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Although studies have investigated the factors associated with psychological post-COVID-19 symptoms, the impact of marital status on symptom development has not been fully determined. This study conducts a questionnaire survey to investigate the association between marital status and the proportion of patients with post-COVID-19 symptoms in 749 cases as valid responses. Depressive state and memory impairment were more frequently seen in the no-spouse group when each symptom was compared according to marital status. Particularly in individuals in the 40s who had minor COVID-19 illness, this trend was noted. Single patients with mild COVID-19 illness may need proactive psychological support., Competing Interests: Conflict of Interest The authors declare no conflict of interest., (Copyright © 2023 The Japanese Respiratory Society. Published by Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.)

Background: Re-expansion pulmonary edema is an uncommon complication following drainage of a pneumothorax or pleural effusion. While pneumothorax is noted to complicate COVID-19 patients, no case of COVID-19 developing re-expansion pulmonary edema has been reported., Case Representation: A man in his early 40 s without a smoking history and underlying pulmonary diseases suddenly complained of left chest pain with dyspnea 1 day after being diagnosed with COVID-19. Chest X-ray revealed pneumothorax in the left lung field, and a chest tube was inserted into the intrathoracic space without negative pressure 9 h after the onset of chest pain, resulting in the disappearance of respiratory symptoms; however, 2 h thereafter, dyspnea recurred with lower oxygenation status. Chest X-ray revealed improvement of collapse but extensive infiltration in the expanded lung. Therefore, the patient was diagnosed with re-expansion pulmonary edema, and his dyspnea and oxygenation status gradually improved without any intervention, such as steroid administration. Abnormal lung images also gradually improved within several days., Conclusions: This case highlights the rare presentation of re-expansion pulmonary edema following pneumothorax drainage in a patient with COVID-19, which recovered without requiring treatment for viral pneumonia. Differentiating re-expansion pulmonary edema from viral pneumonia is crucial to prevent unnecessary medication for COVID-19 pneumonia and pneumothorax., (© 2021. The Author(s).)

The impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on the incidence of community-acquired pneumonia in elderly people remains uncertain. We compared the number of elderly patients admitted to our hospital for community-acquired pneumonia from January to June 2020 to the numbers from the same period in each of the last three years. The number of patients began decreasing in February 2020, and by April 2020 the number was significantly lower than those from the same period in the three years prior. There is no evidence regarding the impact of general infection control measures, such as wearing a face mask or washing one's hands, on the development of community-acquired pneumonia, because causative bacteria are not believed to be transmitted from human to human. However, these measures might have indirectly contributed to a decreased number of cases through the prevention of common viral infections which could be a trigger of community-acquired pneumonia., Competing Interests: Conflict of Interest The authors declare no conflict of interest., (Copyright © 2020 The Japanese Respiratory Society. Published by Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.)