Psychological distress, fear and coping strategies during the second and third waves of the COVID-19 pandemic in Southern Germany

Background: The COVID-19 pandemic has imposed enormous psychological discomfort and fear across the globe, including Germany. Objectives: To assess the levels of COVID-19 associated psychological distress and fear amongst Southern German population, and to identify their coping strategies. Methods: A cross-sectional survey using an online questionnaire was conducted in healthcare and community settings in the region of Ulm, Southern Germany. Assessment inventories were the Kessler Psychological Distress Scale (K-10), the Brief Resilient Coping Scale (BRCS), and the Fear of COVID-19 Scale (FCV-19S), which were valid and reliable tools. Results: A total of 474 Individuals participated in the study. The mean age was 33.6 years, and 327 (69%) were females. Most participants (n = 381, 80.4%) had high levels of psychological distress, whereas only 5.1% had high levels of fear, and two-thirds of participants showed higher levels of coping. Moderate to very high levels of psychological distress were associated with being female, living alone, distress due to employment changes, experiencing financial impact, having multiple co-morbidities, being a smoker, increased alcohol use over the previous 6 months, contact with COVID-19 cases and healthcare providers for COVID-19-related stress. Individuals who wer

Factors influencing decision making regarding the acceptance of the COVID-19 vaccination in Egypt: A cross-sectional study in an urban, well-educated sample

Background: The COVID-19 pandemic has raised the necessity to rapidly develop safe and effective vaccines to limit the spread of infections. Meanwhile, vaccine hesitancy is a significant barrier to community vaccination strategies. Methods: An internet-based cross-sectional survey was conducted from March to April 2021 during the start of the vaccination campaigns. Results: A total of 1009 subjects participated, and the mean age (±SD) was 29.11 ± 8.2 years. Among them, 68.8% believed that vaccination is an effective method to control the spread of the disease, 81.2% indicated acceptance of the vaccine, and 87.09% reported that their doctor’s recommendation was essential for decision making. After adjusting for socioeconomic characteristics, rural residency (AOR 1.783, 95%CI: 1.256–2.531), working a part-time job (AOR 2.535, 95%CI: 1.202–5.343) or a full-time job (AOR 1.951, 95%CI: 1.056–3.604), being a student (AOR 3.516, 95%CI: 1.805–6.852) and having a partner (AOR 1.457, 95%CI: 1.062–2.00) were significant predictors for higher vaccine acceptance among the study participants. Believing in the vaccine’s efficacy showed the strongest correlation with vaccine acceptance (Spearman’s r = 0.309, p < 0.001). Conclusions: Although general vaccine acceptance is high (32.85%) in participants in our study, gender and geographic disparities were observed in the investigated urban population of young, well-educated Egyptian

Muscle Sonography in Inclusion Body Myositis: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis of 944 Measurements

Inclusion body myositis (IBM) is a slowly progressive muscle weakness of distal and proximal muscles, which is diagnosed by clinical and histopathological criteria. Imaging biomarkers are inconsistently used and do not follow international standardized criteria. We conducted a systematic review and meta-analysis to investigate the diagnostic value of muscle ultrasound (US) in IBM compared to healthy controls. A systematic search of PubMed/MEDLINE, Scopus and Web of Science was performed. Articles reporting the use of muscle ultrasound in IBM, and published in peer-reviewed journals until 11 September 2021, were included in our study. Seven studies were included, with a total of 108 IBM and 171 healthy controls. Echogenicity between IBM and healthy controls, which was assessed by three studies, demonstrated a significant mean difference in the flexor digitorum profundus (FDP) muscle, which had a grey scale value (GSV) of 36.55 (95% CI, 28.65&ndash;44.45, p &lt; 0.001), and in the gastrocnemius (GC), which had a GSV of 27.90 (95% CI 16.32&ndash;39.48, p &lt; 0.001). Muscle thickness in the FDP showed no significant difference between the groups. The pooled sensitivity and specificity of US in the differentiation between IBM and the controls were 82% and 98%, respectively, and the area under the curve was 0.612. IBM is a rare disease, which is reflected in the low numbers of patients included in each of the studies and thus there was high heterogeneity in the results. Nevertheless, the selected studies conclusively demonstrated significant differences in echogenicity of the FDP and GC in IBM, compared to controls. Further high-quality studies, using standardized operating procedures, are needed to implement muscle ultrasound in the diagnostic criteria

Mental health, risk perception, and coping strategies among healthcare workers in Egypt during the COVID-19 pandemic.

BackgroundCoronavirus disease-19 emerged in December 2019. Healthcare workers were exposed to this highly infectious virus during the pandemic and suffered several social and psychological consequences, such as anxiety, psychological distress, and burnout.ObjectivesTo assess the psychological distress, anxiety, depression, coping strategies, risk perception, and attitude toward interprofessional teamwork among Egyptian healthcare workers during the COVID-19 pandemic.MethodsWe conducted a cross-sectional online survey which consisted of five sections. The primary outcomes were anxiety (GAD-7), depression (PHQ-9), risk perception towards COVID-19, interprofessional teamwork attitude, and coping strategies during the Coronavirus disease-19 pandemic. The web-based questionnaire was distributed to Egyptian healthcare workers from the 20th of April 2020 to the 20th of May 2020. A snowball sampling method was used. Regression analysis was conducted to test the relationship between the socioeconomic characteristics and the previously mentioned outcomes.ResultsA total of 403 participants responded to the online questionnaire. The majority were females (70.5%) and within the age group of 26-40 years (77.7%), with 2-5 years of work experience (43.2%). Most participants were pharmacists (33%) and physicians (22.1%). Eighty-two participants (21%) reported moderate to severe anxiety, and 79 participants reported (19.4%) moderate to severe depressive symptoms. In the univariate model, the marital status was associated with depression (OR 0.47, 95% CI 0.28-0.78), anxiety (OR 0.52, 95% CI 0.32-0.85), and an attitude toward interprofessional teamwork (β = -1.96 95% CI -2.72 to -1.2). Providing direct care to the patients was associated with lower anxiety symptoms (AOR 0.256, 95% CI 0.094-0.697). More severe anxiety and depressive symptoms were associated with difficulties in everyday life and the professional work environment (AOR 4.246 and 3.3, P = 0.003 and 0.01, respectively). Availability of mental health facilities at the workplace was associated with a lower risk perception towards COVID-19 (β = -0.79, 95% CI -1.24 to -0.34) and a more positive attitude towards teamwork (β = 2.77 95% CI 1.38-4.15).ConclusionsAccording to our results, the COVID-19 pandemic was associated with mild anxiety and depression among healthcare workers in Egypt, especially pharmacists and physicians. We recommend more research targeting the mental health of healthcare workers in Egypt. If proven cost-effective and needed, wide-scale mental health screening and public health campaigns can facilitate effective prevention and treatment strategies. In addition, the availability of mental health facilities at the workplace could alleviate some of the risk perception associated with health emergencies and improve interprofessional teamwork