International journal of infectious diseases : IJID : official publication of the International Society for Infectious Diseases
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Int. J. Infect. Dis. · Oct 2020
Meta AnalysisDoes gender influence clinical expression and disease outcomes in COVID-19? A systematic review and meta-analysis.
Severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus-2 (SARS-CoV2) was characterized at the end of 2019, and soon spread around the world, generating a pandemic. It has been suggested that men are more severely affected by the viral disease (COVID-19) than women. ⋯ Males are slightly more susceptible to SARS-CoV2 infection, present with a more severe disease, and have a worse prognosis. Further studies are warranted to unravel the biological mechanisms underlying these observations.
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Int. J. Infect. Dis. · Oct 2020
Meta AnalysisComorbidities and the risk of severe or fatal outcomes associated with coronavirus disease 2019: A systematic review and meta-analysis.
Existing findings regarding the relationship between comorbidities and the severity of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) are inconsistent and insufficient. The aim of this study was to evaluate the association between different comorbidities and the severity of COVID-19. ⋯ Chronic comorbidities, including obesity, hypertension, diabetes, cardiovascular disease, cerebrovascular disease, respiratory disease, kidney disease, and malignancy are clinical risk factors for a severe or fatal outcome associated with COVID-19, with obesity being the most prevalent and respiratory disease being the most strongly predictive. Knowledge of these risk factors could help clinicians better identify and manage the high-risk populations.
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Int. J. Infect. Dis. · Aug 2020
ReviewIron: Innocent bystander or vicious culprit in COVID-19 pathogenesis?
The coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) pandemic is viciously spreading through the continents with rapidly increasing mortality rates. Current management of COVID-19 is based on the premise that respiratory failure is the leading cause of mortality. However, mounting evidence links accelerated pathogenesis in gravely ill COVID-19 patients to a hyper-inflammatory state involving a cytokine storm. ⋯ Another key component of the heightened inflammatory state is hyper-ferritinemia which reportedly identifies patients with increased mortality risk. In spite of its strong association with mortality, it is not yet clear if hyper-ferritinemia in COVID-19 patients is merely a systemic marker of disease progression, or a key modulator in disease pathogenesis. Here we address implications of a possible role for hyper-ferritinemia, and altered iron homeostasis in COVID-19 pathogenesis, and potential therapeutic targets in this regard.
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Int. J. Infect. Dis. · Jul 2020
Meta AnalysisLymphopenia is associated with severe coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) infections: A systemic review and meta-analysis.
Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19) is a new respiratory and systemic disease which needs quick identification of potential critical patients. This meta-analysis aimed to explore the relationship between lymphocyte count and the severity of COVID-19. ⋯ Lymphopenia is a prominent part of severe COVID-19 and a lymphocyte count of less than 1.5×109/L may be useful in predicting the severity clinical outcomes.
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Int. J. Infect. Dis. · Jul 2020
Review Comparative StudyFrom SARS to COVID-19: What we have learned about children infected with COVID-19.
Coronaviruses, both SARS-CoV and SARS-CoV-2, first appeared in China. They have certain biological, epidemiological and pathological similarities. To date, research has shown that their genes exhibit 79% of identical sequences and the receptor-binding domain structure is also very similar. There has been extensive research performed on SARS; however, the understanding of the pathophysiological impact of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) is still limited. ⋯ Based on these early observations, as pediatricians, this review put forward some thoughts on children's COVID-19 and gave some recommendations to contain the disease.