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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]

The epidemiologic and clinical characteristics of heart transplant (HTx) recipients during the severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) epidemic remains unclear. We studied the characteristics of HTx recipients from December 20, 2019, to February 25, 2020, in an effort to understand their risk and outcomes. All accessible HTx recipients were included in this single-center retrospective study. We collected information on the recipients using a web-based questionnaire as well as the hospital database. We followed 87 HTx recipients (72.4% were men, and the average age was 51 years). A total of 79 recipients resided in Hubei, and 57 recipients had a Wuhan-related history of travel or contact. Most took precautionary measures while in contact with suspicious crowds, and 96.6% of the families and communities undertook prevention and quarantine procedures. Four upper airway infections were reported, and 3 of them tested negative for SARS-CoV-2 (the fourth recovered and was not tested). All cases were mild and successfully recovered after proper treatment. Laboratory results of 47 HTx cases within the last 2 months were extracted. Of these, 21.3% of recipients had pre-existing lymphopenia, and 87.2% of recipients had a therapeutic concentration of tacrolimus (5–12 ng/ml). Liver and kidney insufficiency was seen in 5 and 6 recipients, respectively. HTx recipients who practiced appropriate prevention measures had a low rate of infection with SARS-CoV-2 and transition to the associated disease COVID-19. These early data will require confirmation as the pandemic establishes around the world. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]