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Introduction: Many COVID-19 survivors suffer from persisting sequelae after acute disease. This is referred to as long COVID. The objectives of this study were to assess factors associated with long COVID and to analyze differences in persistent symptoms, findings on chest imaging, and pulmonary function between intensive care unit (ICU) and non-ICU hospitalized patients. Methods: We conducted a retrospective study including patients hospitalized with COVID-19. Patients were stratified into ICU patients and non-ICU patients. We analyzed the outcomes of patients who were in clinical follow-up 6 months after discharge with persistent symptoms, radiological and/or functional abnormalities. Logistic regression was used to examine the association between long COVID and patient characteristics. Results: A total of 549 patients were included. Eighty-one ICU patients (66%) and 146 (34%) non-ICU patients had persistent symptoms or abnormalities on chest imaging or lung function test minimally 6 months after discharge. Significantly more ICU patients had residual fibrotic abnormalities on chest CT and functional impairment. Female gender, myocardial infarction, OSAS, low PCO2 at admission, and longer hospital stay were associated with a higher risk of developing long COVID. Diabetes and treatment with tocilizumab were associated with a lower risk of developing long COVID. Conclusion: Of the patients hospitalized for COVID-19, 34–66% suffered from persistent symptoms, residual abnormalities on chest imaging, or reduced lung function at around 6 months after discharge. While persistent sequelae were more frequent in ICU patients, admission to the ICU was not found to be an independent risk factor for developing long COVID. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Along with improving patients' safety and reducing medical errors, one of the main challenges in medicine is implementing new strategies that have the potential to improve health outcomes. After the [...]

Six awake dogs with saline infusion, sufentanil infusion, endotoxin administration and endotoxin administration during sufentanil infusion were used to investigate the role of exogenous opiates to modulate the inflammatory, endocrine and metabolic reactions to endotoxins. Results showed that sufentanil was able to dissociate the tumor necrosis factor (TNF) and interleukin-6 (IL-6) responses to endotoxin by inhibiting TNF and stimulating IL-6 responses. Moreover, sufentanil also increased the plasma levels of all measured glucoregulatory hormones.

Background: In hospitalized patients with COVID-19, the dosing and timing of corticosteroids vary widely. Low-dose dexamethasone therapy reduces mortality in patients requiring respiratory support, but it remains unclear how to treat patients when this therapy fails. In critically ill patients, high-dose corticosteroids are often administered as salvage late in the disease course, whereas earlier administration may be more beneficial in preventing disease progression. Previous research has revealed that increased levels of various biomarkers are associated with mortality, and whole blood transcriptome sequencing has the ability to identify host factors predisposing to critical illness in patients with COVID-19., Objective: Our goal is to determine the most optimal dosing and timing of corticosteroid therapy and to provide a basis for personalized corticosteroid treatment regimens to reduce morbidity and mortality in hospitalized patients with COVID-19., Methods: This is a retrospective, observational, multicenter study that includes adult patients who were hospitalized due to COVID-19 in the Netherlands. We will use the differences in therapeutic strategies between hospitals (per protocol high-dose corticosteroids or not) over time to determine whether high-dose corticosteroids have an effect on the following outcome measures: mechanical ventilation or high-flow nasal cannula therapy, in-hospital mortality, and 28-day survival. We will also explore biomarker profiles in serum and bronchoalveolar lavage fluid and use whole blood transcriptome analysis to determine factors that influence the relationship between high-dose corticosteroids and outcome. Existing databases that contain routinely collected electronic data during ward and intensive care admissions, as well as existing biobanks, will be used. We will apply longitudinal modeling appropriate for each data structure to answer the research questions at hand., Results: As of April 2023, data have been collected for a total of 1500 patients, with data collection anticipated to be completed by December 2023. We expect the first results to be available in early 2024., Conclusions: This study protocol presents a strategy to investigate the effect of high-dose corticosteroids throughout the entire clinical course of hospitalized patients with COVID-19, from hospital admission to the ward or intensive care unit until hospital discharge. Moreover, our exploration of biomarker and gene expression profiles for targeted corticosteroid therapy represents a first step towards personalized COVID-19 corticosteroid treatment., Trial Registration: ClinicalTrials.gov NCT05403359; https://clinicaltrials.gov/ct2/show/NCT05403359., International Registered Report Identifier (irrid): DERR1-10.2196/48183., (©Katrijn Daenen, Jilske A Huijben, Anders Boyd, Lieuwe D J Bos, Sara C M Stoof, Hugo van Willigen, Diederik A M P J Gommers, Hazra S Moeniralam, Corstiaan A den Uil, Nicole P Juffermans, Merijn Kant, Abraham J Valkenburg, Janesh Pillay, David M P van Meenen, Frederique Paulus, Marcus J Schultz, Virgil A S H Dalm, Eric C M van Gorp, Janke Schinkel, Henrik Endeman, PRoVENT- and PRoAcT-COVID Collaborative Group. Originally published in JMIR Research Protocols (https://www.researchprotocols.org), 02.06.2023.)

Purpose: Inhibition of dipeptidyl peptidase (DPP-)4 could reduce coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) severity by reducing inflammation and enhancing tissue repair beyond glucose lowering. We aimed to assess this in a prospective cohort study., Methods: We studied in 565 patients with type 2 diabetes in the CovidPredict Clinical Course Cohort whether use of a DPP-4 inhibitor prior to hospital admission due to COVID-19 was associated with improved clinical outcomes. Using crude analyses and propensity score matching (on age, sex and BMI), 28 patients using a DPP-4 inhibitor were identified and compared to non-users., Results: No differences were found in the primary outcome mortality (matched-analysis = odds-ratio: 0,94 [95% confidence interval: 0,69 - 1,28], p -value: 0,689) or any of the secondary outcomes (ICU admission, invasive ventilation, thrombotic events or infectious complications). Additional analyses comparing users of DPP-4 inhibitors with subgroups of non-users (subgroup 1: users of metformin and sulphonylurea; subgroup 2: users of any insulin combination), allowing to correct for diabetes severity, did not yield different results., Conclusions: We conclude that outpatient use of a DPP-4 inhibitor does not affect the clinical outcomes of patients with type 2 diabetes who are hospitalized because of COVID-19 infection., Competing Interests: Competing interestsThe authors have nothing to disclose., (© The Author(s) 2021.)