scholarly journals Assessing the burden of COVID-19 in Canada

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Simona Bignami-Van Assche ◽  
Ari Van Assche
Keyword(s):  
Health Care ◽  
Gender Differences ◽  
Intensive Care ◽  
Age Groups ◽  
Hospital Setting ◽  
Case Fatality ◽  
Selection Effect ◽  
Health Agency ◽  
Individual Level ◽  
Gender Groups

ABSTRACTBackgroundThe burden of COVID-19 in Canada is unequally distributed geographically, with the largest number of cases and fatalities recorded in Québec and Ontario while other provinces experienced limited outbreaks. To date, however, no study has assessed how provincial epidemics have unfolded in a comparative perspective. This is essential to calibrate projections of the future course of the epidemic and plan health care resources for the second wave of infections.MethodsUsing newly released individual-level data collected by the Public Health Agency of Canada, we assess COVID-19-related morbidity and mortality across age and gender groups at the provincial level through a combination of demographic and survival analyses.ResultsQuébec has the highest absolute and per capita number of COVID-19 confirmed positive cases, hospitalizations and fatalities in all age groups. In each province, a higher number of women than men test positive for the disease, especially above age 80. Yet consistently across age groups, infected men are more likely to be hospitalized and enter intensive care than women do. These gender differences in hospitalisation rates account for the higher case fatality risk due to COVID-19 among men compared to women.InterpretationAlthough health care capacity across provinces has been sufficient to treat severe cases, we find that the main factor accounting for gender differences in COVID-19-related mortality is the need for hospitalization and intensive care, especially above age 80. This suggests a selection effect of severe cases requiring to be treated in a hospital setting that needs to be further investigated.

scholarly journals Disease Profile and Death Pattern among the Children Admitted in Rajshahi Medical College Hospital

2021 ◽  
Vol 34 (1) ◽  
pp. 55-62
Author(s):  
Be Nazir Ahmmad ◽  
Fazlur Rahman ◽  
Naznin Parvin ◽  
Md Shamsul Alam ◽  
Shitangshu Banerjee ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Health Care ◽  
Case Fatality Rate ◽  
Age Groups ◽  
Case Fatality ◽  
Medical College Hospital ◽  
Watery Diarrhea ◽  
Fatality Rate ◽  
College Hospital ◽  
Under Five ◽  
Medical College

Background: Rajshahi medical college hospital is a tertiary care teaching and referral center in the North-West part of Bangladesh. To assess the epidemiological trend in hospital admission, including morbidity and mortality pattern of illness in the pediatric population, it needs to develop effective health care planning, appropriate resource allocation, and integration of existing health care service facilities. Objective: To evaluate the diseases and deaths of children admitted in the department of pediatrics, Rajshahi medical college hospital, Rajshahi. Materials and methods: This is a retrospective study. The collected case records of all patients admitted in the department of pediatrics from 1st January 2017 to 31st December 2019 (3 years) were analyzed.  Result: A total of 62000 children were admitted during the mentioned study period. All the patients were distributed into three age groups infant, under five, and more than five, contributing 22%, 27.5%, and 19%, respectively. Acute watery diarrhea (21%), hereditary hemolytic anemia (18%), bronchopneumonia (10.4%), acute gastritis (9.4%), and acute bronchiolitis and wheezy child (7.17%) were the top five diseases in each of the three years of admission. Among the total admitted patients, 1003 (1.61%) patients died. Infant, under five, and more than five age groups constitute 61.3%, 28.1%, and 15.1%, respectively. Encephalitis and fulminant hepatic failure found the top two diseases causing death with a case fatality rate was 61% and 43%, respectively. The next highest case fatality rate was found in acute leukemia (15%). Other common causes of death include meningitis, cerebral palsy with complications (7.5%), bronchopneumonia with complications (3.8%). Conclusion: An admission-related comprehensive evaluation of this study will help to understand the diseases and death patterns of a hospital, leading to the development of more effective planning and case management strategies. TAJ 2021; 34: No-1: 55-62

scholarly journals Examination of Staphylococcus aureus Isolates from the Gloves and Gowns of Intensive Care Unit Health Care Workers

2020 ◽  
Vol 9 (32) ◽  
Author(s):  
Timileyin Adedrian ◽  
Stephanie Hitchcock ◽  
Lyndsay M. O’Hara ◽  
Jane M. Michalski ◽  
J. Kristie Johnson ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Health Care ◽  
Intensive Care Unit ◽  
Staphylococcus Aureus ◽  
Intensive Care ◽  
Health Care Workers ◽  
Hospital Setting ◽  
Genomic Diversity ◽  
Methicillin Resistant ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Care Workers

ABSTRACT Interactions with health care workers are often thought to be associated with the spread of microbes in the hospital setting. We have examined the genomic diversity of methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus isolates from the gloves and gowns of health care workers from four hospitals in three states.

scholarly journals Estimating age-specific COVID-19 fatality risk and time to death by comparing population diagnosis and death patterns: Australian data

2021 ◽  
Vol 21 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Ian C. Marschner
Keyword(s):  
Age Groups ◽  
Case Fatality ◽  
The Elderly ◽  
Specific Model ◽  
Fatality Risk ◽  
Individual Level ◽  
Time To Death ◽  
History Of ◽  
Case Fatality Risk ◽  
Dynamics Models

Abstract Background Mortality is a key component of the natural history of COVID-19 infection. Surveillance data on COVID-19 deaths and case diagnoses are widely available in the public domain, but they are not used to model time to death because they typically do not link diagnosis and death at an individual level. This paper demonstrates that by comparing the unlinked patterns of new diagnoses and deaths over age and time, age-specific mortality and time to death may be estimated using a statistical method called deconvolution. Methods Age-specific data were analysed on 816 deaths among 6235 cases over age 50 years in Victoria, Australia, from the period January through December 2020. Deconvolution was applied assuming logistic dependence of case fatality risk (CFR) on age and a gamma time to death distribution. Non-parametric deconvolution analyses stratified into separate age groups were used to assess the model assumptions. Results It was found that age-specific CFR rose from 2.9% at age 65 years (95% CI:2.2 – 3.5) to 40.0% at age 95 years (CI: 36.6 – 43.6). The estimated mean time between diagnosis and death was 18.1 days (CI: 16.9 – 19.3) and showed no evidence of varying by age (heterogeneity P = 0.97). The estimated 90% percentile of time to death was 33.3 days (CI: 30.4 – 36.3; heterogeneity P = 0.85). The final age-specific model provided a good fit to the observed age-stratified mortality patterns. Conclusions Deconvolution was demonstrated to be a powerful analysis method that could be applied to extensive data sources worldwide. Such analyses can inform transmission dynamics models and CFR assessment in emerging outbreaks. Based on these Australian data it is concluded that death from COVID-19 occurs within three weeks of diagnosis on average but takes five weeks in 10% of fatal cases. Fatality risk is negligible in the young but rises above 40% in the elderly, while time to death does not seem to vary by age.

scholarly journals Hyperferritinemia as independent risk factor and biomarker in COVID-19 to predict severity and mortality.

2021 ◽  
Vol 28 (08) ◽  
pp. 1183-1189
Author(s):  
Shah Taj Khan ◽  
◽  
Saiqa Zahoor ◽  
Hamzullah Khan ◽  
Khalid Khan ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Risk Factor ◽  
Serum Ferritin ◽  
Age Groups ◽  
Case Fatality ◽  
Binary Logistic Regression ◽  
Female Gender ◽  
Male Gender ◽  
P Value ◽  
Binary Logistic Regression Analysis ◽  
Gender Groups

Objectives: To determine the role of deranged serum ferritin levels as independent pathogenic risk factor to predict the progression towards a worse clinical outcome in COVID-19. Study Design: Descriptive Cross Section Study. Setting: Hayatabad Medical Complex Peshawar. Period: 1 March to 10 July 2020. Material & Methods: A total of 267 patients were enrolled from COVID-19 isolation units, Hayatabad Medical Complex Peshawar Descriptive statistics were used for numerical variables. Binary logistic regression analysis was used to predict the worst outcome in patients with deranged levels of ferritin. Correlation statistic were used to quantify the correlation of ferritin with mortality and severity of the disease. Kaplan Meir test was used for survival analysis to compare the mortality rate in gender groups in COVID-19 patients with deranged ferritin levels. Results: The mean age of the patients was 53+14years. The median value of the Serum ferritin levels of Covid-19 patients was 978 ug/L the ferritin distribution in gender groups was not normally distributed (Shapiro Wilk test, p-value 0.001). 215/267(80.5%) cases reported >400 ug/Lof serum ferritin. There was a statistically significant uphill positive correlation of serum ferritin levels with an increase in age (rs-0.213, p-0.001) and with disease outcome in terms of mortality (rs-0.29, p-0.05). The probability case fatality in patients with deranged serum ferritin levels was 1.8 times more as compared to patients without hyperferritinemia (p-0.05, OR 1.8). The surviving capability in female gender with deranged ferritin levels in extreme of age was 65% as compared to 20% in male gender. Conclusion: More than 80% of the COVID-19 patients had abnormally higher readings of serum ferritin. The deranged ferritin levels had a statistically significant correlation with an increase in age of patient and with worst outcome in terms of death. Female gender more protective with higher chances of survival with deranged serum ferritin levels in all age groups compared to male gender.

scholarly journals COVID-19 Pandemic: Influence of Schools, Age Groups, and Virus Variants in Italy

Viruses ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 13 (7) ◽  
pp. 1269
Author(s):  
Giovanni Sebastiani ◽  
Giorgio Palù
Keyword(s):  
Public Health ◽  
Health Care ◽  
Intensive Care ◽  
Age Groups ◽  
Virus Transmission ◽  
Smooth Curve ◽  
Public Health Care ◽  
School Activities ◽  
Containment Measures ◽  
The Government

The estimated smooth curve of the percentage of subjects positive to SARS-CoV-2 started decreasing in Italy at the beginning of January 2021, due to the government containment measures undertaken from Christmas until 7 January. Approximately two weeks after releasing the measures, the curve stopped to decrease and remained approximately constant for four weeks to increase again in the middle of February. This epidemic phase had a public health care impact since, from the beginning of the fourth week of February, the curve of the intensive care unit’s occupancy started to grow. This wave of infection was characterized by the presence of new virus variants, with a higher than 80% dominance of the so-called “English” variant, since 15 April. School activities in Italy started at different times from 7 January until 8 February, depending on every region’s decision. Our present data on the incidence of SARS-CoV-2 in different age groups in Italy are in agreement with literature reports showing that subjects older than 10 years are involved in virus transmission. More importantly, we provide evidence to support the hypothesis that also individuals of age 0–9 years can significantly contribute to the spread of SARS-CoV-2.

Projected future risk of leukemia and brain tumors from unnecessary brain CT scans: a multi-center study in Iran

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
A. Asgari ◽  
A.A. Parach ◽  
F. Bouzarjomehri ◽  
F. Shirani-Takabi ◽  
A.H. Mehrparvar ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Brain Cancer ◽  
Age Groups ◽  
Young Patients ◽  
Ct Scans ◽  
Brain Ct ◽  
Males And Females ◽  
And Gender ◽  
Multi Center Study ◽  
Gender Groups ◽  
Probability Of Cancer

Introduction: Computer Tomography (CT) scans can deliver a relatively high radiation dose to the patient, therefore radiation protection for this modality is paramount. The present study determined the frequency of no abnormality detected (NAD) brain CT scans and probability of cancer induction in different age groups and genders. Methods: In this study, brain CT reports were used to identify any findings as abnormality detected (AD) and others as NAD. Then probability of future leukemia and brain cancer was estimated for different age and gender groups. Results: On average, in 65% of the cases the results were NAD (56% and 76% among males and females, respectively). Among children, 79% of the reports were NAD. The total number of projected brain cancers was 1.8 and 1.3 for males and females, respectively. The number of projected leukemia cases was 0.75 and 0.7 for males and females, respectively. For pediatric patients, brain CT scans can lead to leukemia cases about 4.5 times more often than adults. Conclusion: Brain CT scans can lead to additional cases of brain cancer and leukemia. A significant fraction of brain CTs were NAD (non-pathologic) and could practically be replaced by other radiation-free imaging modalities, especially in pediatric and young patients.

Parameters of bed occupancy of intensive care units in Hungary

2011 ◽  
Vol 152 (24) ◽  
pp. 946-950 ◽  
Author(s):  
Miklós Gresz
Keyword(s):  
Health Care ◽  
Intensive Care Unit ◽  
Intensive Care ◽  
Health Insurance ◽  
Intensive Care Units ◽  
Emergency Care ◽  
Present Author ◽  
Bed Occupancy ◽  
National Network ◽  
Bed Capacity

According to the Semmelweis Plan for Saving Health Care, ”the capacity of the national network of intensive care units in Hungary is one but not the only bottleneck of emergency care at present”. Author shows on the basis of data reported to the health insurance that not on a single calendar day more than 75% of beds in intensive care units were occupied. There were about 15 to 20 thousand sick days which could be considered unnecessary because patients occupying these beds were discharged to their homes directly from the intensive care unit. The data indicate that on the whole bed capacity is not low, only in some institutions insufficient. Thus, in order to improve emergency care in Hungary, the rearrangement of existing beds, rather than an increase of bed capacity is needed. Orv. Hetil., 2011, 152, 946–950.

Corona Virus (COVID-19) Awareness Assessment - A Survey Study Amongst the Indian Population

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Gabriela Fernandes
Keyword(s):  
Health Care ◽  
Social Media ◽  
Health Care Workers ◽  
Indian Population ◽  
Age Groups ◽  
Survey Study ◽  
Social Distancing ◽  
Corona Virus ◽  
Care Workers ◽  
Amount Of Knowledge

Aim: The aim of this survey study was to assess the level of awareness amongst Indian population regarding the COVID-19. Method: A survey was conducted amongst 745 individuals to assess their level of awareness regarding COVID-19 and steps to be taken for its prevention. Result: The results revealed that a considerable percentage of individuals learned about the pandemic through social media and news and were aware of the mode of spread of the virus and also steps to be taken to prevent it from spreading. But considerable percentage of people was also not fully aware regarding the age groups this virus will be affecting. Conclusion: Upon understanding the percentage of people not aware about the age groups this virus will be affecting, keeping in mind good amount of knowledge amongst individuals about maintaining hygiene and social distancing, this survey would help the health care workers to create awareness regarding the effect of this virus on different age groups to help prevent carelessness amongst youth in following the regime.

The True Believers

2018 ◽  
Author(s):  
Barbara J. Risman
Keyword(s):  
Gender Differences ◽  
Social Networks ◽  
Social Life ◽  
Gender Ideology ◽  
Macro Level ◽  
Individual Level ◽  
Gender Differentiation ◽  
The World ◽  
The Individual ◽  
Gendered Expectations

This is the first data chapter. In this chapter, respondents who are described as true believers in the gender structure, and essentialist gender differences are introduced and their interviews analyzed. They are true believers because, at the macro level, they believe in a gender ideology where women and men should be different and accept rules and requirements that enforce gender differentiation and even sex segregation in social life. In addition, at the interactional level, these Millennials report having been shaped by their parent’s traditional expectations and they similarly feel justified to impose gendered expectations on those in their own social networks. At the individual level, they have internalized masculinity or femininity, and embody it in how they present themselves to the world. They try hard to “do gender” traditionally.

scholarly journals Children’s Understanding of Informed Assents in Research Studies

Healthcare ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 9 (7) ◽  
pp. 871
Author(s):  
Hortense Cotrim ◽  
Cristina Granja ◽  
Ana Sofia Carvalho ◽  
Carlos Cotrim ◽  
Rui Martins
Keyword(s):  
Health Care ◽  
Positive Relationship ◽  
Age Groups ◽  
High Capacity ◽  
Decision Making Process ◽  
Objective Understanding ◽  
Level Of Understanding ◽  
Age And Sex ◽  
Acceptance Of Health Care

The assent procedure reflects an effort to enable the minor to understand, to the degree they are capable of, what their participation in the decision making process would involve. Aims: To evaluate the minors’ ability to understand the information provided to them when obtaining assent and to evaluate the opinion of the parents regarding the importance of asking the child’s assent. Methods: The sample included a total of 52 minors aged between 10 and 17 years who underwent exercise echocardiogram. The Quality of Informed Consent is divided into two parts: Part A was used to measure objective understanding and part B to measure subjective understanding. Results: The results show that the minors have a high capacity to understand the information given to them when asking for assent. A positive relationship was found between the two parts of the questionnaire. No statistically significant relationship was found between age and sex and part A and part B or between both age groups (<14 years old and ≥14 years old) and the measure. In the case of the parents, 96.6% of parents consider assent as an advantage for the child’s acceptance of health care. The opinion of the parents is not related to the age, sex or level of schooling. Conclusion: Minors showed a substantial level of understanding regarding the information provided to them. The parents considered the implementation of assent fundamental to the child’s acceptance of health care.

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