Clinical characteristics and outcomes of COVID-19 patients with preexisting dementia: a large multicenter propensity-matched Brazilian cohort study.

BACKGROUND: Although dementia has emerged as an important risk factor for severe SARS-CoV-2 infection, results on COVID-19-related complications and mortality are not consistent. We examined the clinical presentations and outcomes of COVID-19 in a multicentre cohort of in-hospital patients, comparing those with and without dementia. METHODS: This retrospective observational study comprises COVID-19 laboratory-confirmed patients aged ≥ 60 years admitted to 38 hospitals from 19 cities in Brazil. Data were obtained from electronic hospital records. A propensity score analysis was used to match patients with and without dementia (up to 3:1) according to age, sex, comorbidities, year, and hospital of admission. Our primary outcome was in-hospital mortality. We also assessed admission to the intensive care unit (ICU), invasive mechanical ventilation (IMV), kidney replacement therapy (KRT), sepsis, nosocomial infection, and thromboembolic events. RESULTS: Among 1,556 patients included in the study, 405 (4.5%) had a diagnosis of dementia and 1,151 were matched controls. When compared to matched controls, patients with dementia had a lower frequency of dyspnoea, cough, myalgia, headache, ageusia, and anosmia; and higher frequency of fever and delirium. They also had a lower frequency of ICU admission (32.7% vs. 47.1%, p < 0.001) and shorter ICU length of stay (7 vs. 9 days, p < 0.026), and a lower frequency of sepsis (17% vs. 24%, p = 0.005), KRT (6.4% vs. 13%, p < 0.001), and IVM (4.6% vs. 9.8%, p = 0.002). There were no differences in hospital mortality between groups. CONCLUSION: Clinical manifestations of COVID-19 differ between older inpatients with and without dementia. We observed that dementia alone could not explain the higher short-term mortality following severe COVID-19. Therefore, clinicians should consider other risk factors such as acute morbidity severity and baseline frailty when evaluating the prognosis of older adults with dementia hospitalised with COVID-19.

Development and content validation of a course in mental health nursing care.

OBJECTIVE: To develop and validate the content of a professional training course in mental health nursing care for hospitalized adult medical-surgical patients. METHOD: Content validation research, with the participation of eight experts recruited in 2019, focused on a hospital institution in the southern region of Brazil. Data were collected online and treated by descriptive and analytical statistics. RESULTS: Four items of the course were evaluated, obtaining a Content Validation Index (CVI) of 0.98 in the item "concepts in mental health and its applicability to hospitalized medical-surgical patients"; 0.93 in the item "Pre- and post-course on evaluation of knowledge in mental health"; 0.95 in the item "Global overview of the systematization of nursing care in mental health"; and 0.94 in the item "Flowchart of the new mental health tree". CONCLUSION: The validation of the professional training course showed satisfactory CVI, and its content validated for use.

Development and content validation of a course in mental health nursing care / Elaboración y validación de contenido de un curso de enfermería en salud mental / Elaboração e validação de conteúdo de um curso na atenção de enfermagem em saúde mental

ABSTRACT Objective To develop and validate the content of a professional training course in mental health nursing care for hospitalized adult medical-surgical patients. Method Content validation research, with the participation of eight experts recruited in 2019, focused on a hospital institution in the southern region of Brazil. Data were collected online and treated by descriptive and analytical statistics. Results Four items of the course were evaluated, obtaining a Content Validation Index (CVI) of 0.98 in the item "concepts in mental health and its applicability to hospitalized medical-surgical patients"; 0.93 in the item "Pre- and post-course on evaluation of knowledge in mental health"; 0.95 in the item "Global overview of the systematization of nursing care in mental health"; and 0.94 in the item "Flowchart of the new mental health tree". Conclusion: The validation of the professional training course showed satisfactory CVI, and its content validated for use.

RESUMEN Objetivo: Desarrollar y validar el contenido de un curso de formación profesional en atención de enfermería en salud mental para pacientes adultos clínico-quirúrgicos hospitalizados. Método: Encuesta de validación de contenido, con la participación de ocho especialistas reclutados en 2019, con una institución hospitalaria en el sur de Brasil como escenario. Los datos se recopilaron en línea y se trataron mediante estadísticas descriptivas y analíticas. Resultados: Se evaluaron cuatro ítems del curso, obteniendo una concordancia de 0.98 en el ítem "conceptos en salud mental y su aplicabilidad a pacientes clínico-quirúrgicos hospitalizados"; 0,93 en el ítem "Pre y post curso de evaluación de conocimientos en salud mental"; 0,95 en el ítem "Panorama global de la sistematización de la atención de enfermería en salud mental"; y 0,94 en el ítem "Diagrama de flujo del nuevo árbol de salud mental". Conclusión: La validación del curso de formación profesional mostró concordancia de contenido satisfactoria y su contenido validado para uso.

RESUMO Objetivo: Elaborar e validar o conteúdo de um curso de formação profissional na atenção de enfermagem em saúde mental a pacientes adultos clínico-cirúrgicos hospitalizados. Método: Pesquisa de validação de conteúdo, com a participação de oito especialistas recrutados no ano de 2019, tendo como focouma instituição hospitalar da Região Sul do Brasil. Os dados foram coletados online e tratados pela estatística descritiva e analítica. Resultados: Foram avaliados quatro itens do curso, obtendo-se o Índice de Validação de Conteúdo (IVC) de 0,98 no item "conceitos em saúde mental e sua aplicabilidade para pacientes clínico-cirúrgicos hospitalizados"; 0,93 no item "Pré e pós-curso de avaliação de conhecimentos em saúde mental"; 0,95 no item "Panorama mundial da sistematização da assistência de enfermagemem saúde mental"; e 0,94 no item "Fluxograma da nova árvore de saúde mental". Conclusão: A validação do curso de formação profissional apresentou IVC satisfatório, sendo seu conteúdo validado para uso.

Factors associated with mortality in critically ill patients with COVID-19 / Fatores associados à mortalidade em pacientes críticos com COVID-19 / Factores asociados a la mortalidad en pacientes críticos con COVID-19

Background and objectives: COVID-19 is a life-threatening disease. Recognizing the main characteristics of the disease and its main complications will help future interventions, care, and management of health services since territorial and population diversities directly influence health outcomes. Our main objective is to describe the clinical characteristics, outcomes, and factors associated with mortality of patients with COVID-19 admitted to the intensive care unit of a public and tertiary hospital. Methods: Cohort study, conducted from March 1 to September 30, 2020. Poisson regression was performed to investigate the variables of hospital treatment as potential risk factors for in-hospital mortality. Results: Of the 283 eligible patients in this study, the hospital mortality rate was of 41.7% (n=118). The most common outcomes were acute respiratory distress syndrome, nosocomial infection, and septic shock. Factors independently associated with increased risk of death were age greater than 51 years old (RR=1.7, 95%CI=1.0-2.8), especially over 70 years old (RR=2.9, 95%CI=1.7-2.8), current smoker (RR=1.8, 95%CI=1.1-2.9), requiring the use of inotrope (RR=1.4, 95%CI=1.0-2.0), and presenting potassium greater than 5.0 mEq/l on admission (RR=1.3, 95%CI=1.0-1.7). Conclusion: Mortality was associated with older age, being a current smoker, inotrope use, and presenting potassium greater than 5.0 on hospital admission.(AU)

Justificativa e objetivos: A COVID-19 é uma doença ameaçadora à vida. Reconhecer as características da doença e suas principais complicações nesta população auxiliará em futuras intervenções, cuidados e gestão dos serviços de saúde, uma vez que a diversidade territorial e populacional influencia diretamente nos resultados de saúde. O objetivo principal do presente estudo é descrever as características clínicas, desfechos e fatores associados à mortalidade de pacientes com COVID-19 internados na unidade de terapia intensiva de um hospital público e terciário. Métodos: Estudo de coorte, realizado de 1º de março a 30 de setembro de 2020. Foi realizada regressão de Poisson para investigar variáveis de apresentação hospitalar como potenciais fatores de risco para mortalidade intra-hospitalar. Resultados: Dos 283 pacientes elegíveis neste estudo, o dado de mortalidade hospitalar foi de 41,7% (n=118). Os desfechos mais comuns foram síndrome do desconforto respiratório agudo, infecção hospitalar e choque séptico. Os fatores independentemente associados ao aumento do risco de morte foram idade superior a 51 anos (RR=1,7, IC 95%=1,0-2,8), principalmente acima de 70 anos (RR=2,9, IC 95%=1,7-2,8), tabagismo atual (RR=1,8, IC 95%=1,1-2,9), necessidade de inotrópico (RR=1,4, IC 95%=1,0-2,0) e potássio maior que 5,0 mEq/l (RR=1,3, IC 95%=1,0- 1.7) na admissão. Conclusão: A mortalidade esteve associada à idade avançada, tabagismo atual, uso de inotrópicos e potássio maior que 5,0 na admissão hospitalar.(AU)

Justificación y objetivos: La COVID-19 es una enfermedad potencialmente mortal. Reconocer las características de la enfermedad y sus principales complicaciones en esta población ayudará a futuras intervenciones, atención y gestión de los servicios de salud, ya que las diversidades territoriales y poblacionales influyen directamente en los resultados de salud. El objetivo principal de este estudio es describir las características clínicas, los resultados y los factores asociados a la mortalidad de los pacientes con COVID-19 ingresados en la unidad de cuidados intensivos de un hospital público y de tercer nivel. Métodos: Estudio de cohorte, realizado del 1 de marzo al 30 de septiembre de 2020. Se realizó regresión de Poisson para investigar variables en la presentación hospitalaria como potenciales factores de riesgo para la mortalidad intrahospitalaria. Resultados: De los 283 pacientes elegibles en este estudio, el 41,7% (n=118) tuvo mortalidad hospitalaria. Los desenlaces más comunes fueron síndrome de dificultad respiratoria aguda, infección nosocomial y shock séptico. Los factores independientemente asociados a mayor riesgo de muerte fueron edad mayor de 51 años (RR=1,7, IC95%=1,0-2,8), especialmente mayores de 70 años (RR=2,9, IC95%=1,7-2,8), tabaquismo actual (RR=1,8, IC95%=1,1-2,9), necesidad de inotrópico (RR=1,4, IC95%=1,0-2,0) y potasio mayor que 5,0 mEq/l (RR=1,3, IC95%=1,0-1,7). Conclusión: La mortalidad estuvo asociada a la edad avanzada, tabaquismo actual, uso de inotrópico y potasio mayor a 5,0 en la admisión hospitalaria.(AU)

Cohort study protocol of the Brazilian collaborative research network on COVID-19: strengthening WHO global data.

INTRODUCTION: With the COVID-19 pandemic, hospitals in low-income countries were faced with a triple challenge. First, a large number of patients required hospitalisation because of the infection's more severe symptoms. Second, there was a lack of systematic and broad testing policies for early identification of cases. Third, there were weaknesses in the integration of information systems, which led to the need to search for available information from the hospital information systems. Accordingly, it is also important to state that relevant aspects of COVID-19's natural history had not yet been fully clarified. The aim of this research protocol is to present the strategies of a Brazilian network of hospitals to perform systematised data collection on COVID-19 through the WHO platform. METHODS AND ANALYSIS: This is a multicentre project among Brazilian hospitals to provide data on COVID-19 through the WHO global platform, which integrates patient care information from different countries. From October 2020 to March 2021, a committee worked on defining a flowchart for this platform, specifying the variables of interest, data extraction standardisation and analysis. ETHICS AND DISSEMINATION: This protocol was approved by the Research Ethics Committee (CEP) of the Research Coordinating Center of Brazil (CEP of the Hospital Nossa Senhora da Conceicao), on 29 January 2021, under approval No. 4.515.519 and by the National Research Ethics Commission (CONEP), on 5 February 2021, under approval No. 4.526.456. The project results will be explained in WHO reports and published in international peer-reviewed journals, and summaries will be provided to the funders of the study.

Hospital characteristics associated with COVID-19 mortality: data from the multicenter cohort Brazilian Registry.

The COVID-19 pandemic caused unprecedented pressure over health care systems worldwide. Hospital-level data that may influence the prognosis in COVID-19 patients still needs to be better investigated. Therefore, this study analyzed regional socioeconomic, hospital, and intensive care units (ICU) characteristics associated with in-hospital mortality in COVID-19 patients admitted to Brazilian institutions. This multicenter retrospective cohort study is part of the Brazilian COVID-19 Registry. We enrolled patients ≥ 18 years old with laboratory-confirmed COVID-19 admitted to the participating hospitals from March to September 2020. Patients' data were obtained through hospital records. Hospitals' data were collected through forms filled in loco and through open national databases. Generalized linear mixed models with logit link function were used for pooling mortality and to assess the association between hospital characteristics and mortality estimates. We built two models, one tested general hospital characteristics while the other tested ICU characteristics. All analyses were adjusted for the proportion of high-risk patients at admission. Thirty-one hospitals were included. The mean number of beds was 320.4 ± 186.6. These hospitals had eligible 6556 COVID-19 admissions during the study period. Estimated in-hospital mortality ranged from 9.0 to 48.0%. The first model included all 31 hospitals and showed that a private source of funding (ß = - 0.37; 95% CI - 0.71 to - 0.04; p = 0.029) and location in areas with a high gross domestic product (GDP) per capita (ß = - 0.40; 95% CI - 0.72 to - 0.08; p = 0.014) were independently associated with a lower mortality. The second model included 23 hospitals and showed that hospitals with an ICU work shift composed of more than 50% of intensivists (ß = - 0.59; 95% CI - 0.98 to - 0.20; p = 0.003) had lower mortality while hospitals with a higher proportion of less experienced medical professionals had higher mortality (ß = 0.40; 95% CI 0.11-0.68; p = 0.006). The impact of those association increased according to the proportion of high-risk patients at admission. In-hospital mortality varied significantly among Brazilian hospitals. Private-funded hospitals and those located in municipalities with a high GDP had a lower mortality. When analyzing ICU-specific characteristics, hospitals with more experienced ICU teams had a reduced mortality.

Adult patients admitted to a tertiary hospital for COVID-19 and risk factors associated with severity: a retrospective cohort study.

COVID-19 is a disease whose knowledge is still under construction, high transmissibility, with no consensual treatment available to everyone. Therefore, the identification of patients at higher risk of evolving to the critical form of the disease is fundamental. The study aimed to determine risk factors associated with the severity of COVID-19 in adults patients. This is an observational, retrospective study from a cohort of adult patients with COVID-19 admitted to a public hospital from March to August 2020, whose medical records were evaluated. For the association of possible severity predictors, a Poisson regression was used. The primary outcome was the critical form of the disease (need for admission to the Intensive Care Unit and/or invasive mechanical ventilation). We included 565 patients: mostly men; 55.5% of those who progressed to the critical form of the disease were over sixty years old. Hypertension, diabetes mellitus and obesity were the most frequent comorbidities. There were 39.8% of patients who progressed to the critical form of the disease. The hospital mortality rate was 22.1%, and that of critical patients was 46.7%. The independent factors associated with the severity of the disease were obesity [RR = 1.33 (95% CI 1.07 to 1.66; p = 0.011)], SpO2/FiO2 ratio ≤ 315 [RR = 2.20 (95% CI 1.79 to 2.71; p = 0.000)], C-reactive protein > 100 mg/L [RR = 1.65 (95% CI 1.33 to 2.06; p = 0.000)], and lymphocytes < 1,000/µL [RR = 1.44 (95% CI 1.18 to 1.75; p = 0.000)]. Advanced age and comorbidities were dependent factors strongly associated with the critical form of the disease.

Adult patients admitted to a tertiary hospital for COVID-19 and risk factors associated with severity: a retrospective cohort study

ABSTRACT COVID-19 is a disease whose knowledge is still under construction, high transmissibility, with no consensual treatment available to everyone. Therefore, the identification of patients at higher risk of evolving to the critical form of the disease is fundamental. The study aimed to determine risk factors associated with the severity of COVID-19 in adults patients. This is an observational, retrospective study from a cohort of adult patients with COVID-19 admitted to a public hospital from March to August 2020, whose medical records were evaluated. For the association of possible severity predictors, a Poisson regression was used. The primary outcome was the critical form of the disease (need for admission to the Intensive Care Unit and/or invasive mechanical ventilation). We included 565 patients: mostly men; 55.5% of those who progressed to the critical form of the disease were over sixty years old. Hypertension, diabetes mellitus and obesity were the most frequent comorbidities. There were 39.8% of patients who progressed to the critical form of the disease. The hospital mortality rate was 22.1%, and that of critical patients was 46.7%. The independent factors associated with the severity of the disease were obesity [RR = 1.33 (95% CI 1.07 to 1.66; p = 0.011)], SpO2/FiO2 ratio ≤ 315 [RR = 2.20 (95% CI 1.79 to 2.71; p = 0.000)], C-reactive protein > 100 mg/L [RR = 1.65 (95% CI 1.33 to 2.06; p = 0.000)], and lymphocytes < 1,000/µL [RR = 1.44 (95% CI 1.18 to 1.75; p = 0.000)]. Advanced age and comorbidities were dependent factors strongly associated with the critical form of the disease.