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Background: There is an increased attention to stroke following SARS-CoV-2. The goal of this study was to better depict the short-term risk of stroke and its associated factors among SARS-CoV-2 hospitalized patients., Methods: This multicentre, multinational observational study includes hospitalized SARS-CoV-2 patients from North and South America (United States, Canada, and Brazil), Europe (Greece, Italy, Finland, and Turkey), Asia (Lebanon, Iran, and India), and Oceania (New Zealand). The outcome was the risk of subsequent stroke. Centres were included by non-probability sampling. The counts and clinical characteristics including laboratory findings and imaging of the patients with and without a subsequent stroke were recorded according to a predefined protocol. Quality, risk of bias, and heterogeneity assessments were conducted according to ROBINS-E and Cochrane Q-test. The risk of subsequent stroke was estimated through meta-analyses with random effect models. Bivariate logistic regression was used to determine the parameters with predictive outcome value. The study was reported according to the STROBE, MOOSE, and EQUATOR guidelines., Findings: We received data from 26,175 hospitalized SARS-CoV-2 patients from 99 tertiary centres in 65 regions of 11 countries until May 1st, 2020. A total of 17,799 patients were included in meta-analyses. Among them, 156(0.9%) patients had a stroke-123(79%) ischaemic stroke, 27(17%) intracerebral/subarachnoid hemorrhage, and 6(4%) cerebral sinus thrombosis. Subsequent stroke risks calculated with meta-analyses, under low to moderate heterogeneity, were 0.5% among all centres in all countries, and 0.7% among countries with higher health expenditures. The need for mechanical ventilation (OR: 1.9, 95% CI:1.1-3.5, p = 0.03) and the presence of ischaemic heart disease (OR: 2.5, 95% CI:1.4-4.7, p = 0.006) were predictive of stroke., Interpretation: The results of this multi-national study on hospitalized patients with SARS-CoV-2 infection indicated an overall stroke risk of 0.5%(pooled risk: 0.9%). The need for mechanical ventilation and the history of ischaemic heart disease are the independent predictors of stroke among SARS-CoV-2 patients., Funding: None., (Copyright © 2020 The Authors. Published by Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.)

Background: Antibody testing is necessary to identify immune individuals in the post-initial wave of the COVID-19 pandemic., Patients and Methods: We prospectively evaluated the performance of a quantitative point-of-care test (POCT) for SARS-CoV-2 antibodies. The patient group (PG) comprised of hospitalized confirmed COVID-19 cases. Asymptomatic healthcare volunteers with negative rRT-PCR were included in the control group (CG). Measurement of IgM and IgG was obtained by dry fluorescence immunoassay., Results: Twenty-six PG (65.9±15.4 years old, male 57.7%) and 18 CG (45.6±10.1 years old, male 33.3%) were included. By manufacturer's cut-off (≥0.04 mIU/ml), sensitivity and specificity were 73.08% and 88.89% for IgM and 88.46% and 33.33% for IgG, respectively. Estimated areas under the ROC curve were 0.907 and 0.848 for IgM and IgG, respectively. Results were improved using a cut-off of IgM ≥0.05 mIU/ml and IgG ≥0.10 mIU/ml., Conclusion: Using stringent cut-off values, SARS-CoV-2 antibody POCT detects immune people and can be used during socioeconomic normalization of communities., (Copyright© 2020, International Institute of Anticancer Research (Dr. George J. Delinasios), All rights reserved.)

A subgroup of COVID-19 patients develop very severe disease with requirement for ICU treatment, ventilation, and ECMO therapy. Laboratory tests indicate that the immune and clotting system show marked alterations with hyper-activation, hyper-inflammation, cytokine storm development. Furthermore, organ-specific biomarkers demonstrate the involvement of cardiac muscle, kidney, and liver dysfunction in many patients. In this article the use of laboratory biomarkers is discussed with regard to their use for diagnosis, disease progression, and risk assessment., Competing Interests: Declaration of Competing Interest CS and HR received consultancy fees and research funding from Hycor Biomedical and Thermo Fisher Scientific, research funding from Mead Johnson Nutrition (MJN), and consultancy fees from Bencard Allergie., (Copyright © 2020. Published by Elsevier Ltd.)