The effects of COVID-19 on general cardiology in Italy.
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ABSTRACT:
SUBMITTER: Spaccarotella CAM
PROVIDER: S-EPMC7665505 | biostudies-literature | 2020 Dec
REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature
Publications
The effects of COVID-19 on general cardiology in Italy.
Spaccarotella Carmen Anna Maria CAM De Rosa Salvatore S Indolfi Ciro C
European heart journal 20201201 45
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Project description:BackgroundThe Covid-19 pandemic led to a complete renewal of clinical activities of Italian hospitals. During the lockdown, all hospitals in Italy had to suspend non-urgent clinical activities. The prolonged suspension of elective activities could have caused a series of problems.MethodsA new ad hoc protocol was designed. Single-day fast-imaging protocol with regadenoson-stress 99mTc-tetrofosmin imaging was preferred. Patients were contacted by phone 4 days before the test and answered to a questionnaire which will be repeated on the day of the exam. Body temperature <37.5 degrees C and no Covid-19 symptoms were necessary to enter the unit. Patients wore surgical mask and gloves. Social distancing was maintained throughout the examination. Healthcare professionals wore a personal protective equipment.ResultsA total of 46 patients were studied from April 7 to May 15, 2020, before the publication of the recommendations from ASNC and SNMMI. None of the patients experienced complications. Follow-up of patients discharged was carried by phone. No Covid-19 infection symptoms were reported. On May 18, 2020 all the healthcare providers of nuclear cardiology department underwent serological testing IgG and IgM and none were positive.ConclusionStrict ad hoc hygiene protocol for Covid-19 pandemic avoids diagnostic-therapeutic delay and lengthening of waiting lists. Our experience confirms that pursuing WHO recommendations and recent indication of ASNC and SNMMI is safe for both health providers and patients. Moreover, the incidence of significant inducible ischemia rises when correct stratification of patients is performed.
| S-EPMC7394269 | biostudies-literature
Project description:BackgroundIn early 2020, COVID-19 massively hit Italy, earlier and harder than any other European country. This caused a series of strict containment measures, aimed at blocking the spread of the pandemic. Healthcare delivery was also affected when resources were diverted towards care of COVID-19 patients, including intensive care wards.Aim of the studyThe aim is assessing the impact of COVID-19 on cardiac imaging in Italy, compare to the Rest of Europe (RoE) and the World (RoW).MethodsA global survey was conducted in May-June 2020 worldwide, through a questionnaire distributed online. The survey covered three periods: March and April 2020, and March 2019. Data from 52 Italian centres, a subset of the 909 participating centres from 108 countries, were analyzed.ResultsIn Italy, volumes decreased by 67% in March 2020, compared to March 2019, as opposed to a significantly lower decrease (p < 0.001) in RoE and RoW (41% and 40%, respectively). A further decrease from March 2020 to April 2020 summed up to 76% for the North, 77% for the Centre and 86% for the South. When compared to the RoE and RoW, this further decrease from March 2020 to April 2020 in Italy was significantly less (p = 0.005), most likely reflecting the earlier effects of the containment measures in Italy, taken earlier than anywhere else in the West.ConclusionsThe COVID-19 pandemic massively hit Italy and caused a disruption of healthcare services, including cardiac imaging studies. This raises concern about the medium- and long-term consequences for the high number of patients who were denied timely diagnoses and the subsequent lifesaving therapies and procedures.
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Project description:Dexamethasone improves the survival of COVID-19 patients in need of supplemental oxygen therapy. Hospitalized COVID-19 patients eligible for dexamethasone therapy were recruited from the general care ward in several centers in Greece and the Netherlands and whole blood transcriptomic analysis was performed before and after starting dexamethasone treatment. Peripheral blood mononuclear cells (PBMCs) were isolated from healthy individuals and COVID-19 patients and stimulated with inactivated SARS-CoV-2 ex vivo in the presence or absence of dexamethasone and their transcriptome was assessed.
2023-07-26 | GSE227585 | GEO
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| S-EPMC1730007 | biostudies-literature
Project description:ObjectiveItaly has been largely involved by the COVID-19 pandemic. The present study aimed at evaluating the impact of the lockdown during the pandemic on mental health adopting both a longitudinal and a cross-sectional design. Accordingly, the study investigated general psychopathology a few weeks before the COVID-19 outbreak (T0) and during lockdown (T1), and the associations between lockdown-related environmental conditions, self-perceived worsening in daily living and psychopathology.Methods130 subjects (aged 18-60 years) were included in the longitudinal design, and an additional subsample of 541 subjects was recruited for the in-lockdown evaluation. Socio-demographic data and the Brief Symptom Inventory were collected both at T0 and T1. Moreover, at T1 an online survey was administered for the evaluation of lockdown-related environmental conditions and self-perceived variations in daily living induced by quarantine, along with the Impact of Event Scale-Revised.ResultsLongitudinal analysis showed that phobic anxiety and depressive symptoms increased at T1 as compared with T0, whereas interpersonal sensitivity and paranoid ideation decreased. Pre-existing general psychopathology predicted COVID-19-related post-traumatic symptomatology. Cross-sectional analyses underlined that self-perceived deteriorations in various areas of daily living were associated with general and post-traumatic psychopathology, and with several lockdown-related conditions, especially economic damage.ConclusionThe present study underlined a different trend of increased internalizing and decreased interpersonal symptoms during COVID-19 quarantine in Italy. Furthermore, the results showed that subjects with pre-existing psychopathology and those reporting economic damage during the pandemic were more likely to develop deterioration of their mental health.
| S-EPMC7716728 | biostudies-literature
Project description:IntroductionA significant reorganization of working activities including those of teaching hospitals occurred after COVID-19 outbreak, leading to the need to re-assess the current status of training after the pandemic. This study aimed to investigate the state of general surgery (GS) residency in Italy. The impact of COVID-19 on GS residents was also assessed.MethodsBetween October and November 2020, an anonymous online survey was distributed to GS residents across Italy. Email addresses were provided by the Regional Committees of the Italian Polyspecialistic Society of Young Surgeons. The residents completed a set of questions regarding their training schedule and three standardized questionnaires to measure burnout and psychological distress.ResultsOverall, 1709 residents were contacted and 648 completed the survey. Almost two-thirds of the residents (68.4%, n = 443) reported to not reach the minimum annual operative case volume. According to ordinal logistic regression analysis, two of the most perceived effects of COVID-19 by trainees on training were reduction of surgical activities (OR = 2.21, p < 0.001) and increased concerns about future employment (OR = 1.14, p = 0.025). Loss of training opportunities was also associated with a significant increase of distress (OR = 1.26, p = 0.003) but not with burnout.ConclusionsThis study provided a snapshot of the situation of GS residents in Italy after COVID-19 outbreak. Reduction of activities due to pandemic highlighted the need to improve the level of surgical education in our country by implementing all the new available tools for training and ensuring at the same time the well-being of the residents.
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Project description:COVID-19 has critically impacted the world. Recent works have found substantial changes in sleep and mental health during the COVID-19 pandemic. Dreams could give us crucial information about people's well-being, so here we have directly investigated the consequences of lockdown on the oneiric activity in a large Italian sample: 5,988 adults completed a web-survey during lockdown. We investigated sociodemographic and COVID-19-related information, sleep quality (by the Medical Outcomes Study-Sleep Scale), mental health (by the Depression, Anxiety, and Stress Scales), dream and nightmare frequency, and related emotional aspects (by the Mannheim Dream Questionnaire). Comparisons between our sample and a population-based sample revealed that Italians are having more frequent nightmares and dreams during the pandemic. A multiple logistic regression model showed the predictors of high dream recall (young age, female gender, not having children, sleep duration) and high nightmare frequency (young age, female gender, modification of napping, sleep duration, intrasleep wakefulness, sleep problem index, anxiety, depression). Moreover, we found higher emotional features of dream activity in workers who have stopped working, in people who have relatives/friends infected by or who have died from COVID-19 and in subjects who have changed their sleep habits. Our findings point to the fact that the predictors of high dream recall and nightmares are consistent with the continuity between sleep mentation and daily experiences. According to the arousal-retrieval model, we found that poor sleep predicts a high nightmare frequency. We suggest monitoring dream changes during the epidemic, and also considering the implications for clinical treatment and prevention of mental and sleep disorders.
| S-EPMC7994972 | biostudies-literature
Project description:During the initial surge of the COVID-19 pandemic in the spring and summer of 2020, paediatric heart centres were forced to rapidly alter the way patient care was provided to minimise interruption to patient care as well as exposure to the virus. In this survey-based descriptive study, we characterise changes that occurred within paediatric cardiology practices across the United States and described provider experience and attitudes towards these changes during the pandemic. Common changes that were implemented included decreased numbers of procedures, limiting visitors and shifting towards telemedicine encounters. The information obtained from this survey may be useful in guiding and standardising responses to future public health crises.
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