Personality, Gender, and Age as Predictors of Media Richness Preference

Media richness, the degree to which a specific media transmits information in multiple channels, is an important concept as the number of available multimedia communication methods increases regularly. Individuals differ in their preferences for media richness which may influence their choice of a communication multimedia in a given situation. These preferences can influence how successful their communication efforts will be. This exploratory study of 299 adults (ages 16-84) with at least a basic ability to computing examines the relationship between multimedia preference and age, gender, and personality traits. Males and people with higher levels of extraversion and agreeableness were found to have a higher preference for media richness. Age was not a significant predictor of media richness preference

Personality, Gender, and Age as Predictors of Media Richness Preference

Media richness, the degree to which a specific media transmits information in multiple channels, is an important concept as the number of available multimedia communication methods increases regularly. Individuals differ in their preferences for media richness which may influence their choice of communication multimedia in a given situation. These preferences can influence how successful their communication efforts will be. This exploratory study of 299 adults (ages 16–84) with at least a basic ability to compute examines the relationship between multimedia preference and age, gender, and personality traits. Males and people with higher levels of extraversion and agreeableness were found to have a higher preference for media richness. Age was not a significant predictor of media richness preference

Obesity, inflammatory and thrombotic markers, and major clinical outcomes in critically ill patients with COVID‐19 in the US

Objective This study aimed to determine whether obesity is independently associated with major adverse clinical outcomes and inflammatory and thrombotic markers in critically ill patients with COVID‐19. Methods The primary outcome was in‐hospital mortality in adults with COVID‐19 admitted to intensive care units across the US. Secondary outcomes were acute respiratory distress syndrome (ARDS), acute kidney injury requiring renal replacement therapy (AKI‐RRT), thrombotic events, and seven blood markers of inflammation and thrombosis. Unadjusted and multivariable‐adjusted models were used. Results Among the 4,908 study patients, mean (SD) age was 60.9 (14.7) years, 3,095 (62.8%) were male, and 2,552 (52.0%) had obesity. In multivariable models, BMI was not associated with mortality. Higher BMI beginning at 25 kg/m2 was associated with a greater risk of ARDS and AKI‐RRT but not thrombosis. There was no clinically significant association between BMI and inflammatory or thrombotic markers. Conclusions In critically ill patients with COVID‐19, higher BMI was not associated with death or thrombotic events but was associated with a greater risk of ARDS and AKI‐RRT. The lack of an association between BMI and circulating biomarkers calls into question the paradigm that obesity contributes to poor outcomes in critically ill patients with COVID‐19 by upregulating systemic inflammatory and prothrombotic pathways