scholarly journals The Predictive Effectiveness of Blood Biochemical Indexes for the Severity of COVID-19

2020 ◽  
Vol 2020 ◽  
pp. 1-6 ◽  
Author(s):  
Yingchu Zhou ◽  
Bo Li ◽  
Jiyang Liu ◽  
Dong Chen
Keyword(s):  
Clinical Data ◽  
Peripheral Blood ◽  
Severe Disease ◽  
Treatment Center ◽  
Intergroup Difference ◽  
Related Factors ◽  
Factors Affecting ◽  
Logistic Regression Models ◽  
Blood Biochemical ◽  
Wbc Count

Objective. We aimed to explore the predictive effectiveness of blood biochemical indexes for COVID-19 severity. Method. We retrospectively analyzed the clinical data of COVID-19 patients who were cured and discharged from the Public Health Treatment Center of Changsha from January 30, 2020, to February 19, 2020. According to the clinical classification of the disease, the patients were divided into severe and nonsevere groups. General clinical data and underlying medical conditions were recorded through the electronic medical record (EMR) system. Laboratory examination results of the patients during their hospitalization were collected, including the first results for erythrocyte sedimentation rate (ESR), C-reactive protein (CRP), peripheral blood lymphocyte ratio and count, and peripheral blood white blood cell (WBC) count. Univariate and multivariate logistic regression models were used to analyze the predictive effectiveness of blood biochemical indexes and other related factors for COVID-19 severity. Result. In all, 108 COVID-19 patients (median age: 43.9 years (range: 1–75); male patients: 56 (51.85%)) were enrolled, of whom 24 (22.22%) showed severe disease and 84 (77.78%) showed nonsevere disease, and two in 24 patients with severe disease developed into a critically severe type and died. Fever was the most common onset symptom (67.59%), followed by cough (48.15%) and fatigue (37.04%). Comorbidities were important factors affecting the severity of COVID-19, and among the patients with severe disease, the proportion with comorbidities was 70.83%, and the proportion without comorbidities was 29.17%. The intergroup difference was significant P<0.05. In patients with CRP levels (mg/L) of ≤8, >8–≤20, >20–≤40, and >40, the proportions of those with severe and nonsevere disease were 0 to 32, 7 to 19, 6 to 23, and 11 to 10, respectively; the intergroup difference was significant P<0.05. Conclusion. The presence or absence of comorbidities and CRP elevation were independent significant predictors of COVID-19 severity, and hypertension was found as the most common comorbidity in patients with severe disease.

scholarly journals Determinants of hospital waiting time for outpatient care in India: how demographic characteristics, hospital ownership, and ambulance arrival affect waiting tim

2018 ◽  
Vol 5 (7) ◽  
pp. 2692
Author(s):  
Shyamkumar Sriram ◽  
Rakchanok Noochpoung
Keyword(s):  
Waiting Time ◽  
Waiting Times ◽  
Wait Time ◽  
Study Data ◽  
Outpatient Clinics ◽  
Related Factors ◽  
Factors Affecting ◽  
Logistic Regression Models ◽  
For Profit ◽  
Hospital Revenue

Background: Waiting time in hospital outpatient clinics affects patient satisfaction, access to care, health outcomes, trust, willingness to return and hospital revenue. Only a few studies have explored length and variability of waiting times among patients. This study is an attempt to understand factors affecting waiting time experienced by patients in outpatient clinics.Methods: For this study, data were collected in 2012 from 830 patients seeking care from outpatient clinics located in 30 randomly selected hospitals in the district of Nellore, India. Linear regression and logistic regression models have been used to identify the effect of various determinants on hospital waiting times.Results: The average waiting time in government hospitals was 20.3 minutes compared to 15.5 minutes in private hospitals and 39.71 minutes in voluntary hospitals. Waiting time of men was about six minutes lower than women. After controlling for other patient related and hospital related factors, median wait time was 19% lower for male patients compared to females. Length of waiting declines with patient's age. Patients arriving by ambulance waited 64% less that patients not arriving by ambulance but this pattern was not valid for public hospitals.Conclusions: Significant gender bias was present in all facility-types implying that policy and legal interventions would be required. For-profit hospitals had lower waiting time of patients to ensure higher demand for their services by the economically better-off sections of the population. The results highlight the importance of lowering the waiting time in public sector hospitals, especially for patients arriving in ambulances.

Expression and Significance of Th17 Cells and Related Factors in Patients with Autoimmune Hepatitis

2019 ◽  
Vol 22 (4) ◽  
pp. 232-237 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jihong An
Keyword(s):  
Autoimmune Hepatitis ◽  
Peripheral Blood ◽  
Th17 Cells ◽  
Treg Cells ◽  
Enzyme Linked Immunosorbent Assay ◽  
Control Group ◽  
Serum Total Bilirubin ◽  
Study Group ◽  
Related Factors ◽  
Tnf Α

Objective: This study aims to investigate the expression and clinical significance of Th17 cells and related factors in peripheral blood of patients with Autoimmune Hepatitis (AIH). Methods: A retrospective selection of 100 patients with AIH were included as a study group, and 100 healthy volunteers in the outpatient clinic were selected as the control group. The levels of IL- 17, IL-6, IL-21 and TNF-α in peripheral blood of all subjects were detected by enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay and the frequency of Th17 cells and Treg cells was detected by flow cytometry. Results: Results showed that the study group had higher levels of serum total bilirubin (TBil), alkaline phosphatase (ALP), γ -glutamyltranspeptidase (γ-GT), immunoglobulin G (IgG), immunoglobulin M (IgM), alanine aminotransferase (ALT) and aspartate aminotransferase (AST) than the control group, as well as higher levels of IL-17, IL-6, IL-21 and TNF-α in serum. The frequency of Th17 cells in peripheral blood was higher in the study group, while the frequency of Treg cells was lower. Also, serum IL-17, TNF-α levels and Th17 cells frequency were positively correlated with ALT and AST, whereas Treg cells frequency were negatively correlated with ALT and AST levels. Conclusion: Our finding demonstrates that Th17 cell frequency and their related factors IL-17 and TNF-α, are associated with liver damage, which might be used to monitor AIH disease severity.

Consumer Online Buying Decisions: A Critical Appraisal of Literature

2017 ◽  
Vol 10 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Amit Kishore Sinha ◽  
Gyanendra B. S. Johri ◽  
Shanti Rai
Keyword(s):  
Research Paper ◽  
Business Environment ◽  
Buying Behavior ◽  
Related Factors ◽  
Factors Affecting ◽  
Goods And Services ◽  
Online Stores ◽  
Online Buying ◽  
Indian Cities ◽  
Buying Decisions

Since last two decades buying of goods and services from online stores using Internet started off. But players of this industry could reach to the general public residing in second and third category Indian cities in recent past only. Now companies are eagerly interested in understanding the factors affecting Indian consumers so that their needs and wants can be understood and served profitably. This research paper is an attempt to critically evaluate those factors which affect consumer buying behavior in Indian Internet based business environment. For the purpose of coverage of topic researcher has classified the literature under three categories which are Literature related to vendor related factors, Literature related to consumer related factors and Literature related to other factors. Vendor related factors include those factors which are primarily controlled by the companies that are engaged in selling their goods and services on internet along with their intermediaries through which such sales take place. Consumer related factors have been bifurcated under two heading that are consumer demographic factors and consumer psychographic factors. Besides this there are several other factors which may affect consumer’s buying decisions and they are classified as other factors. This research paper also tries to identify the gaps (if any) in the available literature of the factors affecting consumer online buying decisions.

scholarly journals Investigating the status of marital burnout and related factors in married women referred to health centers

2021 ◽  
Vol 21 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Mahbobeh Nejatian ◽  
Ali Alami ◽  
Vahideh Momeniyan ◽  
Ali Delshad Noghabi ◽  
Alireza Jafari
Keyword(s):  
Marital Satisfaction ◽  
Significant Relationship ◽  
Married Couples ◽  
Married Women ◽  
Health Centers ◽  
Related Factors ◽  
Factors Affecting ◽  
The Status ◽  
Multistage Sampling ◽  
Emotional Burnout

Abstract Background Marital burnout is an important issue in marriage and many factors play an important role in this phenomenon. The aim of this study was to determine the status of marital burnout and the factors affecting married women who were referred to health centers because of it. Methods In this study, 936 women were selected by multistage sampling and data collection was performed using questionnaires of demographic and couple burnout. Data analysis was performed using SPSS software version 24. Results The mean (± SD) of marital burnout, in this study, was 55.46 (± 18.03) (out of 147 score). There was a significant relationship between the level of women's education with total marital burnout, and the subscales of somatic and emotional burnout (P < 0.05). A significant relationship was also observed between mandatory marriage and total marital burnout, as well as subscales of somatic, emotional, and psychological burnout (P < 0.05). A significant relationship was detected and observed between women's participation in training courses of communication skills and total marital burnout, inclusive of the subscales regarding psychological burnout (P < 0.05). The results of linear regression showed a significant relationship between mandatory in marriage, marital satisfaction, marriage duration, and husband's level of education with women's marital burnout. The variables were finally able to predict 12% of marital burnout variance. It should be noted that marital satisfaction had a higher effect on predicting marital burnout (P < 0.001). Conclusions Marital satisfaction was one of the effective factors in predicting marital burnout, so it can be concluded that it is necessary to pay more attention to this issue. Educational programs and examining the factors that enhance marital satisfaction are needed to prevent and reduce marital burnout in married couples.

scholarly journals Hematologic, biochemical and immune biomarker abnormalities associated with severe illness and mortality in coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19): a meta-analysis

2020 ◽  
Vol 58 (7) ◽  
pp. 1021-1028 ◽  
Author(s):  
Brandon Michael Henry ◽  
Maria Helena Santos de Oliveira ◽  
Stefanie Benoit ◽  
Mario Plebani ◽  
Giuseppe Lippi
Keyword(s):  
Serum Ferritin ◽  
Weighted Mean Difference ◽  
Meta Analysis ◽  
Severe Disease ◽  
Severe Illness ◽  
China National Knowledge Infrastructure ◽  
Discriminative Ability ◽  
Laboratory Findings ◽  
Liver And Kidney ◽  
Wbc Count

AbstractBackgroundAs coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic rages on, there is urgent need for identification of clinical and laboratory predictors for progression towards severe and fatal forms of this illness. In this study we aimed to evaluate the discriminative ability of hematologic, biochemical and immunologic biomarkers in patients with and without the severe or fatal forms of COVID-19.MethodsAn electronic search in Medline (PubMed interface), Scopus, Web of Science and China National Knowledge Infrastructure (CNKI) was performed, to identify studies reporting on laboratory abnormalities in patients with COVID-19. Studies were divided into two separate cohorts for analysis: severity (severe vs. non-severe and mortality, i.e. non-survivors vs. survivors). Data was pooled into a meta-analysis to estimate weighted mean difference (WMD) with 95% confidence interval (95% CI) for each laboratory parameter.ResultsA total number of 21 studies was included, totaling 3377 patients and 33 laboratory parameters. While 18 studies (n = 2984) compared laboratory findings between patients with severe and non-severe COVID-19, the other three (n = 393) compared survivors and non-survivors of the disease and were thus analyzed separately. Patients with severe and fatal disease had significantly increased white blood cell (WBC) count, and decreased lymphocyte and platelet counts compared to non-severe disease and survivors. Biomarkers of inflammation, cardiac and muscle injury, liver and kidney function and coagulation measures were also significantly elevated in patients with both severe and fatal COVID-19. Interleukins 6 (IL-6) and 10 (IL-10) and serum ferritin were strong discriminators for severe disease.ConclusionsSeveral biomarkers which may potentially aid in risk stratification models for predicting severe and fatal COVID-19 were identified. In hospitalized patients with respiratory distress, we recommend clinicians closely monitor WBC count, lymphocyte count, platelet count, IL-6 and serum ferritin as markers for potential progression to critical illness.

scholarly journals Correlates of Transitions in Food Insecurity Status during the Early Stages of the COVID-19 Pandemic among Ethnically Diverse Households in Central Texas

Nutrients ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 13 (8) ◽  
pp. 2597
Author(s):  
Kathryn M. Janda ◽  
Nalini Ranjit ◽  
Deborah Salvo ◽  
Aida Nielsen ◽  
Pablo Lemoine ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Food Insecurity ◽  
Food Availability ◽  
Low Income ◽  
Food Access ◽  
Multinomial Logistic Regression ◽  
Related Factors ◽  
Logistic Regression Models ◽  
Early Stages ◽  
Central Texas ◽  
June July

Food insecurity increased substantially in the USA during the early stages of the 2020 COVID-19 pandemic. The purpose of this study was to identify potential sociodemographic and food access-related factors that were associated with continuing or transitioning into food insecurity in a diverse population. An electronic survey was completed by 367 households living in low-income communities in Central Texas during June–July 2020. Multinomial logistic regression models were developed to examine the associations among food insecurity transitions during COVID-19 and various sociodemographic and food access-related factors, including race/ethnicity, children in the household, loss of employment/wages, language, and issues with food availability, accessibility, affordability, and stability during the pandemic. Sociodemographic and food access-related factors associated with staying or becoming newly food insecure were similar but not identical. Having children in the household, changes in employment/wages, changing shopping location due to food availability, accessibility and/or affordability issues, issues with food availability, and stability of food supply were associated with becoming newly food insecure and staying food insecure during the pandemic. Identifying as Latino and/or Black was associated with staying food insecure during COVID-19. These findings suggest that the COVID-19 pandemic did not create new food insecurity disparities. Rather, the pandemic exacerbated pre-existing disparities.

scholarly journals What Affects Chinese Residents’ Perceptions of Climate Change?

2018 ◽  
Vol 10 (12) ◽  
pp. 4712 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jinjia Wu ◽  
Jiansheng Qu ◽  
Hengji Li ◽  
Li Xu ◽  
Hongfen Zhang ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Climate Change ◽  
Public Awareness ◽  
Public Understanding ◽  
Related Factors ◽  
Climate Change Risk ◽  
Climate Governance ◽  
Factors Affecting ◽  
National Education ◽  
The Public ◽  
Mitigation And Adaptation

The theme of global sustainable development has changed from environmental management to climate governance, and relevant policies on climate governance urgently need to be implemented by the public. The public understanding of climate change has become the prerequisite and basis for implementing various climate change policies. In order to explore the affected factors of climate change perception among Chinese residents, this study was conducted across 31 provinces and regions of China through field household surveys and interviews. Combined with the residents’ perception of climate change with the possible affected factors, the related factors affecting Chinese residents’ perception of climate change were explored. The results show that the perceptive level of climate change of Chinese residents is related to the education level and the household size of residents. Improving public awareness of climate change risk in the context of climate change through multiple channels will also help to improve residents’ awareness of climate change. On the premise of improving the level of national education, improving education on climate change in school education and raising awareness of climate change risk among dependents will help to improve the level of Chinese residents’ awareness of climate change, which could be instrumental in promoting public participation in climate change mitigation and adaptation actions.

Unfilled Training Positions in Germany – Regional and Establishment-Specific Determinants

2019 ◽  
Vol 239 (4) ◽  
pp. 661-701 ◽  
Author(s):  
Sandra Dummert ◽  
Ute Leber ◽  
Barbara Schwengler
Keyword(s):  
Related Factors ◽  
Factors Affecting ◽  
External Conditions ◽  
Western Germany ◽  
Enterprise Level ◽  
Specific Factors ◽  
Regional Factors ◽  
The One ◽  
Training Position ◽  
Quantitative Importance

AbstractThe current situation in the German apprenticeship market is characterized by two contradictory developments. On the one hand, establishments are experiencing increasing problems filling the training positions they offer, and the number of vacant training positions is climbing. On the other hand, the transition into training is still difficult for many young people, and the number of unsuccessful vocational training applicants is rising. Hence, matching supply with demand is becoming increasingly difficult in the German job market for training positions. Using the Linked Employer-Employee dataset (LIAB) from the Institute for Employment Research (IAB), our paper provides a closer examination of the phenomenon of unfilled training positions. It presents an overview of the evolution of vacant training positions in eastern and western Germany and attempts to explain the number of vacancies by investigating the factors responsible for the establishments’ inability to fill their training positions. We assume that training position vacancies are due not only to internal company reasons such as firm size or the wage offer for apprentices but also to external conditions such as general regional factors. Therefore, our analysis also considers the situation on the demand side of the labor market within a region. The results of our multilevel mixed-effects estimations show that in addition to characteristics on the enterprise level, regional determinants also affect the share of vacant apprenticeships. With respect to establishment-related factors, mainly characteristics that describe the attractiveness of the firm prove to be important. With regard to regional-specific factors, we find that the availability of school leavers in a region in addition to the level of regional-sectoral competition impacts the recruiting success of establishments. Our analysis also shows that there are remarkable differences between eastern and western Germany concerning both the quantitative importance of unfilled training positions and the factors affecting them.

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