After the World Health Organization (WHO) declared coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) a pandemic, intense efforts to combat the novel coronavirus were undertaken, with many fatalities in most regions of the world. The high fatality rate and socioeconomic collapse affected the health of uninfected individuals because healthcare measures and scheduled clinical and hospital visits were avoided by people in an attempt to reduce their exposure to the contagion. The general population began self-medication practices as means to safeguard against exposure to the virus.

The present study investigated the effectiveness of self-medication compliance among the general population. For this purpose, a questionnaire on the Zenodo scale was developed and adults and teen respondents were asked to complete it, after providing consent. The data gathered were analyzed using IBM SPSS Statistics Version 26.

The study amazingly found high compliance with self-medication among the focused population during the period of COVID-19. Estimated results showed a highly significant correlation of 0.000, P < 0.05, between the adaptation of self-medication and pandemic situation, which was estimated from chi-squared and Fisher test results.

However, the fear of coronavirus made the practice, or malpractice, a survival of the fittest, innate ability of human nature.

The aim of this study was to determine the extent that appropriate personal protective equipment (PPE), per Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) guidance, was used during the coronavirus diseases 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic by health-care personnel (HCP) in Louisiana in 5 clinical settings.

An online questionnaire was distributed to the LA Nursery registry. Appropriate use of PPE in each of the 5 clinical scenarios was defined by the authors based on CDC guidelines. The scenarios ranged from communal hospital space to carrying out aerosol generating procedures (AGPs). A total of 1760 HCP participated between June and July 2020.

The average adherence in LA was lowest for the scenario of carrying out AGPs at 39.5% compliance and highest for the scenario of patient contact when COVID-19 not suspected at 82.8% compliance. Adherence among parishes varied widely. Commentary to suggest a shortage of PPE supply and the practice of re-using PPE was strong.

Use of appropriate PPE varied by setting. It was higher in scenarios where only face masks (or respirators) were the standard (ie, community hospital or when COVID-19 not suspected) and lower in scenarios where additional PPE (eg, gloves, eye protection, and isolation gown) was required.

This article investigates how perceived vulnerability to the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic at its early stages is associated with people’s perception of their health, the need for health-care services, and expenses related to addressing the COVID-19 impact on their health.

The results are based on the analysis of surveys that were distributed among members of 26 random Facebook groups in April-May, 2020. Perceived COVID-19 pandemic related stress and health concerns were examined by using the analysis of variance (ANOVA) test.

Among 315 respondents, 64% have experienced COVID-19 related stress and identified anxiety, headache, insomnia, and weight gain as their primary health concerns. The ANOVA test revealed that females are more impacted by the COVID-19 stress than males. Around 40% of respondents believed that the COVID-19 would lead to an increase in the cost of health services, and 20% of respondents anticipated that the COVID-19 pandemic would increase their need for health services.

Learning about how people perceive the COVID-19 pandemic impact on their health, particularly in the pandemic’s early stages can allow health professionals to develop targeted interventions that can influence pandemic preventative behaviors among different population groups. This study can help understand use patterns and mitigate financial barriers that could interfere with patients’ care-seeking behavior.

Although the consequences of the COVID-19 pandemic on emotional health are evident, little is known about its impact on patients with obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD).

One hundred and twenty-seven patients with OCD who attended a specialist OCD Clinic in Barcelona, Spain, were assessed by phone from April 27 to May 25, 2020, during the early phase of the pandemic, using the Yale–Brown Obsessive–Compulsive Scale (Y-BOCS) and a structured interview that collected clinical and sociodemographic information. Results were compared with those for 237 healthy controls from the same geographic area who completed an online survey.

Although 65.3% of the patients with OCD described a worsening of their symptoms, only 31.4% had Y-BOCS scores that increased >25%. The risk of getting infected by SARS-CoV2 was reported as a new obsession by 44.8%, but this only became the main obsessive concern in approximately 10% of the patients. Suicide-related thoughts were more frequent among the OCD cohort than among healthy controls. The presence of prepandemic depression, higher Y-BOCS scores, contamination/washing symptoms, and lower perceived social support all predicted a significantly increased risk of OCD worsening.

Most patients with OCD appear to be capable of coping with the emotional stress of the COVID-19 outbreak and its consequences during the initial phase of the pandemic. Nevertheless, the current crisis constitutes a risk factor for a significant worsening of symptoms and suicidal ideation. Action is needed to ensure effective and individualized follow-up care for patients with OCD in the COVID-19 era.

Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) has spread quickly all over the world. The number of studies in this field being performed and published is increasing day by day. The aim of this study is to analyze the publications in the field of COVID-19 with the help of bibliometric methods. After bibliometric analysis, the second aim is to investigate the relationship between the number of publications in countries and the number of total cases.

The data in the study were taken from the Web of Science (WOS) site. Analyses and mapping processes were performed using VOSviewer and SPSS package program. The words “COVID-19”, “Novel Coronavirus”, “2019-nCoV”, “SARS-CoV-2” were used as key words for analysis. The data include publications from 2019 to 2021 (January 10).

As a result of the study, a total of 38,080 publications were evaluated. It was determined that the countries with the highest number of publications on COVID-19 were China and the United States, and the country with the highest number of citations was China. Most of the studies in the field of COVID-19 have been conducted on General Internal Medicine and Public Enviromental Occupational Health. In addition, statistically significant relationships were observed between the number of publications and the number of total cases in terms of countries (r = 0.806; P < 0.001).

As a result, bibliometric analysis about COVID-19 can be useful for the future studies. It gives a general perspective of the studies.

The aim of this study is to investigate the accuracy of shock index (SI) and modified shock index (mSI) in predicting the intensive care unit (ICU) requirement and in-hospital mortality among coronavirus disease (COVID-19) patients who are admitted to the emergency department (ED). Likewise, the effects of patients’ conditions such as age, gender, and comorbidity on prognosis will be analyzed.

The files were retrospectively scanned for all COVID-19 patients over the age of 18 years who were admitted to the ED and hospitalized between January 1, 2021, and March 15, 2021. The area under the receiver operating characteristic curve and the area under the curve (AUC) were used to assess each scoring system discriminatory for predicting in-hospital mortality and ICU admission.

There were 464 patients included in this study. The mean age of the patients was 62.4 ± 16.7, of which 245 were men and 219 were women. The most common comorbidity in patients was hypertension (200; 43.1%), followed by chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (174; 37.5%), and coronary artery disease (154; 33.2%). In terms of in-hospital mortality, the AUC of SI, and mSI were 0.719 and 0.739, respectively. In terms of an ICU requirement, the AUC of SI, and mSI were 0.704 and 0.729, respectively.

In this study, it was concluded that SI and mSI are useful in predicting in-hospital mortality and ICU requirement in COVID-19 patients. In addition, another important result of the study is that advanced age, male gender, and hypertension may be associated with a poor prognosis.

Infection with coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) has become a severe public health issue worldwide. A broad amount of information related to the novel coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic was disseminated by social media in Ethiopia. To date, there is limited evidence on the influence of social media use for COVID-19–related information on COVID-19 preventive practice. Therefore, this study aimed to assess the influence of social media use on the practice of COVID-19 preventive measures in Ethiopia.

This study used an anonymous Internet-based online cross-sectional survey using Google Forms to collect the data from the respondents from May 15 to June 17, 2020, in Ethiopia. Multivariable logistic regression was used to assess the relationship between social media use as a predictor and COVID-19 preventive practice, after adjusting for socio-demographic and risk perception of COVID-19 variables. The data were analyzed using SPSS version 21.

A total of 372 respondents have participated in the study. From 372, a total of 208 (55.9%) respondents in this study were male. Study participants who had good use of social media to get COVID-19–related information were 9.5 times more engaged in COVID-19 preventive practices compared with study participants who had poor use of social media to get COVID-19–related information (adjusted odds ratio [AOR] = 9.59; 95% confidence interval [CI]: 5.70-16.13). Also, study participants who had a high-risk perception of COVID-19 were 2.6 times more engaged in COVID-19 practices compared with study participants who had a low-risk perception of COVID-19 (AOR = 2.63; 95% CI: 1.58-4.38). Study participants who were students at the time of this study were 4 times more likely to show an adequate COVID-19 preventive practice score compared with those who had another occupational status (AOR = 4.07; 95% CI: 1.66-9.98)

Our results show that the use of social media networks can have a positive effect on the practice of preventive measures and public safety against COVID-19; high-risk perception contributed to preventive activities against COVID-19. Social networking platforms can be used by public health agencies as an important method to raise public health understanding by disseminating concise messages to targeted audiences.

Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19, caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 [SARS-CoV-2]) is a historic pandemic severely impacting health care. This study examines its early effect on a busy academic emergency department.

A retrospective analysis of patients from an academic tertiary care Level I trauma, cardiac and stroke center’s emergency department seeing an average of 54,000 adults and 21,000 pediatric patients per year. Total visits, reasons for patient visits, demographics, disposition, and length of stay were analyzed from January through July 2020 and compared with the same time period in the previous 2 y.

From March through July 2020 there were statistically significant decreases in the total number of patient visits (-47%) especially among pediatric (-73%) and elderly (-43%) patients and those with cardiovascular (-39%), neurological (-63%) complaints, headaches (-60%), back pain (-64%), abdominal pain (-51%), and minor trauma (-71%). There was, however, a significant increase in pulmonary complaints (+54%), as well as admissions (+32%), and length of stay (+40%).

There was a significant drop in overall patients and select groups early in the pandemic, while admissions and emergency department length of stay both increased. This has implications for future pandemic planning.

The aim of this study was to identify factors associated with distress experienced by physicians during their first coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) triage decisions.

An online survey was administered to physicians licensed in New York State.

Of the 164 physicians studied, 20.7% experienced severe distress during their first COVID-19 triage decisions. The mean distress score was not significantly different between physicians who received just-in-time training and those who did not (6.0 ± 2.7 vs 6.2 ± 2.8; P = 0.550) and between physicians who received clinical guidelines and those who did not (6.0 ± 2.9 vs 6.2 ± 2.7; P = 0.820). Substantially increased odds of severe distress were found in physicians who reported that their first COVID-19 triage decisions were inconsistent with their core values (adjusted odds ratio, 6.33; 95% confidence interval, 2.03-19.76) and who reported having insufficient skills and expertise (adjusted odds ratio 2.99, 95% confidence interval 0.91-9.87).

Approximately 1 in 5 physicians in New York experienced severe distress during their first COVID-19 triage decisions. Physicians with insufficient skills and expertise, and core values misaligned to triage decisions are at heightened risk of experiencing severe distress. Just-in-time training and clinical guidelines do not appear to alleviate distress experienced by physicians during their first COVID-19 triage decisions.

Medical students are vulnerable to infection by the coronavirus. Their awareness of the disease is crucial for their safety and for the management of the epidemic by spreading supportive information in their communities. The aim of this study was to assess coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19)-related knowledge, attitude, and preventive practices among Egyptian medical students.

We conducted a cross-sectional study from the beginning of April to June 2020; a total of 439 undergraduate medical students (1st to 6th academic years) were assessed using an online questionnaire. The questionnaire consisted of 33 questions, including 5 items regarding socio-demographic features, 23 items concerning COVID-19 related knowledge, 2 items regarding attitude, and 3 items related to preventive measures.

We observed an acceptable level of knowledge (74.3%) among the sample studied. Preclinical and female students were significantly more optimistic as 69.1% expected successful control of COVID-19, and 48.9% predicted that Egypt will win the fight against COVID-19. The majority of participants reported wearing a facemask in public places as a preventive measure (56.7%).

Egyptian medical students had an acceptable level of knowledge, positive attitude, and good practices of preventive measures regarding the COVID-19 virus. There is no significant difference in almost all items of knowledge, attitude, and practices in relation to gender or academic grade.

The outbreak of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) has exerted unprecedented pressure on healthcare systems throughout the world. This study was designed to develop a national health emergency management program based on risk assessment for COVID-19.

Mixed-methods research was used. Based on recommendations of the national epidemiology committee, 2 risk scenarios were used as basic scenarios for risk assessment. Two rounds of Focus Group Discussions (FGDs) were conducted between January and May 2020 with 30 representatives of the health system. The data were collected, analyzed, and integrated by the research team.

In the risk matrix, “contamination of environment and individuals” and “burnout of medical staff” occupied the red zone (intolerable risk). “Defects in screening and admissions,” “process disruption in medical care and rehabilitation,” “increased mental disorders,” “social dissatisfaction,” “the decline in healthcare services,” and “loss of medical staff” were identified as the orange zone (significant risk) of the matrix.

The avoidance of environmental and individual contamination and healthcare worker burnout are the priorities in Iran. Attention to intersectoral cooperation, the involvement of non-governmental organizations and private center capacities, integration of information health systems, and developing evidence-based protocols are other measures that can improve the health system’s capacity in the response COVID-19.