Clinical

Loss of smell was identified early on as one telltale sign of COVID-19 infection. However, a study just published in the Annals of Allergy, Asthma & Immunology indicates that anosmia may actually be an independent prognostic sign of less severe illness. The study of 949 COVID-19–positive people found loss of smell to be significantly associated with decreased need for hospitalization, admission to the intensive care unit, intubation, and acute respiratory distress syndrome. The researchers found …

Research has indicated that mothers can transmit SARS-CoV-2 to their infants in the perinatal period. However, a study just published in The Lancet Child & Adolescent Health suggests that specific precautions can minimize that risk. The observational cohort study included all neonates born to mothers positive for SARS-CoV-2 at delivery in three New York Presbyterian Hospitals in New York City between March 22 and May 17, 2020. None of the babies born to those 116 …

The relative anonymity and immediacy of urgent care make it an attractive option for patients who are concerned they could have a sexually transmitted infection. It should come as no surprise, then, that urgent care visits for STIs have increased steadily. According to a new study published in Emerging Infectious Diseases, visits related to testing or treatment for chlamydia, gonorrhea, and unspecified diagnosed STIs all increased between 2010 and 2014 in U.S. urgent care centers. …

Hydroxychloroquine has had its share of champions and naysayers since it was first proposed as a possible treatment for patients infected with COVID-19. Now a study presented at the Virtual Congress of the International Society on Thrombosis and Hemostasis in Cepagatti, Italy indicates the pendulum is settling somewhere in the middle of those two extremes. If the conclusions of the study are correct, hydroxychloroquine really can offer a benefit to some patients—and the authors of …

Undoubtedly, you’ve seen people out in the world acting as if COVID-19 isn’t a problem. (First clue: They’re resistant to wearing a mask.) Some even say the pandemic is nothing but a hype, quoting the “low” death rate (anywhere from 0.3% to 1.5%) to support their argument. What they’re not appreciating—which you might be able to help them see—is the high transmission rate. An article that appeared in the Wall Street Journal quotes Eric Toner, …

While many conditions associated with or exacerbated by obesity (eg, diabetes, heart disease) have been tied to greater risk for patients who become infected with COVID-19, a study just published in the European Journal of Endocrinology suggests that obesity is an independent risk factor for severe disease and death with the virus. Researchers analyzed the outcomes of 482 patients with COVID-19 who were hospitalized between March 1 and April 20, 2020. Of those patients, 58% …

Being “forced” to where a mask in a retail establishment has become a volatile subject lately, with the nightly news and social media recounting tales of sometimes violent confrontations between proprietors who insist on masks and prospective patrons who feel such a mandate infringes on their individual rights. Lost in this are the facts that such rules 1) are well within the rights of shopkeepers to establish and 2) are intended to save lives. Robert …

We told you recently about a pair of studies out of China that suggested elevated fasting blood glucose could be a risk factor for severe disease in patients with COVID-19. Now a third study using the same data pool paints an even darker picture, with the authors concluding that a fasting blood glucose level ≥7.0 mmol/L in patients without a previous diagnosis of diabetes is an independent predictor for higher 28-day mortality. The odds ratio …

Don’t be surprised if patients who have “recovered” from COVID-19 present with concerns that they might not be getting better after all. A research letter just published online by JAMA Network indicates that most patients have persistent symptoms of infection even 60+ days after diagnosis. Based on 143 confirmed cases in Italy, they report that 87.4 of patients complained of at least one symptoms of COVID-19 even after meeting World Health Organization criteria for discontinuing …

Two new studies have shown that elevated fasting blood glucose (FBG), whether a patient has been diagnosed with diabetes or not, could be a risk factor for severe illness in patients with COVID-19. Authors of the first study, based on patients at a hospital in Guangzhou, Guangdong, China and published in Diabetes, Obesity and Metabolism, found an FBG of ≥6.23 mmol/L to be an optimal cutoff for poor prognosis within 30 days of hospital admission, …