Clinical Aspects of Manic Episodes After SARS-CoV-2 Contagion or COVID-19

As COVID-19 pandemic spread all over the world, it brought serious health consequences in every medical field, including mental health. Not only healthcare professionals were more prone to develop anxiety, depression, and stress, but the general population suffered as well. Some of those who had no prior history of a psychiatric disease developed peculiar symptoms following infection with SARS-CoV-2, mostly because of psychological and social issues triggered by the pandemic. People developed traumatic memories, and hypochondria, probably triggered by social isolation and stress. Infection with SARS-CoV-2 has influenced the mental health of psychiatric patients as well, exacerbating prior psychiatric conditions. In this review, we focus on analyzing those cases of mania in the context of bipolar disorder (BD) reported after COVID-19 disease, both in people with no prior psychiatric history and in psychiatric patients who suffered an exacerbation of the disease. Results have shown that COVID-19 may trigger a pre-existing BD or unmask an unknown BD, due to social and psychological influences (decreased social interaction, change in sleep patterns) and through biological pathways both (neuroinflammation and neuroinvasion through ACE-2 receptors expressed in the peripheral and central nervous systems (PNS and CNS respectively). No direct correlation was found between the severity of COVID-19 disease and manic symptoms. All cases presenting severe symptoms of both diseases needed specific medical treatment, meaning that they concur but are separate in the treatment strategy needed. This review highlights the importance of a now widespread viral disease as a potential agent unmasking and exacerbating bipolar mood disorder, and it can hopefully help physicians in establishing a rapid diagnosis and treatment, and pave the road for future research on neuroinflammation triggered by SARS-CoV-2

Risk factors associated with adverse fetal outcomes in pregnancies affected by Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19): a secondary analysis of the WAPM study on COVID-19.

Objectives To evaluate the strength of association between maternal and pregnancy characteristics and the risk of adverse perinatal outcomes in pregnancies with laboratory confirmed COVID-19. Methods Secondary analysis of a multinational, cohort study on all consecutive pregnant women with laboratory-confirmed COVID-19 from February 1, 2020 to April 30, 2020 from 73 centers from 22 different countries. A confirmed case of COVID-19 was defined as a positive result on real-time reverse-transcriptase-polymerase-chain-reaction (RT-PCR) assay of nasal and pharyngeal swab specimens. The primary outcome was a composite adverse fetal outcome, defined as the presence of either abortion (pregnancy loss before 22 weeks of gestations), stillbirth (intrauterine fetal death after 22 weeks of gestation), neonatal death (death of a live-born infant within the first 28 days of life), and perinatal death (either stillbirth or neonatal death). Logistic regression analysis was performed to evaluate parameters independently associated with the primary outcome. Logistic regression was reported as odds ratio (OR) with 95% confidence interval (CI). Results Mean gestational age at diagnosis was 30.6+/-9.5 weeks, with 8.0% of women being diagnosed in the first, 22.2% in the second and 69.8% in the third trimester of pregnancy. There were six miscarriage (2.3%), six intrauterine device (IUD) (2.3) and 5 (2.0%) neonatal deaths, with an overall rate of perinatal death of 4.2% (11/265), thus resulting into 17 cases experiencing and 226 not experiencing composite adverse fetal outcome. Neither stillbirths nor neonatal deaths had congenital anomalies found at antenatal or postnatal evaluation. Furthermore, none of the cases experiencing IUD had signs of impending demise at arterial or venous Doppler. Neonatal deaths were all considered as prematurity-related adverse events. Of the 250 live-born neonates, one (0.4%) was found positive at RT-PCR pharyngeal swabs performed after delivery. The mother was tested positive during the third trimester of pregnancy. The newborn was asymptomatic and had negative RT-PCR test after 14 days of life. At logistic regression analysis, gestational age at diagnosis (OR: 0.85, 95% CI 0.8-0.9 per week increase; pPeer reviewe

Maternal and perinatal outcomes of pregnant women with SARS-CoV-2 infection.

OBJECTIVES: To evaluate the maternal and perinatal outcomes of pregnancies affected by SARS-CoV-2 infection. METHODS: This was a multinational retrospective cohort study including women with a singleton pregnancy and laboratory-confirmed SARS-CoV-2 infection, conducted in 72 centers in 22 different countries in Europe, the USA, South America, Asia and Australia, between 1 February 2020 and 30 April 2020. Confirmed SARS-CoV-2 infection was defined as a positive result on real-time reverse-transcription polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR) assay of nasopharyngeal swab specimens. The primary outcome was a composite measure of maternal mortality and morbidity, including admission to the intensive care unit (ICU), use of mechanical ventilation and death. RESULTS: In total, 388 women with a singleton pregnancy tested positive for SARS-CoV-2 on RT-PCR of a nasopharyngeal swab and were included in the study. Composite adverse maternal outcome was observed in 47/388 (12.1%) women; 43 (11.1%) women were admitted to the ICU, 36 (9.3%) required mechanical ventilation and three (0.8%) died. Of the 388 women included in the study, 122 (31.4%) were still pregnant at the time of data analysis. Among the other 266 women, six (19.4% of the 31 women with first-trimester infection) had miscarriage, three (1.1%) had termination of pregnancy, six (2.3%) had stillbirth and 251 (94.4%) delivered a liveborn infant. The rate of preterm birth before 37 weeks' gestation was 26.3% (70/266). Of the 251 liveborn infants, 69/251 (27.5%) were admitted to the neonatal ICU, and there were five (2.0%) neonatal deaths. The overall rate of perinatal death was 4.1% (11/266). Only one (1/251, 0.4%) infant, born to a mother who tested positive during the third trimester, was found to be positive for SARS-CoV-2 on RT-PCR. CONCLUSIONS: SARS-CoV-2 infection in pregnant women is associated with a 0.8% rate of maternal mortality, but an 11.1% rate of admission to the ICU. The risk of vertical transmission seems to be negligible. © 2020 International Society of Ultrasound in Obstetrics and Gynecology

Functional Neuroimaging in Dissociative Disorders. A Systematic Review

Background: Dissociative disorders encompass loss of integration in essential functions such as memory, consciousness, perception, motor control, and identity. Nevertheless, neuroimag‐ ing studies, albeit scarce, have suggested the existence of particular brain activation patterns in pa‐ tients belonging to this diagnostic category. The aim of this review is to identify the main functional neuroimaging correlates of dissociative disorders. Methods: we searched the PubMed database to identify functional neuroimaging studies conducted on subjects with a diagnosis of a dissociative disorder, following the PRISMA guidelines. In the end, we included 13 studies in this systematic review, conducted on 51 patients with dissociative identity disorder (DID), 28 subjects affected by depersonalization disorder, 24 with dissociative amnesia, and 6 with other or not specified dissoci‐ ative disorders. Results: Prefrontal cortex dysfunction seems prominent. In addition, changes in the functional neural network of the caudate are related to alterations of identity state and maintenance of an altered mental status in DID. Another role in DID seems to be played by a dysfunction of the anterior cingulate gyrus. Other regions, including parietal, temporal, and insular cortices, and sub‐ cortical areas were reported to be dysfunctional in dissociative disorders. Conclusions: Prefrontal dysfunction is frequently reported in dissociative disorders. Functional changes in other cortical and subcortical areas can be correlated with these diagnoses. Further studies are needed to clarify the neurofunctional correlations of each dissociative disorder in affected patients, in order to iden‐ tify better tailored treatments

Maternal and Perinatal Outcomes of Pregnant Women with SARS-COV-2 infection

To evaluate maternal and perinatal outcomes of pregnant women affected by SARS-COV-2