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Background: Little is known about postdischarge healthcare resource use (HCU) among patients hospitalized for coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19). The objective was to identify distinct profiles of patients based on postdischarge cares. Methods: This was a retrospective cohort study using the French National Health System claims database. We followed up all patients hospitalized for COVID-19 between 2020/02/01 and 2020/06/30 for 6 months; the discharge date was the index date. We excluded patients who died during the index stay or within 30 days after discharge. We described patients’ HCU over 5 months from day 31 after the index date to the end of follow-up, i.e., the post-COVID-19 period. We described the sociodemographic and clinical characteristics of the participants and 44 selected types of HCU, including medical and emergency room visits, medications, medical and biological tests, oxygen therapy, rehabilitation, rehospitalization, nurse visits, and sick leave. We performed Ward’s ascendant hierarchical clustering (AHC) analysis to identify groups of patients with similar post-COVID-19 HCU and described HCU and clinical characteristics by cluster. Results: The study population included 68,822 patients (median age: 64.8 years, 47% women). Eight clusters of patients were identified, each comprising between 1,163 and 35,501 patients. Four clusters were characterized by older patients and high proportions of comorbidities, i.e. cancer (cluster 3), mental disorders (cluster 4), cardiac insufficiency (cluster 5) and respiratory failure (cluster 6). Cluster 8 was characterized by younger patients, often obese and with low mortality. Another cluster was characterized by complex index stays (cluster 7) and a last cluster (cluster 2) by specific medical contacts and therapy. The main cluster (cluster 1, n = 35,501) was similar to the overall study population. The duration and complexity of the index stay also varied across clusters. Conclusions: Based on HCU data, AHC identified 8 clinically relevant profiles of patients surviving the acute episode of COVID-19 hospitalization. The clusters illustrate the many impacts of COVID on the health status of infected patients and may help anticipate future needs of care in a similar context. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Deregulation of micro-RNAs (miRNAs) may contribute to mechanisms of injury in the bicuspid aortic valve (BAV). Our objective was to investigate the expression of miRNAs in aortic tissue from patients who underwent aortic valve replacement for aortic stenosis and its relationship with aortic dilatation. The study included 78 patients, 40 with bicuspid aortic valve (BAV) and 38 with tricuspid aortic valve (TAV). The expression of miRNA-17-5p, hsa-let-7e, and miRNA-196a-5p in human aortic tissue was evaluated by a reverse transcriptase polymerase chain reaction (RT-qPCR). Comparative analysis between patients with BAV and controls with TAV explored the association between the miRNAs and aortic dilatation (AD), calcification, valve dysfunction, and stenosis. The results showed that the expression levels of miRNA-Let-7e-5p and miRNA-196-5p were mostly increased in patients with BAV and aortic dilatation (p = 0.01 and p = 0.01), respectively. In contrast, the levels of miRNA-17a-5p (p < 0.20) were lower but without a statistically significant difference. The downregulation of miRNA-17a-5p and the upregulation of miR-Let-7e-5p and miR-196-5p were related to an increased risk of AD risk. Subjects with BAVs with or without double aortic lesions had higher expression levels of Let-7e-5p and miRNA-17a-5p vs. TAV. In all patients, we found an inverse correlation of MiRNA-196-5p with High-Density Lipoprotein-Cholesterol (HDL-C) and indexed valvular area. In subjects with a higher expression of miRNA196, lower levels of HDL-C correlation (r2) [r2 0.27 (p = 0.02)] and a lower indexed valvular area [r2 0.28 (p = 0.05)] were observed. In the specific analysis for each patient group, it was found that in control subjects with tricuspid aortic valve (TAV), miRNA-196-5p had a positive correlation with valvular calcification (r2 = 0.60, p = 0.02). Deregulation of miRNAs in the aortic tissue of a BAV may influence valvular stenosis, dysfunction, and concomitant aortic dilation. This information could help to define potential therapeutic target strategies to improve the prognosis and treatment of BAV. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]