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Background During the COVID-19 pandemic, the scarcity of resources has necessitated triage of critical care for patients with the disease. In patients aged 65 years and older, triage decisions are regularly based on degree of frailty measured by the Clinical Frailty Scale (CFS). However, the CFS could also be useful in patients younger than 65 years. We aimed to examine the association between CFS score and hospital mortality and between CFS score and admission to intensive care in adult patients of all ages with COVID-19 across Europe. Methods This analysis was part of the COVID Medication (COMET) study, an international, multicentre, retrospective observational cohort study in 63 hospitals in 11 countries in Europe. Eligible patients were aged 18 years and older, had been admitted to hospital, and either tested positive by PCR for severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) or were judged to have a high clinical likelihood of having SARS-CoV-2 infection by the local COVID-19 expert team. CFS was used to assess level of frailty: fit (CFS 1-3), mildly frail (CFS 4-5), or frail (CFS 6-9). The primary outcome was hospital mortality. The secondary outcome was admission to intensive care. Data were analysed using a multivariable binary logistic regression model adjusted for covariates (age, sex, number of drugs prescribed, and type of drug class as a proxy for comorbidities). Findings Between March 30 and July 15, 2020, 2434 patients (median age 68 years [IQR 55-77]; 1480 [61%] men, 954 [30%] women) had CFS scores available and were included in the analyses. In the total sample and in patients aged 65 years and older, frail patients and mildly frail patients had a significantly higher risk of hospital mortality than fit patients (total sample: CFS 6-9 vs CFS 1-3 odds ratio [OR] 2•71 [95% CI 2•04-3•60], p<0•0001 and CFS 4-5 vs CFS 1-3 OR 1•54 [1•16-2•06], p=0•0030; age ≥65 years: CFS 6-9 vs CFS 1-3 OR 2•90 [2•12-3•97], p<0•0001 and CFS 4-5 vs CFS 1-3 OR 1•64 [1•20-2•25], p=0•0020). In patients younger than 65 years, an increased hospital mortality risk was only observed in frail patients (CFS 6-9 vs CFS 1-3 OR 2•22 [1•08-4•57], p=0•030; CFS 4-5 vs CFS 1-3 OR 1•08 [0•48-2•39], p=0•86). Frail patients had a higher incidence of admission to intensive care than fit patients (CFS 6-9 vs CFS 1-3 OR 1•54 [1•21-1•97], p=0•0010), whereas mildly frail patients had a lower incidence than fit patients (CFS 4-5 vs CFS 1-3 OR 0•71 [0•55-0•92], p=0•0090). Among patients younger than 65 years, frail patients had an increased incidence of admission to intensive care (CFS 6-9 vs CFS 1-3 OR 2•96 [1•98-4•43], p<0•0001), whereas mildly frail patients had no significant difference in incidence compared with fit patients (CFS 4-5 vs CFS 1-3 OR 0•93 [0•63-1•38], p=0•72). Among patients aged 65 years and older, frail patients had no significant difference in the incidence of admission to intensive care compared with fit patients (CFS 6-9 vs CFS 1-3 OR 1•27 [0•92-1•75], p=0•14), whereas mildly frail patients had a lower incide...

This study aimed to explore the sources of parenting stress and the mental health of parents with kindergarten and primary school children in Hong Kong. It also examined the intervening effects of parenting self‐efficacy on mental health of parents. Results indicated that parents who perceived their children as more demanding, less acceptable and less reinforcing had more parenting stress. Those who found their parental roles to be more restrictive also had more parenting stress. Lastly, parenting self‐efficacy moderated the effects of parenting stress on the mental health of parents. Cultural and social factors were put forward to explain these findings and suggestions were made towards reducing the parenting stress experienced by parents with younger children in Hong Kong.

Sexual segregation is widespread throughout the animal kingdom. Although a number of hypotheses have been proposed to account for observed patterns, the generality of the mechanisms remains debated. One possible reason for this is the focus on segregation patterns in large mammals such as ungulates, where the majority of studies are descriptions of a single population. Here, we present the results of a cross‐population comparison of patterns of sexual segregation in the Trinidadian guppy, Poecilia reticulata. We relate observed patterns to experimental quantification of predation risk and sexual harassment of females by males in eight populations. We find that the degree of segregation increases with predation risk, with deeper waters becoming increasingly female biased. Furthermore, we observed that levels of male harassment are lower in deeper water but only in those rivers that contain major guppy predators. We conclude that sexual segregation in guppies is consistent with the predation risk hypothesis: sexual segregation results from a combination of predation risk driving males (the more vulnerable sex) into less risky habitats and females gaining benefits of reduced sexual harassment by remaining in high‐predation environments.

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Our study provides strong evidence that germline genetics outside high-risk syndromes could modify the effect of radiation exposure on breast cancer risk after childhood cancer.

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