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COVID-19 still looms as the largest risk to the agriculture, energy, and health sectors, threatening sustainable global economic development. The literature shows that the COVID-19 pandemic can divert governments' attention away from climate change, renewable energy, and food security challenges that are necessary to address for sustainable economic growth. The COVID-19 pandemic has consistently influenced environmental behaviors, as it has primarily decreased income levels and disrupted food systems worldwide. This study examined the impacts of COVID-19 on food consumption patterns, food diversity, and income challenges and explored the factors affecting food consumption patterns during the pandemic. The data collected through an online survey from 1537 Chinese households were analyzed through a paired t-test, a mixed-design ANOVA, and a logistic regression analysis. The results revealed that the consumption of the majority of individual food commodities decreased during the COVID-19 pandemic. Among the individual food items, the consumption of pork witnessed the greatest decrease during the COVID-19 pandemic compared to the normal period. The decrease in food diversity was higher for the households whose income was affected compared to the households whose income was not affected during the COVID-19 pandemic. Furthermore, the consumption quantities of various food groups declined more for highly income-affected households than for medium and slightly affected households during the pandemic. Households that adopted a dissaving income-stabilizing strategy were 47% points more likely to maintain their food consumption patterns during the pandemic. Farmers were 17% points and 19% points less likely to suffer worsened food consumption compared to self-employed and wage workers, respectively, during the pandemic. Thus, self-production methods such as kitchen gardening can assist households to maintain and improve their consumption of food commodities during the COVID-19 pandemic. © 2022 by the authors.
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Objectives: The objective of this study was to investigate derangement of liver enzymes in COVID-19 patients. The prevalence of deranged hepatic enzymes with COVID-19 infection, its association with other co-morbidities and any changes in its prognosis were investigated. Methodology: This study was conducted in Mayo hospital from 1st June 2021 till 31st September 2021. A number of 224 patients were included in this study. Both male and female patients of varying age groups were included in the study. Laboratory tests were conducted to collect data related to liver enzyme values of each patient. Liver function test (LFT) was performed twice, first on day 1 and then on day 7 to observe any further changes in liver enzymes values in COVID-19 patients. The LFTs of the patients told us Bilirubin, Alanine aminotransferase (ALT), Alkaline Phosphatase (ALP), C-reactive protein (CRP), Ferritin and D-dimer levels in the body. The data were analyzed by SPSS analysis. The t-test used was for the comparison of standard features in both groups. The P value less than 0.05 was regarded significant. Data about co-morbidities, autoimmune disease and its treatment, and outcome was also collected. Gender, autoimmune disease and COVID-19 PCR data was analyzed using descriptive analysis. Prevalence of deranged liver enzymes in COVID-19 patients was analyzed using paired sample test. Association with co-morbidities and prognosis was also analyzed by frequency analysis. Result(s): Sample consists of 224 individuals among them the ratio of male and female was 50:50 with age ranging 17-90 years. There were 220 COVID-19 PCR positive patients, 1 negative and 3 suspected patients with about 89.7 per cent patients having no autoimmune disease. The results showed that bilirubin, ALT and D-dimer show significant derangement in COVID-19 patients while ALP, CRP and Ferritin did not. The patients with both diabetes mellitus and hypertension showed the highest percentage of association with the value being 25 percent. Other co-morbidities like asthma, chronic liver disease and hepatitis C among many other also showed association with corona virus disease. And the results of prognosis showed that 33 percent, of the patients were shifted to the ICU. 18.8 percent of the patients were admitted in the hospital. 20.5 percent of the patients died. 18.8 percent were discharged and 6.3 percent shifted to the HDU. Conclusion(s): As the results show liver enzyme ALT, D-dimer and bilirubin show significant derangement in COVID-19 patients. This concludes that some, but not all, of the liver enzyme derangement is prevalent in COVID-19 patients. The patients with both diabetes mellitus and hypertension showed highest association with COVID-19. The patients being shifted to the ICU was the highest prognosis of disease. Other than that a large number of patients died, some were admitted to the hospital due to worsening condition, some discharged and others shifted to the HDU. Copyright © 2022 Lahore Medical And Dental College. All rights reserved.
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Purpose Covid-19 is a serious threat to the dietary quality of vulnerable communities in developing countries with limited economic resources. This study explored the implications of COVID-19 on daily dietary behavior and food consumption patterns of perishable and nonperishable food commodities based on the gender of household headship in Pakistan. Design/methodology/approach The data was collected through an online survey using the snowball sampling technique. A mixed design ANOVA, an independent t-test and a multivariate probit model were used to look at the data from 417 female-headed households and 1,131 male-headed households that were surveyed in the study. Findings Female-headed households experienced a greater decrease in their daily intake of perishable and nonperishable food commodities compared to male-headed households during COVID-19. The decrease in consumption of perishable food commodities was greater than the decrease in nonperishable food commodities for both female-headed and male-headed households. Female-headed households witnessed the largest decrease in daily intake of animal-derived foods, while male-headed households observed the highest diminution in consumption of fruits. Female-headed households and male-headed households reduced their consumption of perishable food commodities by more than one-third and one-fifth, respectively. Households with lower socioeconomic status reported higher reductions in their daily intakes of food commodities compared to households with higher socioeconomic status. Research limitations/implications The cross-sectional nature of the collected data does not allow the development of a causal relationship between COVID-19 implications and food consumption changes in daily dietary patterns. Originality/value Dietary and consumption patterns of populations are changing worldwide due to COVID-19. There is no study to assist policymakers in determining how COVID-19 is affecting the daily food consumption patterns of perishable and non-perishable food commodities of households based on gender in the developing world.
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Background: Canadian provinces initiated states of emergency (SoE) between March 13 and March 23 2020 due to community transmission of COVID-19 We explore changes in self-reported quality of life (QoL) in patients with PBC early-on during SoE Methods: Patients with PBC from the Canadian Network for Autoimmune Liver disease who completed QoL questionnaires between July 2019 and June 2020 are included Questionnaires include the Short-Form 36 (SF-36), PBC-40, and Itch Numeric Rating Scale (iNRS) Measurements during SoE are after March 17 2020, date of SoE initiation in Ontario Measurements before Feb 1 2020 are pre-SoE Measurements between Feb 1 and March 16 2020 are excluded given growing societal concern during this time, but no formal SoE Analyses include mixed effects regressions of QoL scores with SoE as a binary variable Models are adjusted for duration of disease and age at diagnosis and employ random intercepts at clinic and patient level Results: 312 patients were included from Toronto (64%, n=198), Montreal (14%, n=43), Edmonton (7 7%, n=24), Ottawa (5 8%, n=18), Saskatoon (5 4%, n=17), and Kingston (3 8%, n=12) The majority of patients were female (93%, n=291), Caucasian (82%, n=256), and born in Canada (78%, n=242) Mean age was 58 6 years (SD 10 8), mean age at diagnosis was 49 3 years (SD 11 0), mean duration of disease was 9 0 years (SD 7 2), and 6 4% (n=20) had overlap with autoimmune hepatitis Patients had a mean of 1 3 (SD 0 5) repeated measures (maximum 3) 219 patients had measures pre-SoE and 128 had measurements during SoE Estimated mean SF-36 physical component scores were similar before and during the first 3 months of SoE (41.9 vs 40.7, p=0.16), as were SF-36 mental component scores (43 3 vs 43 5, p=0 91) When compared to average Canadian population SF-36 scores, patients with PBC had significantly worse scores before and during SoE (p<0 001 all comparisons) PBC-40 domain scores remained stable, with estimated mean values before and during SoE as follows: Symptoms 13 8 vs 14 2 (p=0 32), Fatigue 24 9 vs 25 0 (p=0 81), Cognitive 10 8 vs 11 1 (p=0 47), Socio-Emotional 25 4 vs 26 2 (p=0 20), Itch 4 7 vs 4.9 (p=0.44). There was a small but statistically significant increase in estimated mean iNRS score, from 2 4 pre-SoE to 3.3 during the first 3 months of SoE (p<0.001). Conclusion: Quality of life scores remained largely stable during the first three months of Canada's SoE SF-36 scores in patients with PBC were significantly worse than Canada's general population Analyses should be updated as Canada's SoE continues.