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Background During the first epidemic wave, COVID-19 surveillance focused on quantifying the magnitude and the escalation of a growing global health crisis. The scientific community first assessed risk through basic indicators, such as the number of cases or rates of new cases and deaths, and later began using other direct impact indicators to conduct more detailed analyses. We aimed at synthesizing the scientific community's contribution to assessing the direct impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on population health through indicators reported in research papers. Methods We conducted a rapid scoping review to identify and describe health indicators included in articles published between January 2020 and June 2021, using one strategy to search PubMed, EMBASE and WHO COVID-19 databases. Sixteen experts from European public health institutions screened papers and retrieved indicator characteristics. We also asked in an online survey how the health indicators were added to and used in policy documents in Europe. Results After reviewing 3891 records, we selected a final sample of 67 articles and 233 indicators. We identified 52 (22.3%) morbidity indicators from 33 articles, 105 severity indicators (45.1%, 27 articles) and 68 mortality indicators (29.2%, 51). Respondents from 22 countries completed 31 questionnaires, and the majority reported morbidity indicators (29, 93.5%), followed by mortality indicators (26, 83.9%). Conclusions The indicators collated here might be useful to assess the impact of future pandemics. Therefore, their measurement should be standardized to allow for comparisons between settings, countries and different populations. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background and Aim The aim of this systematic review was to quantify the association between frailty and COVID-19 in relation to mortality in hospitalised patients. Methods Medline, Embase, Web of Science and the grey literature were searched for papers from inception to 10 September 2020; the search was re-run in Medline up until the 9 December 2020. Screening, data extraction and quality grading were undertaken by two reviewers. Results were summarised using descriptive statistics, including a meta-analysis of overall mortality; the relationships between frailty and COVID-19 mortality were summarised narratively. Results A total of 2,286 papers were screened resulting in 26 being included in the review. Most studies were from Europe, half from the UK, and one from Brazil; the median sample size was 242.5, median age 73.1 and 43.5% were female. In total, 22/26 used the Clinical Frailty Scale; reported mortality ranged from 14 to 65%. Most, but not all studies showed an association between increasing frailty and a greater risk of dying. Two studies indicated a sub-additive relationship between frailty, COVID-19 and death, and two studies showed no association. Conclusions Whilst the majority of studies have shown a positive association between COVID-19-related death and increasing frailty, some studies suggested a more nuanced understanding of frailty and outcomes in COVID-19 is needed. Clinicians should exert caution in placing too much emphasis on the influence of frailty alone when discussing likely prognosis in older people with COVID-19 illness. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Objective This study aims at reviewing novel coronavirus disease (COVID-19) datasets extracted from PubMed Central articles, thus providing quantitative analysis to answer questions related to dataset contents, accessibility and citations. Methods We downloaded COVID-19-related full-text articles published until 31 May 2020 from PubMed Central. Dataset URL links mentioned in full-text articles were extracted, and each dataset was manually reviewed to provide information on 10 variables: (1) type of the dataset, (2) geographic region where the data were collected, (3) whether the dataset was immediately downloadable, (4) format of the dataset files, (5) where the dataset was hosted, (6) whether the dataset was updated regularly, (7) the type of license used, (8) whether the metadata were explicitly provided, (9) whether there was a PubMed Central paper describing the dataset and (10) the number of times the dataset was cited by PubMed Central articles. Descriptive statistics about these seven variables were reported for all extracted datasets. Results We found that 28.5% of 12 324 COVID-19 full-text articles in PubMed Central provided at least one dataset link. In total, 128 unique dataset links were mentioned in 12 324 COVID-19 full text articles in PubMed Central. Further analysis showed that epidemiological datasets accounted for the largest portion (53.9%) in the dataset collection, and most datasets (84.4%) were available for immediate download. GitHub was the most popular repository for hosting COVID-19 datasets. CSV, XLSX and JSON were the most popular data formats. Additionally, citation patterns of COVID-19 datasets varied depending on specific datasets. Conclusion PubMed Central articles are an important source of COVID-19 datasets, but there is significant heterogeneity in the way these datasets are mentioned, shared, updated and cited. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background COVID-19 has disproportionately affected older people. Objective The objective of this paper to investigate whether frailty is associated with all-cause mortality in older hospital inpatients, with COVID-19. Design Cohort study. Setting Secondary care acute hospital. Participants Participants included are 677 consecutive inpatients aged 65 years and over. Methods Cox proportional hazards models were used to examine the association of frailty with mortality. Frailty was assessed at baseline, according to the Clinical Frailty Scale (CFS), where higher categories indicate worse frailty. Analyses were adjusted for age, sex, deprivation, ethnicity, previous admissions and acute illness severity. Results Six hundred and sixty-four patients were classified according to CFS. Two hundred and seventy-one died, during a mean follow-up of 34.3 days. Worse frailty at baseline was associated with increased mortality risk, even after full adjustment (P  = 0.004). Patients with CFS 4 and CFS 5 had non-significant increased mortality risks, compared to those with CFS 1–3. Patients with CFS 6 had a 2.13-fold (95% CI 1.34–3.38) and those with CFS 7–9 had a 1.79-fold (95% CI 1.12–2.88) increased mortality risk, compared to those with CFS 1–3 (P  = 0.001 and 0.016, respectively). Older age, male sex and acute illness severity were also associated with increased mortality risk. Conclusions Frailty is associated with all-cause mortality risk in older inpatients with COVID-19. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background the negative consequences of COVID-19 distancing measures on older adults' mental health and ability to access services have been well documented. Online cognitive behavioural therapy and mindfulness interventions for older adults, carried out during the COVID-19 pandemic, have shown that these interventions are feasible and have potential mental health benefits. However, little research has been carried out on older adults' experiences of engaging with online psychological therapy, and specifically mindfulness therapy. Objectives to understand the experience of older adults engaging with online mindfulness therapy during the COVID-19 pandemic. Study design a qualitative analysis of four community-based focus groups. Participants thirty-six community dwelling older adults aged between 65 and 85 years were recruited via older adult organisations, charities and the local press. Nineteen percent had long-term physical health conditions, 25% had severe and enduring mental health difficulties and 19% had mild to moderate mental health difficulties. Results there was a strong sense of group cohesion and community from the participants. Three main themes were identified: reasons for applying, experience of the mindfulness therapy and connecting at home. Conclusions the majority of participants were positive about attending a mindfulness group online. This extended to the perceived psychological and social benefits as well as practical considerations. While some participants noted technological hurdles at the beginning of the course, the findings challenge previous studies that suggest older adults are reluctant to engage in online psychological therapies and has important implications for the future provision of psychological therapies to this population. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]