Background: Data for predicting severity of patients with COVID-19 infection are sparse and still under investigation. We retrospectively studied whether the admission serum C-reactive protein level (CRP) can serve as nearly predictor of disease severity during COVID-19 infection in comparison with other hematologic and inflammatory markers. Methods: We included all consecutive patients who were admitted in Cheikh Khalifa International University Hospital, Casablanca, Morocco, between February to April 2020, with a confirmed diagnosis of COVID-19 infection using SARS-CoV-2 viral nucleic acid via RT-PCR. The complete blood count and serum CRP level were routinely measured on admission. All clinical and laboratory data of patients were collected and analyzed. The classification of the disease severity was in accordance with the clinical classification of the WHO interim guidance, and the management of patients were adapted to the national management guideline. We estimated receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curves of blood routine parameters as well as their association with COVID-19 disease severity. Results: 145 COVID-19 patients were included in the study. The median age (range) was 50 (32-63) years, and Kratak sadr`aj Uvod: Podaci za predvi|anje te`ine stanja pacijenata sa infekcijom COVID-19 su retki i jo{ uvek se istra`uju. Retrospektivno smo istra`ili da li nivo C-reaktivnog proteina (CRP) mo`e da poslu`i kao rani indikator ozbiljnosti bolesti pri infekciji virusom COVID-19 u pore|enju sa drugim hematolo{kim i upalnim markerima. Metode: Uklju~ili smo sve pacijente koji su uzastopno primljeni u Me|unarodnu univerzitetsku bolnicu [eik Kalifa u Kazablanki, Maroko, u periodu od februara do aprila 2020. godine, sa dijagnozom COVID-19 infekcije potvr -|enom pomo u virusne nukleinske kiseline COVID-19 putem RT-PCR. Kompletna krvna slika i nivo seruma CRP rutinski su mereni na prijemu. Svi klini~ki i laboratorijski podaci pacijenata su prikupljeni i analizirani. Klasifikacija te`ine bolesti bila je u skladu sa klini~kom klasifikacijom privremenih uputstava SZO, a le~enje pacijenata prilago -|eno me|unarodnim smernicama. Izvr{ili smo procenu ROC krive parametara analize krvi kao i njihovu povezanost sa te`inom bolesti COVID-19. Rezultati: U istra`ivanje je uklju~eno 145 pacijenata sa infekcijom COVID-19. Srednja vrednost starosti bila je 50 godina (32-63 godine), a 75 pacijenata (51,7%) bili su mu{karci. U lak{u grupu svrstan je 101 pacijent, a u te`u

Cesarean deliveries are widely used in many high- and middle-income countries. This overuse both increases costs and lowers quality of care and is thus a major concern in the healthcare industry. The study first examines the impact of prenatal care utilization on cesarean delivery rates. It then determines whether socioeconomic status affects the use of prenatal care and thereby influences the cesarean delivery decision. Using exclusive French delivery data over the 2008–2014 period, with multilevel logit models, and controlling for relevant patient and hospital characteristics, we show that women who do not participate in prenatal education have an increased probability of a cesarean delivery compared to those who do. The study further indicates that attendance at prenatal education varies according to socioeconomic status. Low socioeconomic women are more likely to have cesarean deliveries and less likely to participate in prenatal education. This result emphasizes the importance of focusing on pregnancy health education, particularly for low-income women, as a potential way to limit unnecessary cesarean deliveries. Future studies would ideally investigate the effect of interventions promoting such as care participation on cesarean delivery rates.

ObjectiveTo investigate whether staffing levels of maternity units affect prelabor urgent, elective, and intrapartum cesarean delivery rates.MethodsThis population-based retrospective cohort study covers the deliveries of the 11 hospitals of a French perinatal network in 2008–2014 (N = 102 236). The independent variables were women’s demographic and medical characteristics as well as the type, organization, and staffing levels for obstetricians, anesthesiologists, and midwives of each maternity unit. Bivariate and multivariate analyses were conducted with multilevel logistic models.ResultsOverall, 23.9% of the women had cesarean deliveries (2.4% urgent before labor, 10% elective, and 11.5% intrapartum). Independently of individual- and hospital-level factors, the level of obstetricians, measured by the number of full-time equivalent persons (i.e., 35 working hours per week) per 100 deliveries, was negatively associated with intrapartum cesarean delivery (adjusted odds ratio, aOR 0.55, 95% confidence interval, CI 0.36–0.83, P-value = 0.005), and the level of midwives negatively associated with elective cesarean delivery (aOR 0.79, 95% CI 0.69–0.90, P-value < 0.001). Accordingly, a 10% increase in obstetrician and midwife staff levels, respectively, would have been associated with a decrease in the likelihood of intrapartum cesarean delivery by 2.5 percentage points and that of elective cesarean delivery by 3.4 percentage points. These changes represent decreases in intrapartum and elective cesarean delivery rates of 19% (from 13.1% to 10.6%) and 33% (from 10.3% to 6.9%), respectively.ConclusionStaffing levels of maternity units affect the use of cesarean deliveries. High staffing levels for obstetricians and midwives are associated with lower cesarean rates.

Diabetes is considered a risk factor for complications due to COVID-19. In order to clarify this association, we are exploring the characteristics, the clinical signs, the outcomes and death in diabetic patients with COVID-19. In this retrospective observational study we are evaluating the demographic characteristics, the comorbidities of the patients, the clinical signs of the infection, the signs of clinical severity, the biological assessment at admission, the treatment, the outcomes and the deaths of 133 patients with COVID-19, of which 25 (19,4%) had diabetes. In the compared COVID-19 patients, with and without diabetes, the patients with diabetes were older, had higher blood pressure and more cardio-vascular diseases. Severe forms were more present in diabetic patients (56% versus 27.1%). Weight loss was higher in diabetic patients (6kg versus 3kg). Biologically, diabetic patients had higher levels of C-reactive protein (28 versus 5.8mg/l), procalcitonin (0.28 versus 0,13ng/l), ferritin (501 versus 140ng/ml), lactic dehydrogenase (268 versus 226IU/l) and of D. dimer (665 versus 444μg/l). Diabetic patients required more oxygen therapy (60% versus 26.9%), more mechanical ventilation (20% versus 8.3%) and more frequent admission to the intensive care unit (60% versus 27.8%). They presented more thromboembolic complications (12% versus 9%) but there were not significant differences in the other outcomes and in death rates. The excess of morbidity and mortality due to diabetes was still not fully clarified; the role of demographic factors, the interaction of mediations with ACE-2 receptors and the role of co-morbidities will all need to be studied in order to identify the patient at risk profile, i.e. who can develop severe forms of the diseases and more outcomes. The early identification of a possible hyper inflammation could be very valuable. More attention should be paid to patients with COVID-19 with diabetes because they are at a high risk of complications.

Background Obesity can be associated with one or more co-morbidities that worsen the effect of severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). Studies demonstrated that severe forms of coronavirus disease (COVID-19) have occurred in elderly patients and patients with co-morbidities such as diabetes, hypertension, and cardiovascular diseases. Objective This study investigated the impact of obesity on COVID-19 severity, irrespective of other individual factors. Methods This retrospective observational study included all adult patients with confirmed COVID-19 infection, who were admitted to Sheikh Khalifa Ibn Zaid International University Hospital between March 20 and May 10, 2020. First, we compared patients with and those without obesity in terms of demographic characteristics, co-morbidities, clinical symptoms, and outcomes. Further, using logistic regression models, we analyzed the association between obesity and intensive care unit (ICU) admission. Also, we examined whether the association between obesity and ICU admission was also consistent among overweight patients. Results The study population included 107 patients with confirmed COVID-19 infection. Obese patients have been admitted in ICU more than patients without obesity (P-value = 0.035). While adjusting for other risk factors for ICU admission, we found that obesity was an independent risk factor for ICU admission (OR = 5.04, 95% CI (1.14-22.37)). When we examined the association of both obesity and overweight with ICU admission, we found that only obesity was significantly associated with ICU admission (OR = 9.11, 95% CI (1.49-55.84)). Conclusion Our study found that obesity was strongly associated with severity of COVID-19. The risk of ICU admission is greater in the presence of obesity. Physicians should be awarded to the need of specific and early management of obese patients with COVID-19 disease.