Clinical outcomes and inflammatory marker levels in patients with Covid-19 and obesity at an inner-city safety net hospital.

ObjectivesPatients with Covid-19 and obesity have worse clinical outcomes which may be driven by increased inflammation. This study aimed to characterize the association between clinical outcomes in patients with obesity and inflammatory markers.MethodsWe analyzed data for patients aged ≥18 years admitted with a positive SARS-CoV-2 PCR test. We used multivariate logistic regression to determine the association between BMI and intensive care unit (ICU) transfer and all-cause mortality. Inflammatory markers (C-reactive protein [CRP], lactate dehydrogenase [LDH], ferritin, and D-dimer) were compared between patients with and without obesity (body mass index [BMI] ≥30 kg/m2).ResultsOf 791 patients with Covid-19, 361 (45.6%) had obesity. In multivariate analyses, BMI ≥35 was associated with a higher odds of ICU transfer (adjusted odds ratio [aOR] 2.388 (95% confidence interval [CI]: 1.074-5.310) and hospital mortality (aOR = 4.3, 95% CI: 1.69-10.82). Compared to those with BMIConclusionsPatients with obesity were more likely to have poor outcomes even without increased inflammation

Family Economy, Rural School Choice, and Flexischooling Children with Disabilities

© 2016, by the Rural Sociological Society Most homeschooled students would be more accurately described as “flexischooled,” partly homeschooled and partly enrolled in school. The popularity of these two alternatives to public or private school enrollment has increased over the past several decades to the extent that, by 2012 over 2 million students, 4 percent of the population, were either flexischooled or homeschooled in the United States. To understand why parents have pursued these options over enrollment, we employed a family economy perspective, arguing that family, child, and locational considerations shaped parents\u27 motivations for homeschooling or flexischooling over enrollment. For example, parents\u27 decisions were partially shaped by the interaction between children\u27s disability status and rural location. Using data from the National Household Education Survey 2012, this article first describes the prevalence of flexischooling and full-time homeschooling. Then, it demonstrates how various family, child, and locational factors shape the odds of flexischooling and homeschooling, and then examines the interaction between location and children\u27s disability status in detail. We discuss the implications of our findings for family economy theoretical perspectives, flexischooling, and rural education research