Overview of coronavirus disease 2019: Treatment updates and advances

Yang

Journal of the Chinese Medical Association

et al. 2021

Background: Currently, as the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) has become a pandemic, rapidly obtaining accurate information of patient symptoms and their progression is crucial and vital. Although the early studies in China have illustrated that the representative symptoms of COVID-19 include (dry) cough, fever, headache, fatigue, gastrointestinal discomfort, dyspnea, and muscle pain, there is increasing evidence to suggest that olfactory and taste disorder are related to the COVID-19 pandemic. Therefore, we conduct this study to review the present literature about the correlation between anosmia or dysgeusia and COVID-19. Methods: A comprehensive literature search in 2020 of the electronic journal databases, mainly PubMed or Web of Science, was performed using the keywords COVID-19 or severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2), with hyposmia, anosmia, dysgeusia, olfactory disorder, or olfactory dysfunction. The country, study period, case number, inpatient or outpatient medical visit, evaluation method (subjective complaints of dysfunction or objective evaluation), and occurrence rate of olfactory or gustatory function were reviewed. Results: Many studies reported that the recoverable olfactory or gustatory dysfunction may play an important role as the early clinical symptom of COVID-19. It is associated with better prognosis, although further investigation and validation should be carried out. Conclusion: Studies have shown that smell and taste disturbances may represent an early symptom of COVID-19 and healthcare professionals must be very vigilant when managing patients with these symptoms. In the pandemic era, this implies testing for COVID-19 by healthcare workers with full personal protective equipment.

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Clinical significance of olfactory dysfunction in patients of COVID-19

Yang

Journal of the Chinese Medical Association

et al. 2021

“…Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic is caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) and characterized by an interstitial pneumonia and altered vascular permeability that may lead to a severe and even fatal outcome [ 1 , 2 ]. Within months, it has caused a global pandemic and posed a major threat to public health worldwide [ 3 , 4 ]. The clinical manifestations of COVID-19 are diverse, the typical clinical features of COVID-19 mainly include fever (not in all), coughing, dyspnea, and myalgia [ 5 – 7 ].…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Effect of hydrogen/oxygen therapy for ordinary COVID-19 patients: a propensity-score matched case-control study

et al. 2023

Background Hydrogen/oxygen therapy contribute to ameliorate dyspnea and disease progression in patients with respiratory diseases. Therefore, we hypothesized that hydrogen/oxygen therapy for ordinary coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) patients might reduce the length of hospitalization and increase hospital discharge rates. Methods This retrospective, propensity-score matched (PSM) case–control study included 180 patients hospitalized with COVID-19 from 3 centers. After assigned in 1:2 ratios by PSM, 33 patients received hydrogen/oxygen therapy and 55 patients received oxygen therapy included in this study. Primary endpoint was the length of hospitalization. Secondary endpoints were hospital discharge rates and oxygen saturation (SpO2). Vital signs and respiratory symptoms were also observed. Results Findings confirmed a significantly lower median length of hospitalization (HR = 1.91; 95% CIs, 1.25–2.92; p < 0.05) in the hydrogen/oxygen group (12 days; 95% CI, 9–15) versus the oxygen group (13 days; 95% CI, 11–20). The higher hospital discharge rates were observed in the hydrogen/oxygen group at 21 days (93.9% vs. 74.5%; p < 0.05) and 28 days (97.0% vs. 85.5%; p < 0.05) compared with the oxygen group, except for 14 days (69.7% vs. 56.4%). After 5-day therapy, patients in hydrogen/oxygen group exhibited a higher level of SpO2 compared with that in the oxygen group (98.5%±0.56% vs. 97.8%±1.0%; p < 0.001). In subgroup analysis of patients received hydrogen/oxygen, patients aged < 55 years (p = 0.028) and without comorbidities (p = 0.002) exhibited a shorter hospitalization (median 10 days). Conclusion This study indicated that hydrogen/oxygen might be a useful therapeutic medical gas to enhance SpO2 and shorten length of hospitalization in patients with ordinary COVID-19. Younger patients or those without comorbidities are likely to benefit more from hydrogen/oxygen therapy.

Journal of the Chinese Medical Association

“…Severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) (coronavirus disease 2019, COVID-19) is a pandemic disease with rapidly and widely disseminating to the world. [1][2][3][4][5] New laboratory-confirmed victims associated morbidity and mortality rates have rapidly increased, resulting in globally challenging health care systems. [6][7][8] Obstetric and childbirth healthcare services are not escaped.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

The impact of COVID-19 in pregnancy: Part I. Clinical presentations and untoward outcomes of pregnant women with COVID-19

Wang

Lee

Yang

et al. 2021

Severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) (coronavirus disease 2019, COVID-19) is a pandemic disease with rapidly and widely disseminating to the world. Based on experiences about the H1N1, Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome (SARS) and Middle East Respiratory Syndrome (MERS) coronavirus pandemics, pregnant women who are infected are disproportionately more likely to develop severe illness and need more hospitalizations, intensive care, and finally die of diseases compared with those nonpregnant counterparts or those pregnant women without infection. Although more than one half of pregnant women with COVID-19 are asymptomatic, and as well as their symptoms are frequently mild, this observation presents a further challenge regarding service provision, prevention, and management, in which this may result in overlooking the risk of COVID-19 during pregnancy. As predictable, despite much advance in critical care in recent decades, during the 2020 COVID-19 pandemic, pregnant women with COVID-19 are really at higher risk to progress to severe illness; require hospitalization; need intensive care, such as the use of mechanical ventilation as well as extracorporeal membrane oxygenation (ECMO), and of most important, die than their nonpregnant counterparts and pregnant women without COVID-19. The magnitude of the risk to pregnant women further extend to their newborn from COVID-19 with resultant significantly increasing perinatal and neonatal morbidity and mortality rates. The heightened risk of untoward outcomes in pregnant women emphasizes an urgent need of national or international recommendations and guidelines to optimize prevention and management strategies for COVID-19 in pregnancy. Active and passive prevention of COVID-19 is approved as effective strategies for women who attempt to be pregnant or during pregnancy. Understanding that pregnant women who are a vulnerable population is essential to improve the care in the novel and urgent COVID-19 pandemic. The current review is a part I to summarize the up-to-date information about the impact of laboratory-confirmed SARS-CoV-2 infection on pregnant women and focus on clinical presentations and untoward pregnancy outcomes of these pregnant women infected with SARS-CoV-2.