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Background: Over the past three years, the COVID-19 pandemic has brought an overwhelming impact on China's hospital system and health care workers, which can lead to post traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) symptoms. Previous research has shown that the COVID-19 pandemic had long-term adverse effects on the mental health of health care workers. Indeed, PTSD symptoms have emerged as one of the significant mental health issues for health care workers arising from the COVID-19 pandemic. Therefore, we conducted this cross-sectional survey to investigate the prevalence of PTSD symptoms in health care workers and its relationship with the fear of COVID-19 and the COVID-19 burden after the full liberalization of COVID-19 prevention and control policy in China. Methods: This study was conducted three years after the global COVID-19 pandemic (January 15 to January 16, 2023). This study was conducted via the Wenjuanxing platform and used the Chinese versions of the scales PC-PTSD-5, COVID-19 Anxiety Scale (FCV-19S), Social Support Scale, COVID-19 Stress Scale, GAD-2, and PHQ-2. Results: The prevalence of PTSD symptoms in health care workers was 24.3% (232/955). depression(P < 0.001), anxiety(P < 0.05), the fear of COVID-19(P < 0.001), and COVID-19 burden(P < 0.001) were highly correlated with PTSD symptoms in health care workers. Social support(P < 0.05) was a protective factor of PTSD symptoms. Conclusions: This survey shows that PTSD symptoms were highly prevalent among Chinese health care workers after the COVID-19 pandemic. Governments and leaders of medical institutions should, through psychological interventions, address the current situation of PTSD symptoms among health care workers and develop targeted programs and strategies to reduce their psychological problems. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Insomnia has become an important issue in recent years. Insomnia is affected by many factors. Previous research has shown that during the COVID-19 pandemic, there would be a long-term negative effect on the mental health of medical college students. The state of medical college students' insomnia directly determines the results of medical education and the career development prospects of the medical students themselves. Therefore, it is very important to understand the insomnia situation of medical students in the post-epidemic era. Methods: This study was conducted 2 years after the global COVID-19 pandemic (April 1-April 23, 2022). The study used an online questionnaire, administered through a web-based survey platform. The Athens Insomnia Scale (AIS), Fear of COVID‐19 Scale (FCV-19S), GAD-2, PHQ-2, and socio-demographic information were surveyed by the Questionnaire Star platform. Results: The prevalence of insomnia was 27.80% (636/2289). Grade(P < 0.05), age(P < 0.001), loneliness(P < 0.001), depression(P < 0.001), anxiety(P < 0.001), fear of COVID-19 was highly correlated with insomnia (P < 0.001). Adapting to online class(P < 0.001) was a protective factor of smartphone addiction. Conclusions: This survey shows that Insomnia was highly prevalent among the Chinese medical college students during the COVID-19 pandemic. Governments and schools should through psychological interventions to address the current situation of insomnia among medical students, and formulate targeted programs and strategies to reduce their psychological problems. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic brings great challenges to the public health and social economics around the world. As the pandemic continues and the mass vaccination goes on, monitoring the antibodies is particularly important for the epidemiological survey and vaccine assessment. Here, we developed a luciferase immunoprecipitation assay combined with an automated platform to detect anti-Receptor Binding Domain (RBD) antibody, where protein A and protein G modified magnetic beads were used to capture antibodies in serum samples and SARS-CoV-2 RBD was fused with Gaussia luciferase to label the captured target antibodies. The whole detection procedure can be completed within 20 min. The developed assay has proven up to 32 times more sensitive than ELISA for the detection of RBD antibodies. Furthermore, the results of the antibody detection of sera from vaccination as well as convalescence displayed good performance. The automated platform may provide a powerful tool for the control of COVID-19 pandemic by vaccination and the research of SARS-CoV-2 seroconversion. [Display omitted] • Fast and sensitive detection of SARS-CoV-2 antibodies. • Luciferase immunoprecipitation system combined with automatic platform. • Detecting RBD specific antibodies which can predict the viral neutralizing capability. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: In December 2019, a rare respiratory disease named coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) broke out, leading to great concern around the world. Purpose: To develop and validate a radiomics nomogram for predicting the fatal outcome of COVID-19 pneumonia. Material and Methods: The present study consisted of a training dataset (n = 66) and a validation dataset (n = 30) with COVID-19 from January 2020 to March 2020. A radiomics signature was generated using the least absolute shrinkage and selection operator (LASSO) Cox regression model. A radiomics score (Rad-score) was developed from the training cohort. The radiomics model, clinical model, and integrated model were built to assess the association between radiomics signature/clinical characteristics and the mortality of COVID-19 cases. The radiomics signature combined with the Rad-score and the independent clinical factors and radiomics nomogram were constructed. Results: Seven stable radiomics features associated with the mortality of COVID-19 were finally selected. A radiomics nomogram was based on a combined model consisting of the radiomics signature and the clinical risk factors indicating optimal predictive performance for the fatal outcome of patients with COVID-19 with a C-index of 0.912 (95% confidence interval [CI] 0.867–0.957) in the training dataset and 0.907 (95% CI 0.849–0.966) in the validation dataset. The calibration curves indicated optimal consistency between the prediction and the observation in both training and validation cohorts. Conclusion: The CT-based radiomics nomogram indicated favorable predictive efficacy for the overall survival risk of patients with COVID-19, which could help clinicians intensively follow up high-risk patients and make timely diagnoses. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: The COVID-19 pandemic has posed significant threats to both the physical and psychological health of healthcare workers working in the front-line combating COVID-19. However, studies regarding the medium to long term impact of COVID-19 on mental health among healthcare workers are limited. Therefore, we conducted this cross-sectional survey to investigate the prevalence, factors and impact of post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) in healthcare workers exposed to COVID-19 8 months after the end of the outbreak in Wuhan, China. Methods: A web-based questionnaire was delivered as a link via the communication application WeChat to those healthcare workers who worked at several COVID-19 units during the outbreak (from December 2019 to April 2020) in Wuhan, China. The questionnaire included questions on social-demographic data, the post-traumatic stress disorder checklist-5 (PCL-5), the family care index questionnaire (Adaptation, Partnership, Growth, Affection and Resolve, APGAR), and the quality-of-life scale (QOL). The prevalence, risk and protective factors, and impact of PTSD on healthcare workers were subsequently analyzed. Results: Among the 659 participants, 90 healthcare workers were still suffering from PTSD 8 months after the end of the outbreak of COVID-19 in Wuhan, in which avoidance and negative impact were the most affected dimensions. Suffering from chronic disease, experiencing social isolation, and job dissatisfaction came up as independent risk factors for PTSD, while obtaining COVID-19 related information at an appropriate frequency, good family function, and working in well-prepared mobile cabin hospitals served as protective factors. The impact of PTSD on COVID-19 exposed healthcare workers was apparent by shortened sleeping time, feeling of loneliness, poorer quality of life and intention to resign. Conclusions: Eight months after the end of the COVID-19 outbreak in Wuhan, the level of PTSD in healthcare workers exposed to COVID-19 was still high. Apart from the commonly recognized risk factors, comorbid chronic disease was identified as a new independent risk factor for developing PTSD. For countries where the pandemic is still ongoing or in case of future outbreaks of new communicable diseases, this study may contribute to preventing cases of PTSD in healthcare workers exposed to infectious diseases under such circumstances. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Aims and Objectives: To investigate the present status of anxiety among nurses fighting the spread of COVID‐19 and its association with perceived stress and insomnia. Background: With the outbreak of COVID‐19, nurses have been caring for infected patients for a considerable length of time in Wuhan, China. Previous COVID‐19 studies generally focused on patients' medical treatment, but few considered healthcare workers' psychological needs while working with a pandemic involving an unfamiliar infectious disease. Numerous nurses have experienced mental health problems, such as anxiety. Design: The STROBE guidelines for a cross‐sectional questionnaire were implemented. Methods: An online survey of 643 frontline nurses working with COVID‐19‐infected patients was conducted from 3–10 March 2020. Sociodemographic data were collected, and the Generalized Anxiety Disorder Scale, the Chinese Perceived Stress Scale and the Athens Insomnia Scale were administered. Results: One‐third (33.4%) of participants reported anxiety, which was associated with perceived stress and insomnia among Chinese frontline nurses in Wuhan during the COVID‐19 pandemic. Significant associations were found between anxiety, perceived stress, insomnia, working four‐night shifts per week, experience working during more than two epidemics and fear of COVID‐19. Conclusions: This study found that a substantial proportion of frontline nurses caring for COVID‐19‐infected patients experienced anxiety. We recommend that nurse managers focus on working conditions and cultivate safe and satisfactory work environments. Meanwhile, frontline nurses should foster awareness of mental health and rely on online resources for psychological training to alleviate anxiety. Relevance to clinical practice: The findings of this study could facilitate better understanding of anxiety among frontline nurses; more importantly, healthcare authorities and nursing managers need to pay more attention to ensuring intervention training to reduce anxiety for frontline nurses worldwide. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]