August 1, 2024

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COVID: Pre-exposure Period/Transmission/Testing

Personal Protective Effect of Wearing Surgical Face Masks in Public Spaces on Self-reported Respiratory Symptoms in Adults: Pragmatic Randomized Superiority Trial
To evaluate the personal protective effects of wearing versus not wearing surgical face masks in public spaces on self-reported respiratory symptoms over a 14-day period 4,647 adults aged ≥18 years: 2,371 were assigned to the intervention arm (wear a surgical face mask in public spaces (eg, shopping centers, streets, public transport) over a 14-day period (mask wearing at home or work was not mentioned) and 2,276 to the control arm, not wearing a mask. (8.9%) of the people wearing masks had self-reported symptoms consistent with respiratory infection (12.2%) in the control arm had self-reported symptoms consistent with respiratory infection. The marginal odds ratio was 0.71 (95% confidence interval (CI) 0.58 to 0.87; P=0.001) favoring the face mask intervention. So, a statistically significant 30% reduction in getting sick.

COVID: Active Vaccination/Immunity

Cohort Study of Cardiovascular Safety of Different COVID-19 Vaccination Doses among 46 million Adults in England
or background we read that the first dose of COVID-19 vaccines led to an overall reduction in cardiovascular events. Using longitudinal health records from 45.7 million adults in England between December 2020 and January 2022, this study compared the incidence of thrombotic and cardiovascular complications up to 26 weeks after first, second and booster doses of brands and combinations of COVID-19 vaccines used during the UK vaccination program with the incidence before or without the corresponding vaccination. Over the study period from 8th December 2020 to 23rd January 2022, 45.7 million individuals met the eligibility criteria for first-dose analyses. Among these, 37.3 million people received a first ChAdOx1, BNT-162b2 or mRNA1273 vaccination and were eligible for the second dose analyses. The incidence of common arterial thrombotic events (mainly acute myocardial infarction and ischaemic stroke) was generally lower after each vaccine dose. Similarly, the incidence of common venous thrombotic events, (mainly pulmonary embolism and lower limb deep venous thrombosis) was lower after vaccination.
Real-world comparative effectiveness of a third dose of mRNA-1273 versus BNT162b2 among adults aged ≥ 65 years in the United States
These are the results of an observational comparative vaccine effectiveness (VE) study conducted using administrative claims data from the US HealthVerity database (September 22, 2021, to August 31, 2022). A third dose of mRNA-1273 versus BNT162b2 was assessed for preventing COVID-19 hospitalizations and medically attended COVID-19 among adults aged ≥ 65 years. Overall, 94,587 and 92,377 individuals received a third dose of mRNA-1273 and BNT162b2, respectively. COVID-19 hospitalization rates per 1000 person-years (PYs) were 5.61 (95 % CI, 5.13-6.09) for mRNA-1273 and 7.06 (95 % CI, 6.54-7.57) for BNT162b2 (HR, 0.82; 0.69-0.98). Medically attended COVID-19 rates per 1000 PYs (95 % CI) were 95.05 (95 % CI, 3.03-97.06) for mRNA-1273 and 106.55 (95 % CI, 104.53-108.57) for BNT162b2 (HR, 0.93; 0.89-0.98).

COVID: The Late Phase/PASC/Long COVID

Incidence of Diabetes after SARS-CoV-2 Infection in England and the Implications of COVID-19 Vaccination: A Retrospective Cohort Study of 16 million People
These results come from a retrospective cohort study, where they investigated the diagnoses of incident diabetes following COVID-19 diagnosis in England in a pre-vaccination, vaccinated, and unvaccinated cohort using linked electronic health records. People alive and aged between 18 years and 110 years, registered with a general practitioner for at least six months before baseline, and with available data for sex, region, and area deprivation were included. 16,669,943 people were included in the pre-vaccination cohort (Jan 1, 2020–Dec 14, 2021), 12,279,669 in the vaccinated cohort, and 3,076,953 in the unvaccinated cohort (both June 1–Dec 14, 2021). In the pre-vaccination cohort, aHRs for the incidence of type 2 diabetes after COVID-19 (compared with before or in the absence of diagnosis) were 4·30 (95% CI 4·06–4·55) in weeks 1–4; 1·24 (1·14–1.35) in weeks 53–102. aHRs were higher in unvaccinated people than in vaccinated people and in patients hospitalized with COVID-19 than in those who were not hospitalized Patterns were similar for type 1 diabetes, although excess incidence did not persist beyond one year after a COVID-19 diagnosis. The authors conclude that elevated incidence of type 2 diabetes after COVID-19 is greater, and persists for longer, in people who were hospitalized with COVID-19 than in those who were not, and is markedly less apparent in people who have been vaccinated against COVID-19.
Post-COVID-19 Respiratory Sequelae Two Years after Hospitalization: An Ambidirectional Study
Here a cohort of COVID-19 patients admitted to the Hospital das Clínicas da Faculdade de Medicina da USP in São Paulo, Brazil, between March and August of 2020, were followed-up six to 12 months after hospital discharge. A subset of patients with pulmonary involvement and chest computed tomography (CT) scans were eligible to participate in this second follow-up (18–24 months). From 348 patients eligible, 237 (68%) participated in this follow-up. Among participants, 139 (58%) patients presented ground-glass opacities and reticulations, and 80 (33%) presented fibrotic-like lesions (traction bronchiectasis and architectural distortion). (2%) of the patients improved compared to the six to 12-month assessment, (25%) presented worsening of lung abnormalities. For those with relevant assessments on both occasions, comparing the CT findings between this follow-up with the previous assessment, there was an increase in patients with architectural distortion and traction bronchiectasis. Patients presented a persistent functional impairment with demonstrated restrictive pattern in both follow-ups [42%] and [44%] of 207, p = 0.76), as well as reduced diffusion capacity [42%]. Length of hospitalization (OR 1.04 [1.01–1.07], p = 0.0040), invasive mechanical ventilation (OR 3.11 [1.3–7.5] p = 0.011), patient's age (OR 1.03 [1.01–1.06] p = 0.0074 were consistent predictors for development of fibrotic-like lung lesions in post-COVID-19 patients.
Incidence of Hearing Loss Following COVID-19 among Young Adults in South Korea: A Nationwide Cohort Study
This study was conducted to determine the association of COVID-19 with HL and sudden sensorineural hearing loss (SSNHL) in young adults. This nationwide population-based cohort study used data from the Korea Disease Control and Prevention Agency-COVID-19-National Health Insurance Service. The study population consisted of young adult citizens aged 20–39 years without a history of HL. All participants were followed up from July 1, 2022 until HL, death, or December 31, 2022. A total of 6,716,879 young adults were eligible for the analyses. During 40,260,757 person-months (PMs) of follow–up, 38,269 cases of HL and 5,908 cases of SSNHL were identified. The risk of HL (incidence: 11.9 versus 3.4/10,000 PMs; SHR, 3.51; 95% CI, 3.39–3.63; aSHR, 3.44; 95% CI, 3.33–3.56; P < 0.0001) and SSNHL (incidence: 1.8 versus 0.5/10,000 PMs; SHR, 3.58; 95% CI, 3.29–3.90; aSHR, 3.52; 95% CI, 3.23–3.83; P < 0.0001) was higher in COVID-19 group as compared to no COVID-19 group. In the sensitivity analyses that evaluated HL and SSNHL risks after adopting multiple imputations, utilizing inverse probability of treatment weighting, limiting study population to the cohort with a health screening examination, the results were consistent to the primary analysis.
The Effect of Long-term COVID-19 Infection on Maternal and Fetal Complications: A Retrospective Cohort Study Conducted at a Single Center in China
In order to investigate the effect of long-term COVID-19 on maternal and fetal complications these researchers performed a retrospective cohort study looking at 623 pregnant women who delivered in Kunming First People's Hospital from November 1, 2022 to July 31, 2023. In the 623 studied, there were 209 pregnant women with acute COVID-19, 72 pregnant women with long-term COVID-19, and 342 pregnant women without COVID-19. Pregnant individuals who developed long-term COVID-19 during their pregnancy had an increased risk of experiencing gestational hypertension (OR 3.3, 95% CI 1.544–7.243), gestational diabetes mellitus (OR 2.3, 95% CI 1.290–4.102), and fetal intrauterine growth restriction (OR 2.8, 95% CI 1.385–5.952).