; Mathew, Stephen O.; Chaudhary, Pankaj; Su, Dong-MingCOVID-19 had a great impact on the Clinical Research Industry. While past research has focused on past challenges to site success, it has not been done while a pandemic was ongoing. This study explores potential variables, such as site demographics, to clinical site success during a pandemic and seeks to implement potential strategies. With these new strategies, sites may find success in normal times as well in case an event like this pandemic happens again.Item The impact of COVID-19 on globalization(Elsevier Inc., 2020-10-13) Shrestha, Nistha; Shad, Muhammad Yousaf; Ulvi, Osman; Khan, Modasser Hossain; Karamehic-Muratovic, Ajlina; Nguyen, Uyen-Sa; Baghbanzadeh, Mahdi; Wardrup, Robert; Aghamohammadi, Nasrin; Cervantes, Diana; Nahiduzzaman, Kh Md; Zaki, Rafdzah Ahmad; Haque, UbydulGlobalization has altered the way we live and earn a livelihood. Consequently, trade and travel have been recognized as significant determinants of the spread of disease. Additionally, the rise in urbanization and the closer integration of the world economy have facilitated global interconnectedness. Therefore, globalization has emerged as an essential mechanism of disease transmission. This paper aims to examine the potential impact of COVID-19 on globalization and global health in terms of mobility, trade, travel, and countries most impacted. The effect of globalization were operationalized in terms of mobility, economy, and healthcare systems. The mobility of individuals and its magnitude was assessed using airline and seaport trade data and travel information. The economic impact was measured based on the workforce, event cancellations, food and agriculture, academic institutions, and supply chain. The healthcare capacity was assessed by considering healthcare system indicators and preparedness of countries. Utilizing a technique for order of preference by similarity to ideal solution (TOPSIS), we calculated a pandemic vulnerability index (PVI) by creating a quantitative measure of the potential global health. The pandemic has placed an unprecedented burden on the world economy, healthcare, and globalization through travel, events cancellation, employment workforce, food chain, academia, and healthcare capacity. Based on PVI results, certain countries were more vulnerable than others. In Africa, more vulnerable countries included South Africa and Egypt; in Europe, they were Russia, Germany, and Italy; in Asia and Oceania, they were India, Iran, Pakistan, Saudi Arabia, and Turkey; and for the Americas, they were Brazil, USA, Chile, Mexico, and Peru. The impact on mobility, economy, and healthcare systems has only started to manifest. The findings of this study may help in the planning and implementation of strategies at the country level to help ease this emerging burden.