Analysis of Risk Factors for In-Hospital Death Due to COVID-19 in Patients Hospitalised at the Temporary Hospital Located at the National Stadium in Warsaw: A Retrospective Analysis

The outbreak of the SARS-CoV-2 (severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2) pandemic has affected all aspects of social life and brought massive changes to the healthcare sector. The aim of this study was to identify the factors affecting the mortality of COVID-19 patients at a temporary hospital in Warsaw (Poland). The present study was conducted based on a retrospective analysis of the medical records of patients hospitalised at the temporary hospital located at the National Stadium in Warsaw between 1 March 2020 and 30 April 2021. The study included all cases of patients who were brought directly or transferred to the National Hospital from other hospitals for further treatment. With regard to comorbidities, the analysis found that five comorbidities—namely, diabetes (OR = 1.750, 95% CI: 1.009–2.444, p < 0.05), stroke history (OR = 2.408, 95% CI: 1.208–4.801, p < 0.05), renal failure (OR = 2.141, 95% CI: 1.052–4.356, p < 0.05), chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (OR = 2.044, 95% CI: 1.133–3.690, p < 0.05) and heart failure (OR = 1.930, 95% CI: 1.154–3.227, p < 0.05)—had a significant impact on the survival of COVID-19 patients. The analysis identified 14 factors that had a significant impact on the prognosis and mortality of the COVID-19 patients studied

Predicting Mortality for COVID-19 Patients Admitted to an Emergency Department Using Early Warning Scores in Poland

COVID-19 disease is characterised by a wide range of symptoms that in most cases resemble flu or cold. Early detection of infections, monitoring of patients’ conditions, and identification of patients with worsening symptoms became crucial during the peak of pandemic. The aim of this study was to assess and compare the performance of common early warning scores at the time of admission to an emergency department in predicting in-hospital mortality in patients with COVID-19. The study was based on a retrospective analysis of patients with SARS-CoV-2 infection admitted to an emergency department between March 2020 and April 2022. The prognostic value of early warning scores in predicting in-hospital mortality was assessed using the receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curve. Patients’ median age was 59 years, and 52.33% were male. Among all the EWS we assessed, REMS had the highest overall accuracy (AUC 0.84 (0.83–0.85)) and the highest NPV (97.4%). REMS was the most accurate scoring system, characterised by the highest discriminative power and negative predictive value compared to the other analysed scoring systems. Incorporating these tools into clinical practice in a hospital emergency department could provide more effective assessment of mortality and, consequently, avoid delayed medical assistance

The Level of Fear in the Polish Police Population during the COVID-19 Pandemic with the Impact of Sociodemographic Variables

This study has a twofold objective. First, we aim to measure the levels of fear among Polish police officers using the COVID-19 Fear Scale (FCV-19S) that has a stable unidimensional structure allowing for the provision of additional data by combining variables. This structure allows the second objective to be met to measure the correlation with sociodemographic variables. The utilitarian objective of the study is to provide information for updating support policies for stress management in the service. The questionnaire was completed by 1862 people with a mean age of 38.75 years with a good Cronbach’s alpha (0.89). The perceived level of fear associated with COVID-19 should be considered relatively low. Caring for the elderly does not affect the level of fear. The factors of gender, age and having children statistically significantly differentiate the perceptions of fear. Therefore, there is a necessity to focus on building support for police officers who are over 50 years old, as well as for women, where higher levels of fear in both men and women can translate into the development of psychosomatic illnesses

Beyond GWAS—Could Genetic Differentiation within the Allograft Rejection Pathway Shape Natural Immunity to COVID-19?

COVID-19 infections pose a serious global health concern so it is crucial to identify the biomarkers for the susceptibility to and resistance against this disease that could help in a rapid risk assessment and reliable decisions being made on patients’ treatment and their potential hospitalisation. Several studies investigated the factors associated with severe COVID-19 outcomes that can be either environmental, population based, or genetic. It was demonstrated that the genetics of the host plays an important role in the various immune responses and, therefore, there are different clinical presentations of COVID-19 infection. In this study, we aimed to use variant descriptive statistics from GWAS (Genome-Wide Association Study) and variant genomic annotations to identify metabolic pathways that are associated with a severe COVID-19 infection as well as pathways related to resistance to COVID-19. For this purpose, we applied a custom-designed mixed linear model implemented into custom-written software. Our analysis of more than 12.5 million SNPs did not indicate any pathway that was significant for a severe COVID-19 infection. However, the Allograft rejection pathway (hsa05330) was significant (p = 0.01087) for resistance to the infection. The majority of the 27 SNP marking genes constituting the Allograft rejection pathway were located on chromosome 6 (19 SNPs) and the remainder were mapped to chromosomes 2, 3, 10, 12, 20, and X. This pathway comprises several immune system components crucial for the self versus non-self recognition, but also the components of antiviral immunity. Our study demonstrated that not only single variants are important for resistance to COVID-19, but also the cumulative impact of several SNPs within the same pathway matters

Metabolic syndrome is associated with similar long-term prognosis in non-obese and obese patients. An analysis of 45 615 patients from the nationwide LIPIDOGRAM 2004-2015 cohort studies

Aims We aimed to evaluate the association between metabolic syndrome (MetS) and long-term all-cause mortality. Methods The LIPIDOGRAM studies were carried out in the primary care in Poland in 2004, 2006 and 2015. MetS was diagnosed based on the National Cholesterol Education Program, Adult Treatment Panel III (NCEP/ATP III) and Joint Interim Statement (JIS) criteria. The cohort was divided into four groups: non-obese patients without MetS, obese patients without MetS, non-obese patients with MetS and obese patients with MetS. Differences in all-cause mortality was analyzed using Kaplan-Meier and Cox regression analyses. Results 45,615 participants were enrolled (mean age 56.3, standard deviation: 11.8 years; 61.7% female). MetS was diagnosed in 14,202 (31%) by NCEP/ATP III criteria, and 17,216 (37.7%) by JIS criteria. Follow-up was available for 44,620 (97.8%, median duration 15.3 years) patients. MetS was associated with increased mortality risk among the obese (hazard ratio, HR: 1.88 [95% CI, 1.79-1.99] and HR: 1.93 [95% CI 1.82-2.04], according to NCEP/ATP III and JIS criteria, respectively) and non-obese individuals (HR: 2.11 [95% CI 1.85-2.40] and 1.7 [95% CI, 1.56-1.85] according to NCEP/ATP III and JIS criteria respectively). Obese patients without MetS had a higher mortality risk than non-obese patients without MetS (HR: 1.16 [95% CI 1.10-1.23] and HR: 1.22 [95%CI 1.15-1.30], respectively in subgroups with NCEP/ATP III and JIS criteria applied). Conclusions MetS is associated with increased all-cause mortality risk in non-obese and obese patients. In patients without MetS obesity remains significantly associated with mortality. The concept of metabolically healthy obesity should be revised