Evaluating the Knowledge of and Behavior Toward COVID-19 and the Possibility of Isolating at a City Level: Survey Study.

BACKGROUND: Mass testing campaigns were proposed in France during the first wave of the COVID-19 pandemic to detect and isolate asymptomatic individuals infected by SARS-CoV-2. During mass testing in Saint-Étienne (February 2021), we performed a survey of the general population. OBJECTIVE: We evaluated, on the scale of a city's population, the literacy level about SARS-CoV-2 transmission, barrier gesture respect, and isolation acceptability or possibility in case of SARS-CoV-2 infection. METHODS: We used the validated CovQuest-CC questionnaire. Data were analyzed and correlated with volunteer characteristics and their SARS-CoV-2 screening results using multivariate analysis. RESULTS: In total, 4707 participants completed the CovQuest-CC questionnaire. Multivariate analysis revealed that female sex was a determinant of a higher score of knowledge about SARS-CoV-2 transmission (adjusted ß coefficient=0.14, 95% CI 0.04-0.23; corrected P=.02). Older ages of 50-59 years (adjusted ß coefficient=0.25, 95% CI 0.19-0.31; corrected P<.001) and ≥60 years (adjusted ß coefficient=0.25, 95% CI 0.15-0.34; corrected P<.001) were determinants of a higher score on barrier gesture respect compared to ages 20-49 years considered as reference. Female sex was also a determinant of a higher score on barrier gesture respect (adjusted ß coefficient=0.10, 95% CI 0.02-4.63; corrected P<.001). The knowledge score was correlated with the score on barrier gesture respect measures (adjusted ß coefficient=0.03, 95% CI 0.001-0.004; corrected P=.001). Older ages of 50-59 years (adjusted ß coefficient=0.21, 95% CI 0.13-0.29; corrected P<.001) and ≥60 years (adjusted ß coefficient=0.25, 95% CI 0.1-0.38; corrected P<.001) were determinants of a higher score on isolation acceptability or possibility compared to the age of 20-49 years considered as reference. Finally, the knowledge score regarding SARS-CoV-2 transmission was significantly associated with a lower risk of RT-PCR (reverse transcriptase-polymerase chain reaction) positivity (adjusted odds ratio 0.80, 95% CI 0.69-0.94; corrected P<.03), implying that a 1-point increase in the knowledge score lowers the risk of positivity by 20% on average. CONCLUSIONS: This study identified factors associated with health literacy regarding SARS-CoV-2 infection in asymptomatic individuals in a large French city's population. We can confirm that in the context of the COVID-19 pandemic, the determinants of better health literacy are not the same as those in other contexts. It seems critical to obtain a more detailed understanding of the determinants of individual citizens' behavior, as part of a strategy to combat the large-scale spread of the virus. The harsh experience of this pandemic should teach us how to nurture research to structure customized interventions to encourage the adoption of ad hoc behaviors to engage citizens in adapting behaviors more favorable to their health.

Factors Contributing to Delayed Return to Work among French Healthcare Professionals Afflicted by COVID-19 at a Hospital in the Rhône-Alpes Region, 2021.

COVID-19 is an emerging disease whose impact on the return to work of hospital staff is not yet known. This study was aimed at evaluating the prevalence of delayed return to work associated with medical, personal, and professional factors in hospital staff who tested positive for COVID-19 during the second epidemic wave. A descriptive, analytical observational study was conducted. The source population consisted of all staff of a French University Hospital Center who had an RT-PCR test or an antigenic test positive for SARS-CoV-2 during the period from 6 September to 30 November 2020. A delayed return to work was defined as a return to work after a period of at least 8 days of eviction, whereas before the eviction period decided by the French government was 14 days. Data collection was carried out through an anonymous online self-questionnaire. The participation rate was 43% (216 participants out of 502 eligible subjects). Moreover, 40% of the staff had a delayed return to work, and 24% of them reported a delayed return to work due to persistent asthenia. Delayed return to work was significantly associated with age, fear of returning to work, and persistent asthenia, but the number of symptoms lasting more than 7 days was the only factor that remained significantly associated after multivariate analysis. From this study, it appears that interest in identifying the number of persistent symptoms as a possible indicator of delayed work emerges. Moreover, persistent asthenia should be given special attention by practitioners to detect a possible long COVID.

Replication of systematic reviews: is it to the benefit or detriment of methodological quality?

OBJECTIVES: To perform an overview of the overlap of systematic reviews (SRs) assessing direct oral anticoagulants and characterize these reviews in terms of bias and methodological quality (PROSPERO: CRD42022316273). STUDY DESIGN AND SETTING: A PubMed-indexed search was performed from inception to January 31, 2022 to identify SRs evaluating direct oral anticoagulants in patients treated for an acute venous thromboembolism. The risk of bias of these SRs was assessed according to the Risk Of Bias In Systematic reviews tool. Redundancy was defined as overlap in terms of the type of population considered, the interventions compared, and the studies included. RESULTS: A total of 144 SRs were evaluated, of which 26 (18.1%) were classified as original, 87 (60.4%) as conceptual replications, and 31 (21.5%) as excessive replications. The risk of bias was high in 19 (73.1%) of the original SRs, 65 (74.7%) of the conceptual replications, and 21 (67.7%) of the excessive replications. Compared to the original SRs, the overall methodological quality was not improved in either conceptual or excessive replications. CONCLUSION: A large number of SRs was classified as replications; a fifth constituted excessive replications. The replications showed no improvement in overall methodological quality compared to the original SRs.

Allogeneic hematopoietic stem cell transplantation for adults with therapy-related acute myeloid leukaemia: a retrospective multicentre study on behalf of the SFGM-TC.

We report the results from a multicentre retrospective study of 220 adult patients who underwent allogeneic hematopoietic stem cell transplantation (alloHSCT) for therapy-related acute myeloid leukaemia (t-AML). Median age at t-AML diagnosis was 56 years, with a prior history of haematological (45%) or breast (34%). Median time from cytotoxic exposure to t-AML diagnosis was 54.7 months. At transplant, around 20% of patients had measurable residual disease and 3% of patients were not in complete remission. The median follow-up was 21.4 months (Q1-Q3, 5.9-52.8). At 12 months, overall survival (OS), event-free survival (EFS), and graft-versus-host-disease (GVHD)-free-relapse-free survival (GRFS) were 60.7% (95% CI 54.6-67.5), 52.8% (95% CI 46.5-68.4), and 44.1% (95% CI 37.6-51.8), respectively. At 5 years, OS, EFS, and GRFS were 44.1% (95% CI 37.4-52.1), 40.4% (95% CI 33.9-48.1), and 35.3% (95% CI 28.8-43.3), respectively. At last follow-up, 44% of patients were in complete remission (n = 96) and transplant-related mortality accounted for 21% of all deaths (n = 119). Multivariable analysis revealed that uncontrolled t-AML at transplant was associated with lower EFS (HR 1.94, 95% CI 1.0-3.7, p = 0.041). In conclusion, alloHSCT for t-AML shows encouraging results and offers additional opportunity with the emergence of novel pre-graft therapies.

COVID-19 Vaccine-Related Adverse Events in Solid Cancer Patients Treated with Immunotherapy.

Little data are available regarding the effects of COVID-19 vaccine in cancer patients undergoing immunotherapy. Thereby, COVID-19 vaccine-related adverse events were monitored through a short questionnaire in solid cancer patients receiving immunotherapy. A total of 95 patients were included in this study. Two doses of vaccines were administered to cancer patients which mainly received Pembrolizumab (51.1%). Respectively 78.2% and 62.2% of patients reported no adverse events after the first and the second dose regardless of the type of vaccine used. Considering the high mortality rate due to COVID-19 among cancer patients, this study demonstrated the good tolerance of COVID-19 vaccine.

Objective measurement of adherence to topical steroid medication after penetrating keratoplasty using an electronic monitoring aid: A pilot study.

Objectives: Corneal transplantation is the most common transplant worldwide and its success critically depends on the management of corneal graft rejection through topical steroid therapy during the first 12 months after surgery. There is currently no published data on adherence after keratoplasty. This pilot study aims to explore the adherence to topical steroid after penetrating keratoplasty using a smart electronic device. Methods: Thirty patients undergoing penetrating keratoplasty were included to evaluate the adherence to topical dexamethasone medication for 12 months after surgery. Patients received the usual post-transplantation treatment (topical dexamethasone) and follow-up after surgery (day 15, months 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 9, and 12). Adherence to treatment was monitored using the KaliJAR device (Kali Care, Santa Clara, CA, USA), which recorded the number of single-dose units (SDU) discarded. At control visits, data recorded by the device were compared to the manually count of SDU. Adherence ratio and individual adherence curve were explored for all patients. Results: Data from 27 patients showed a high agreement between adherence ratio calculated based on the device data and obtained from manual counting of the discarded SDU (intraclass coefficient correlation of 0.87 [95% CI: 0.738-0.938]). Mean adherence to the treatment over the 12-month study period was 95.2 ± 4%. Conclusions: Adherence to topical dexamethasone for 12 months after corneal transplantation was high. The connected device was able to record accurately the discarded SDU. This approach would be a particular interest in the early identification and personalized follow-up of poorly adherent patients.

Development and Validation of the COVID-19 Knowledges and Behavior Questionnaire in a French Population (CoVQuest-CC).

BACKGROUND: The SARS-CoV-2 pandemic has led most countries to take restrictive measures affecting social activities and individual freedoms to limit viral transmission. It was shown that practical, motivational and social barriers impact on adherence to the isolation and social distancing measures advocated by the health authorities. The purpose of this study was to develop and validate a COVID-19 Knowledges and Behavior Questionnaire adapted to a teenager and adult French population. METHODS: CoVQuest-CC was developed by a multidisciplinary team made of infectious diseases physicians, medical virologist, specialists of infectious control, experts of the questionnaires methodology, experts in public health and prevention, and statisticians. CoVQuest-CC was responded to by a big cohort from the general population during their participation in a massive SARS-CoV-2 screening campaign in 2021 in Saint-Etienne, France. RESULTS: The confirmatory factorial analysis yielded good results (CFI = 0.94, TLI = 0.94, RMSEA = 0.04), and confirmed the five-dimensional structure of the questionnaire. Each dimension had a satisfying internal consistency, with Cronbach alphas of 0.83, 0.71, 0.65, 0.72 and 0.83 for transmission knowledge, barrier gesture respect, tests acceptability, home isolation possibility and test practicability, respectively. CONCLUSIONS: According to our knowledge, CoVQuest-CC is the first validated, consistent and reliable self-administrated French-specific questionnaire investigating the general population's knowledge and attitudes towards COVID-19. It shows acceptable psychometric properties and can be use by Public Health teams or caregivers for public health and research purposes. TRIAL REGISTRATION: The study protocol was approved by the IRB ILE-DE-FRANCE 1 (No. IRB: I ORG0009918). All participants were given written and verbal information about the study and gave informed consent to participate. CLINICALTRIALS: gov identifier (NCT number): NCT04859023.

Natural History and Treatment Strategies of Advanced PEComas: A Systematic Review.

PEComas is a family of rare mesenchymal tumors. This systematic review aims to better understand the natural history of advanced PEComas. After a search on the PubMed database and main oncology meeting libraries according to the PRISMA guidelines, 88 articles reported in the English literature were included. Data on clinical and histological features, treatments and outcomes were collected. To identify risk factors, univariate and multivariate analyses were performed. Seven cohorts of patients and 124 individual patients were identified. Focusing on case reports, most patients were metastatic, and the median overall survival (OS) of the entire cohort was 60 months (95%CI 33; NA). Risk factors significantly associated with OS in the multivariate analysis were the presence of metastasis at diagnosis (HR: 2.59, 95%CI 1.06; 6.33, p = 0.036) and the grouped-Bleeker's risk category (HR: 4.66; 95%CI 1.07; 20.19; p = 0.039). In the metastatic population, only the presence of lymph node metastasis was associated with OS (HR: 3.11; 95%CI 1.13; 8.60, p < 0.05). Due to a lack of events, it was not possible to conclude on other factors. This review of the literature highlights the heterogeneity of literature data and shows the great diversity of clinical management strategies.

Impact of a restrictive antibiotic policy on the acquisition of extended-spectrum beta-lactamase-producing Enterobacteriaceae in an endemic region: a before-and-after, propensity-matched cohort study in a Caribbean intensive care unit.

BACKGROUND: High-level antibiotic consumption plays a critical role in the selection and spread of extended-spectrum beta-lactamase-producing Enterobacteriaceae (ESBL-E) in the ICU. Implementation of a stewardship program including a restrictive antibiotic policy was evaluated with respect to ESBL-E acquisition (carriage and infection). METHODS: We implemented a 2-year, before-and-after intervention study including all consecutive adult patients admitted for > 48 h in the medical-surgical 26-bed ICU of Guadeloupe University Hospital (French West Indies). A conventional strategy period (CSP) including a broad-spectrum antibiotic as initial empirical treatment, followed by de-escalation (period before), was compared to a restrictive strategy period (RSP) limiting broad-spectrum antibiotics and shortening their duration. Antibiotic therapy was delayed and initiated only after microbiological identification, except for septic shock, severe acute respiratory distress syndrome and meningitis (period after). A multivariate Cox proportional hazard regression model adjusted on propensity score values was performed. The main outcome was the median time of being ESBL-E-free in the ICU. Secondary outcome included all-cause ICU mortality. RESULTS: The study included 1541 patients: 738 in the CSP and 803 in the RSP. During the RSP, less patients were treated with antibiotics (46.8% vs. 57.9%; p < 0.01), treatment duration was shorter (5 vs. 6 days; p < 0.01), and administration of antibiotics targeting anaerobic pathogens significantly decreased (65.3% vs. 33.5%; p < 0.01) compared to the CSP. The incidence of ICU-acquired ESBL-E was lower (12.1% vs. 19%; p < 0.01) during the RSP. The median time of being ESBL-E-free was 22 days (95% CI 16-NA) in the RSP and 18 days (95% CI 16-21) in the CSP. After propensity score weighting and adjusted analysis, the median time of being ESBL-E-free was independently associated with the RSP (hazard ratio, 0.746 [95% CI 0.575-0.968]; p = 0.02, and hazard ratio 0.751 [95% CI 0.578-0.977]; p = 0.03, respectively). All-cause ICU mortality was lower in the RSP than in the CSP (22.5% vs. 28.6%; p < 0.01). CONCLUSIONS: Implementation of a program including a restrictive antibiotic strategy is feasible and is associated with less ESBL-E acquisition in the ICU without any worsening of patient outcome.