scholarly journals Evolving phenotypes of non-hospitalized patients that indicate long COVID

BMC Medicine ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 19 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Hossein Estiri ◽  
Zachary H. Strasser ◽  
Gabriel A. Brat ◽  
Yevgeniy R. Semenov ◽  
James R. Aaron ◽  
...  

Abstract Background For some SARS-CoV-2 survivors, recovery from the acute phase of the infection has been grueling with lingering effects. Many of the symptoms characterized as the post-acute sequelae of COVID-19 (PASC) could have multiple causes or are similarly seen in non-COVID patients. Accurate identification of PASC phenotypes will be important to guide future research and help the healthcare system focus its efforts and resources on adequately controlled age- and gender-specific sequelae of a COVID-19 infection. Methods In this retrospective electronic health record (EHR) cohort study, we applied a computational framework for knowledge discovery from clinical data, MLHO, to identify phenotypes that positively associate with a past positive reverse transcription-polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR) test for COVID-19. We evaluated the post-test phenotypes in two temporal windows at 3–6 and 6–9 months after the test and by age and gender. Data from longitudinal diagnosis records stored in EHRs from Mass General Brigham in the Boston Metropolitan Area was used for the analyses. Statistical analyses were performed on data from March 2020 to June 2021. Study participants included over 96 thousand patients who had tested positive or negative for COVID-19 and were not hospitalized. Results We identified 33 phenotypes among different age/gender cohorts or time windows that were positively associated with past SARS-CoV-2 infection. All identified phenotypes were newly recorded in patients’ medical records 2 months or longer after a COVID-19 RT-PCR test in non-hospitalized patients regardless of the test result. Among these phenotypes, a new diagnosis record for anosmia and dysgeusia (OR 2.60, 95% CI [1.94–3.46]), alopecia (OR 3.09, 95% CI [2.53–3.76]), chest pain (OR 1.27, 95% CI [1.09–1.48]), chronic fatigue syndrome (OR 2.60, 95% CI [1.22–2.10]), shortness of breath (OR 1.41, 95% CI [1.22–1.64]), pneumonia (OR 1.66, 95% CI [1.28–2.16]), and type 2 diabetes mellitus (OR 1.41, 95% CI [1.22–1.64]) is one of the most significant indicators of a past COVID-19 infection. Additionally, more new phenotypes were found with increased confidence among the cohorts who were younger than 65. Conclusions The findings of this study confirm many of the post-COVID-19 symptoms and suggest that a variety of new diagnoses, including new diabetes mellitus and neurological disorder diagnoses, are more common among those with a history of COVID-19 than those without the infection. Additionally, more than 63% of PASC phenotypes were observed in patients under 65 years of age, pointing out the importance of vaccination to minimize the risk of debilitating post-acute sequelae of COVID-19 among younger adults.

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Hossein Estiri ◽  
Zachary H Strasser ◽  
Gabriel A Brat ◽  
Yevgeniy R Semenov ◽  
Chirag J Patel ◽  
...  

AbstractMany of the symptoms characterized as the post-acute sequelae of SARS-CoV-2 infection (PASC) could have multiple causes or similarly seen in non-COVID patients. An accurate identification of phenotypes will be important to guide future research and the healthcare system to focus its efforts and resources on adequately controlled age- and gender-specific sequelae of COVID-19 infection. This retrospective electronic health records (EHR) cohort study, we applied a computational framework for knowledge discovery from clinical data, MLHO, to identify phenotypes that positively associate with a past positive PCR test for COVID-19. We evaluated the post-test phenotypes in two temporal windows at 3-6 and 6-9 months after the test and by age and gender. We utilized longitudinal diagnosis records stored in EHRs from Mass General Brigham (MGB) 57 thousand patients who tested positive or negative for COVID-19 and were not hospitalized. Statistical analyses were performed on data from March 2020 to March 2021. PCR test results and subsequent diagnosis records that were recorded for the first time two months or later after the PCR test. We identified 28 phenotypes among different age/gender cohorts or time windows that positively associated with a past SARS-CoV-2 infection. All identified phenotypes were newly recorded in patients’ medical records two months or longer after a COVID-19 PCR test in non-hospitalized patients regardless of the test result. Among these phenotypes, a new diagnosis record for anosmia and dysgeusia (OR 2.17, 95% CI [1.42 - 3.25]), alopecia (OR 3.54, 95% CI [2.92 - 4.3]), chest pain (OR 1.35, 95% CI [1.16 - 1.56]), or chronic fatigue syndrome (OR 1.81-2.28, 95% CI [1.38 - 3.68]) are the most significant indicators of a past COVID-19 infection, especially among women younger than 65. Among men, edema (OR 1.83, 95% CI [1.23 - 2.66]) and disease of nail (OR 3.54, 95% CI [1.63 - 7.29]) in patients 65 and older or proteinuria (OR 2.66, 95% CI [1.61 - 4.34]) in patients under 65 are associated with a positive COVID-19 PCR test in the past few months. Our approach avoids a flood of false positive discoveries, while offering a more probabilistic flexible criterion than the standard linear phenome-wide association study (PheWAS). These findings suggest that some of the previously identified post sequelae of COVID-19 may not be accurate and that most of the PASC are observed in patients under 65 years of age.


1995 ◽  
Vol 40 (2) ◽  
pp. 93-96 ◽  
Author(s):  
N. Yatham Lakshmi ◽  
L. Morehouse Rachel ◽  
B. Terry Chisholm ◽  
A. Haase David ◽  
D. Macdonald Dianne ◽  
...  

Prolactin and Cortisol responses to dl-fenfluramine challenge were examined in 11 patients with chronic fatigue syndrome and in 11 healthy controls who were age and gender matched. After obtaining two baseline samples, each subject was given 60 mg of dl-fenfluramine orally and further blood samples were drawn hourly during the following five hours in order to measure prolactin and Cortisol levels. There was no difference in either baseline or fenfluramine-induced hormonal responses between patients with chronic fatigue syndrome and controls. There was also no correlation between depression scores on HAM-D and hormonal responses in patients with chronic fatigue syndrome. The findings of this study do not support a role for 5-HT in chronic fatigue syndrome.


2021 ◽  
Vol 10 (22) ◽  
pp. 5213
Author(s):  
Abiu Sempere ◽  
Fernando Salvador ◽  
Arnau Monforte ◽  
Júlia Sampol ◽  
Juan Espinosa-Pereiro ◽  
...  

The aim of this study was to describe and compare the clinical characteristics of hospitalized patients with COVID-19 pneumonia according to their geographical origin. This is a retrospective case-control study of hospitalized patients with confirmed COVID-19 pneumonia treated at Vall d’Hebron University Hospital (Barcelona) during the first wave of the pandemic. Cases were defined as patients born in Latin America and controls were randomly selected among Spanish patients matched by age and gender. Demographic and clinical variables were collected, including comorbidities, symptoms, vital signs and analytical parameters, intensive care unit admission and outcome at 28 days after admission. Overall, 1080 hospitalized patients were registered: 774 (71.6%) from Spain, 142 (13.1%) from Latin America and the rest from other countries. Patients from Latin America were considered as cases and 558 Spanish patients were randomly selected as controls. Latin American patients had a higher proportion of anosmia, rhinorrhea and odynophagia, as well as higher mean levels of platelets and lower mean levels of ferritin than Spanish patients. No differences were found in oxygen requirement and mortality at 28 days after admission, but there was a higher proportion of ICU admissions (28.2% vs. 20.2%, p = 0.0310). An increased proportion of ICU admissions were found in patients from Latin America compared with native Spanish patients when adjusted by age and gender, with no significant differences in in-hospital mortality.


2022 ◽  
Vol 13 ◽  
pp. 215013192110626
Author(s):  
David D. McFadden ◽  
Shari L. Bornstein ◽  
Robert Vassallo ◽  
Bradley R. Salonen ◽  
Mohammed Nadir Bhuiyan ◽  
...  

Objectives: The purpose of the present study was to assess and describe the severity of symptoms reported by Covid-19 positive patients who vaped (smoked e-cigarettes) when compared to those who did not vape or smoke at the time of the diagnosis of Covid-19. Methods: Patients from this study are from a well-characterized patient cohort collected at Mayo Clinic between March 1, 2020 and February 28, 2021; with confirmed COVID-19 diagnosis defined as a positive result on reverse-transcriptase–polymerase-chain-reaction (RT-PCR) assays from nasopharyngeal swab specimens. Among the 1734 eligible patients, 289 patients reported current vaping. The cohort of vapers (N = 289) was age and gender matched to 1445 covid-19 positive patients who did not vape. The data analyzed included: date of birth, gender, ethnicity, race, marital status, as well as lifestyle history such as vaping and smoking and reported covid-19 symptoms experienced. Results: A logistic regression analysis was performed separately for each symptom using generalized estimating equations (GEE) with robust variance estimates in order to account for the 1:5 age, sex, and race matched set study design. Patients who vaped and developed Covid-19 infection were more likely to have chest pain or tightness (16% vs 10%, vapers vs non vapers, P = .005), chills (25% vs 19%, vapers vs non vapers, P = .0016), myalgia (39% vs 32%, vapers vs non vapers, P = .004), headaches (49% vs 41% vapers vs non vapers, P = .026), anosmia/dysgeusia (37% vs 30%, vapers vs non vapers, P = .009), nausea/vomiting/abdominal pain (16% vs 10%, vapers vs non vapers, P = .003), diarrhea (16% vs 10%, vapers vs non vapers, P = .004), and non-severe light-headedness (16% vs 9%, vapers vs non vapers, P < .001). Conclusion: Vapers experience higher frequency of covid-19 related symptoms when compared with age and gender matched non-vapers. Further work should examine the impact vaping has on post-covid symptom experience.


2021 ◽  
Vol 6 (16) ◽  
Author(s):  
Nor Diyana Mustapa ◽  
Khalilah Hassan ◽  
Siti Nuratirah Che Mohd Nasir ◽  
Wenny Arminda

This study aims to identify the age and gender differences in children's experiences with nature and their connectedness to nature (CTN). This study employed a quantitative approach and involved 760 children aged 10-11 years old, including urban and rural children in Kedah and Pulau Pinang. Questionnaires were distributed to children at schools. Findings suggest that age and gender do influence the frequency of children having experiences with nature as well as their CTN. The directions for future research are also discussed. Keywords: experiences with nature; connectedness to nature; age; gender eISSN: 2398-4287© 2021. The Authors. Published for AMER ABRA cE-Bs by e-International Publishing House, Ltd., UK. This is an open access article under the CC BYNC-ND license (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/). Peer–review under responsibility of AMER (Association of Malaysian Environment-Behaviour Researchers), ABRA (Association of Behavioural Researchers on Asians/Africans/Arabians) and cE-Bs (Centre for Environment-Behaviour Studies), Faculty of Architecture, Planning & Surveying, Universiti Teknologi MARA, Malaysia. DOI:


Author(s):  
Minghui Gao ◽  
Tonja Filipino ◽  
Xu Zhao ◽  
Mark McJunkin

This chapter started by introducing a recent research study that disclosed adolescent victim experiences across seven major types of cyberbullying, significant gender and age differences, and reasons for not reporting incidents of cyberbullying to adults. The chapter then related the research findings to major areas in the literature on the nature and forms of cyberbullying in contrast to traditional forms of bullying, its prevalence among school-aged youths, the effects of gender and age on adolescent victim experiences of cyberbullying, and the factors that contribute to adolescent attitude toward reporting cyberbullying incidents to adults. The chapter suggested that future research should further explore issues such as how various types of cyberbullying affect adolescent mental wellbeing, how age and gender affect school-aged youth victim experiences of various forms of cyberbullying, and how professionals and other adults may help adolescents counter cyberbullying.


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