Posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) is one of the most common psychiatric disorders. However, we should not neglect the somatic aspects of PTSD. Associations with cardiovascular diseases (CVD) are particularly concerning because PTSD was associated with an even 53% higher risk for CVD. This study aimed to analyze the prevalence of several CVD risk factors, especially diabetes mellitus among PTSD patients divided into three groups according to obstructive sleep apnea (OSA) risk stratification (low, intermediate, and high). This cross-sectional study included one hundred male PTSD veterans. The mean age was 53 (40–67) years. The estimated OSA risk was 95% for the whole cohort, and 53% were in the high-risk group. Median HbA1c was 5.6 (4.6–10)%. The hemoglobin A1c (HbA1c) levels showed that 34 patients were in the prediabetes group, and 20 of them fulfilled the criteria for diabetes. However, only 13 of them were aware of their previous diagnosis of diabetes mellitus. In testing knowledge about diabetes, 62% and only 23% of patients knew the correct definition of HbA1c and level of fasting plasma glucose, respectively. Diabetic patients had insufficient knowledge about diabetic complications and treatment. A higher level of PTSD symptoms in veterans was associated with a higher prevalence of OSA. The results strongly support further research and education into early detection of CVD risk factors associated with PTSD.
Since the outbreak of novel coronavirus in 2019, SARS-CoV-2 has spread worldwide at an unexpected rate, becoming a major global health concern. Although respiratory tract infections represent typical clinical presentation, recently, numerous cases of acute arterial thrombosis and thromboembolic disease have been reported due to COVID-19 infection. Renal artery embolism is a condition that is easily missed due to its infrequent and nonspecific presentation. In this paper, we reported a case of a 63-year-old, previously healthy, male patient who has developed multiple right kidney infarctions due to COVID-19 infection without any respiratory or other typical clinical manifestations. Consecutive RT-PCR tests were negative and the diagnosis was set finally by serological screening. Our presentation has emphasized the necessity of clinical, laboratory, microbiological, and radiological integration in diagnostic approach to this novel and challenging disease with often unusual clinical presentations to avoid false negative discrimination.
Given high risk of infection-related mortality due to impaired immunity, elderly patients are at increased risk with COVID-19. In its diagnostic procedure clinical laboratory medicine has a pivotal role. The aim of this study was to investigate clinical and laboratory specificities in Croatian population of nursing home residents affected by coronavirus. One hundred and six residents of nursing homes that were hospitalized due to COVID-19 infection, were included in this retrospective study. Clinical and laboratory findings at three time points were extracted from medical records. There were 86 females and 20 males, with median of age 84 (min-max: 47–97) years. Patients were divided into three groups: Survivors (S), patients who are still alive (N=65), In-Hospital Non-Survivors (IHNS), patients who died from coronavirus during hospitalization (N=31) and Out-of-Hospital Non-Survivors (OHNS), patients who recovered from infection but died during the period of three months of the follow-up (N=10). We have established differences between these three groups in laboratory findings (p<0.05). At the admission, survivors had lower values of lactate dehydrogenase, aspartate transaminase, sedimentation ratio, ferritin and C-reactive protein, OHNS were in the middle, and IHNS had the highest values. Leukocytes and absolute lymphocyte count were greater in OHNS group, and same between survivors and IHNS. After 7 days, we noticed increase in leukocyte and neutrophils count among IHNS. Assessing of complete blood count, differential blood count, reactants of acute infection and combination of their ratios might predict worse outcome in nursing home residents due to coronavirus infection.
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