Global Impact of the COVID-19 Pandemic on Cerebral Venous Thrombosis and Mortality

Background and purpose: Recent studies suggested an increased incidence of cerebral venous thrombosis (CVT) during the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic. We evaluated the volume of CVT hospitalization and in-hospital mortality during the 1st year of the COVID-19 pandemic compared to the preceding year. Methods: We conducted a cross-sectional retrospective study of 171 stroke centers from 49 countries. We recorded COVID-19 admission volumes, CVT hospitalization, and CVT in-hospital mortality from January 1, 2019, to May 31, 2021. CVT diagnoses were identified by International Classification of Disease-10 (ICD-10) codes or stroke databases. We additionally sought to compare the same metrics in the first 5 months of 2021 compared to the corresponding months in 2019 and 2020 (ClinicalTrials.gov Identifier: NCT04934020). Results: There were 2,313 CVT admissions across the 1-year pre-pandemic (2019) and pandemic year (2020); no differences in CVT volume or CVT mortality were observed. During the first 5 months of 2021, there was an increase in CVT volumes compared to 2019 (27.5%; 95% confidence interval [CI], 24.2 to 32.0; P<0.0001) and 2020 (41.4%; 95% CI, 37.0 to 46.0; P<0.0001). A COVID-19 diagnosis was present in 7.6% (132/1,738) of CVT hospitalizations. CVT was present in 0.04% (103/292,080) of COVID-19 hospitalizations. During the first pandemic year, CVT mortality was higher in patients who were COVID positive compared to COVID negative patients (8/53 [15.0%] vs. 41/910 [4.5%], P=0.004). There was an increase in CVT mortality during the first 5 months of pandemic years 2020 and 2021 compared to the first 5 months of the pre-pandemic year 2019 (2019 vs. 2020: 2.26% vs. 4.74%, P=0.05; 2019 vs. 2021: 2.26% vs. 4.99%, P=0.03). In the first 5 months of 2021, there were 26 cases of vaccine-induced immune thrombotic thrombocytopenia (VITT), resulting in six deaths. Conclusions: During the 1st year of the COVID-19 pandemic, CVT hospitalization volume and CVT in-hospital mortality did not change compared to the prior year. COVID-19 diagnosis was associated with higher CVT in-hospital mortality. During the first 5 months of 2021, there was an increase in CVT hospitalization volume and increase in CVT-related mortality, partially attributable to VITT

Global Impact of the COVID-19 Pandemic on Cerebral Venous Thrombosis and Mortality

Publisher Copyright: © 2022 Korean Stroke Society.Background and Purpose Recent studies suggested an increased incidence of cerebral venous thrombosis (CVT) during the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic. We evaluated the volume of CVT hospitalization and in-hospital mortality during the 1st year of the COVID-19 pandemic compared to the preceding year. Methods We conducted a cross-sectional retrospective study of 171 stroke centers from 49 countries. We recorded COVID-19 admission volumes, CVT hospitalization, and CVT in-hospital mortality from January 1, 2019, to May 31, 2021. CVT diagnoses were identified by International Classification of Disease-10 (ICD-10) codes or stroke databases. We additionally sought to compare the same metrics in the first 5 months of 2021 compared to the corresponding months in 2019 and 2020 (ClinicalTrials.gov Identifier: NCT04934020). Results There were 2,313 CVT admissions across the 1-year pre-pandemic (2019) and pandemic year (2020); no differences in CVT volume or CVT mortality were observed. During the first 5 months of 2021, there was an increase in CVT volumes compared to 2019 (27.5%; 95% confidence interval [CI], 24.2 to 32.0; P<0.0001) and 2020 (41.4%; 95% CI, 37.0 to 46.0; P<0.0001). A COVID-19 diagnosis was present in 7.6% (132/1,738) of CVT hospitalizations. CVT was present in 0.04% (103/292,080) of COVID-19 hospitalizations. During the first pandemic year, CVT mortality was higher in patients who were COVID positive compared to COVID negative patients (8/53 [15.0%] vs. 41/910 [4.5%], P=0.004). There was an increase in CVT mortality during the first 5 months of pandemic years 2020 and 2021 compared to the first 5 months of the pre-pandemic year 2019 (2019 vs. 2020: 2.26% vs. 4.74%, P=0.05; 2019 vs. 2021: 2.26% vs. 4.99%, P=0.03). In the first 5 months of 2021, there were 26 cases of vaccine-induced immune thrombotic thrombocytopenia (VITT), resulting in six deaths. Conclusions During the 1st year of the COVID-19 pandemic, CVT hospitalization volume and CVT in-hospital mortality did not change compared to the prior year. COVID-19 diagnosis was associated with higher CVT in-hospital mortality. During the first 5 months of 2021, there was an increase in CVT hospitalization volume and increase in CVT-related mortality, partially attributable to VITT.Peer reviewe

Impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on competitive swimming performance

OBJECTIVE This article aims to conduct a comparison of swimming performance during short course national championships (25-m) from 2019 and 2020 (before and during the pandemic). MATERIALS AND METHODS The data points from the championships will be compared for 5 European countries: Poland, Spain, Russia, Turkey, and Denmark. Times achieved in the finals were calculated by the analysis of variance. Post hoc pairwise comparison analysis was performed using Tukey's test. The analysis plan included the assessment of the main effects and the effect of interactions in the groups of women and men. The strength of the effect was expressed by the partial eta-squared ratio. RESULTS Two main trends were observed in the results. The first was a greater variation in the results in the group of men than in women (12-5 differences). The second was the development and improvement of sports performance in symmetrical strokes (69% improvement in recorded times measured during the pandemic, e.g., in Poland, women on 50-m breaststroke and butterfly Δ = 0.52, p <0.001 and Δ = 0.32, p = 0.034, men on 50-m and 100-m butterfly Δ = 0.34, p = 0.003 and Δ = 1.21, p <0.001). CONCLUSIONS The main conclusion of our analysis is that the pandemic influenced the development of sports performance in symmetrical techniques, i.e., in breaststroke and butterfly

Wpływ wybranych czynników związanych ze stylem życia na sprawność funkcjonalną pacjentów po udarze mózgu w czasie

Introduction. Stroke is the cause of death in approximately 30,000 Poles yearly. Assessment of the functional capacity of patients after stroke and the factors influencing its course is utterly important because it allows to determine the level of nursing care need. Aim. The aim of the study was to assess the functional capacity of patients after stroke and the impact of lifestyle-related stroke risk factors on the effectiveness of rehabilitation depending on the type of stroke suffered during the Covid-19 pandemic. Material and Methods. The study group included 89 patients (38 women and 51 men) after hemorrhagic or ischemic stroke hospitalized under early neurological rehabilitation. Functional fitness was assessed using the 20-point Barthel scale and the NHPT(Nine Hole Peg Test) test to assess hand function. Results. The study reported a statistically significant impact of rehabilitation on the functional capacity of patients after stroke. The age influence on the type of stroke was also noticed — people with ischemic stroke were older compared to people with hemorrhagic stroke. Stroke patients with diabetes, hypertension or obesity achieved statistically worse results compared to patients without these comorbidities. Conclusions. Age is an important risk factor for ischemic stroke. Furthermore people after stroke who suffer from diabetes, hypertension and obesity require more intensive rehabilitation. (JNNN 2023;12(4):157–163)Wstęp. Udar mózgu jest przyczyną śmierci u ok. 30 tys. Polaków rocznie. Ocena sprawności funkcjonalnej pacjentów po udarze mózgu oraz czynników wpływających na jej przebieg jest niezwykle ważna, gdyż pozwala określić stopień zapotrzebowania na opiekę pielęgniarską. Cel. Celem pracy była ocena sprawności funkcjonalnej pacjentów po udarze mózgu oraz wpływu czynników ryzyka udaru mózgu związanych ze stylem życia na skuteczność rehabilitacji w zależności od typu doznanego udaru w czasie pandemii Covid-19. Materiał i metody. Badaną grupę stanowiło 89 pacjentów (38 kobiet i 51 mężczyzn) po udarze mózgu krwotocznym lub niedokrwiennym hospitalizowanych w ramach wczesnej rehabilitacji neurologicznej. Sprawność funkcjonalną oceniano przy pomocy 20-punktowej skali Barthel oraz testu NHPT (Nine Hole Peg Test) do oceny funkcji ręki. Wyniki. W przeprowadzonym badaniu odnotowano istotny statystycznie wpływ rehabilitacji na sprawność funkcjonalną pacjentów po udarze mózgu. Zauważono również wpływ wieku na rodzaj udaru, osoby z udarem niedokrwiennym mózgu były starsze w porównaniu z osobami z udarem krwotocznym. Pacjenci po udarze mózgu obciążeni cukrzycą, nadciśnieniem tętniczym lub otyłością uzyskiwali statystycznie gorsze wyniki w porównaniu z pacjentami bez wymienionych chorób współistniejących. Wnioski. Wiek jest istotnym czynnikiem ryzyka udaru niedokrwiennego mózgu. Ponadto osoby po udarze mózgu z cukrzycą, nadciśnieniem tętniczym i otyłością wymagają prowadzenia intensywniejszej rehabilitacji. (PNN 2023;12(4):157–163

The burden of cardiovascular disease risk factors: A current problem

The pandemic of COVID-19, which in Poland raised all-cause and cardiovascular disease (CVD) death rates by over 15% only in 2020, naturally decreased the attention to the prevention of CVD. Nevertheless, the reports on the characteristics of COVID-19 patients and especially on factors related to the severe or fatal outcome of the disease included information on more frequent CVD risk factors and atherosclerotic CVD. This article reviews the evidence on the exposure to CVD risk factors in the Polish adult population and discusses evidence on the associations between CVD risk factors and COVID-19. CVD and CVD risk factors, obesity and diabetes, in particular, are related to the severe course or fatal outcome of COVID-19. High prevalence of CVD risk factors with an increasing prevalence of obesity and diabetes could make the Polish population more sensitive to COVID-19 incidence and put infected persons at higher risk of serious complications and fatal outcome. Likely, the increased number of CVD deaths observed during the pandemic could be explained partially by the high prevalence of CVD risk factors and atherosclerotic CVD, as well as by the direct cardiac complications of COVID-19, short-term higher risk of myocardial infarction (MI) and stroke, and possibly by the underuse of lifesaving procedures in acute and chronic CVD