Recovery of functional fitness, lung function, and immune function in healthcare workers with nonsevere and severe COVID-19 at 13 months after discharge from the hospital: a prospective cohort study.

OBJECTIVES: This study aimed to evaluate the recovery of functional fitness, lung function, and immune function in healthcare workers (HCWs) with nonsevere and severe COVID-19 at 13 months after discharge from the hospital. METHODS: The participants of "Rehabilitation Care Project for Medical Staff Infected with COVID-19" underwent a functional fitness test (muscle strength, flexibility, and agility/dynamic balance), lung function test, and immune function test (including cytokines and lymphocyte subsets) at 13 months after discharge. RESULTS: The project included 779 HCWs (316 nonsevere COVID-19 and 463 severe COVID-19). This study found that 29.1% (130/446) of the HCWs have not yet recovered their functional fitness. The most affected lung function indicator was lung perfusion capacity (34% with diffusion capacity for carbon monoxide-single breath <80%). The increase of interleukin-6 (64/534, 12.0%) and natural killer cells (44/534, 8.2%) and the decrease of CD3+ T cells (58/534, 10.9%) and CD4+ T cells (26/534, 4.9%) still existed at 13 months after discharge. No significant difference was found in the HCWs with nonsevere and severe COVID-19 regarding recovery of functional fitness, lung function, and immune function at 13 months after discharge. CONCLUSION: The majority of Chinese HCWs with COVID-19 had recovered their functional fitness, lung function, and immune function, and the recovery status in HCWs with severe COVID-19 is no worse than that in HCWs with nonsevere COVID-19 at 13 months after discharge from the hospital.

Dynamic changes of functional fitness, antibodies to SARS-CoV-2 and immunological indicators within 1 year after discharge in Chinese health care workers with severe COVID-19: a cohort study.

BACKGROUND: Few studies had described the health consequences of patients with coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) especially in those with severe infections after discharge from hospital. Moreover, no research had reported the health consequences in health care workers (HCWs) with COVID-19 after discharge. We aimed to investigate the health consequences in HCWs with severe COVID-19 after discharge from hospital in Hubei Province, China. METHODS: We conducted an ambidirectional cohort study in "Rehabilitation Care Project for Medical Staff Infected with COVID-19" in China. The participants were asked to complete three physical examinations (including the tests of functional fitness, antibodies to SARS-CoV-2 and immunological indicators) at 153.4 (143.3, 164.8), 244.3 (232.4, 259.1), and 329.4 (319.4, 339.3) days after discharge, respectively. Mann-Whitney U test, Kruskal-Wallis test, t test, one-way ANOVA, χ2, and Fisher's exact test were used to assess the variance between two or more groups where appropriate. RESULTS: Of 333 HCWs with severe COVID-19, the HCWs' median age was 36.0 (31.0, 43.0) years, 257 (77%) were female, and 191 (57%) were nurses. Our research found that 70.4% (114/162), 48.9% (67/137), and 29.6% (37/125) of the HCWs with severe COVID-19 were considered to have not recovered their functional fitness in the first, second, and third functional fitness tests, respectively. The HCWs showed improvement in muscle strength, flexibility, and agility/dynamic balance after discharge in follow-up visits. The seropositivity of IgM (17.0% vs. 6.6%) and median titres of IgM (3.0 vs. 1.4) and IgG (60.3 vs. 45.3) in the third physical examination was higher than that in the first physical examination. In the third physical examination, there still were 42.1% and 45.9% of the HCWs had elevated levels of IL-6 and TNF-α, and 11.9% and 6.3% of the HCWs had decreased relative numbers of CD3+ T cells and CD4+ T cells. CONCLUSION: The HCWs with severe COVID-19 showed improvement in functional fitness within 1 year after discharge, active intervention should be applied to help their recovery if necessary. It is of vital significance to continue monitoring the functional fitness, antibodies to SARS-CoV-2 and immunological indicators after 1 year of discharge from hospital in HCWs with severe COVID-19.

Co-infections of HPV16/18 with other high-risk HPV types and the risk of cervical carcinogenesis: A large population-based study.

OBJECTIVE: Human papillomavirus (HPV) 16/18 genotyping is an effective method for triage of high-risk (hr) HPV-positive women in primary hrHPV screening for cervical cancer. The present study aimed to evaluate whether co-infected with other hrHPV types will affect the risk of cervical carcinogenesis in HPV16/18 positive women. METHODS: A total of 313,704 women aged ≥30 years were screened in China. Among them, 4,933 HPV16/18-positive participants underwent colposcopy-directed biopsy. The HPV genotypes were identified using the Cobas HPV genotyping system. Multinomial logistic regression was used to model different HPV16/18 infection patterns. RESULTS: The overall prevalence rates of hrHPV and HPV16/18 were 7.85% (24,456/311,382) and 1.95% (6,086/311,382) respectively. Among HPV16/18 positive individuals, 33.24% (2,023/6,086) were co-infection with multiple types. Of the 4933 women who underwent colposcopy, their HPV16/18 infection patterns were as follows: 52.38% (2,584/4,933) HVP16 only, 23.54% (1,161/4,933) HPV16 + other hrHPVs, 14.98% (739/4,933) HPV18 only, 6.83% (337/4,933) HPV18 + other hrHPVs, 1.13% (56/4,933) HPV16 + 18, 1.13% (56/4,933) HPV16 + 18+other hrHPVs. After adjusting for cofactors, compared with single HPV16 infection, the risk of developing cervical intraepithelial neoplasia (CIN) grade 3 or greater (CIN3+) was significantly lower in HPV16 + other hrHPVs group (odds ratio [OR] = 0.637, 95% confidence interval [CI] = 0.493-0.822). CONCLUSION: HPV16/18 co-infection with other hrHPVs is a common phenomenon. Different HPV16/18 infection patterns may influence the risk of cervical carcinogenesis. HPV16 co-infected with other hrHPVs appears to have a lower associated risk of CIN3+ in ≥30 years old women.