Short- and potential long-term adverse health outcomes of COVID-19: a rapid review.

The coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic has resulted in millions of patients infected worldwide and indirectly affecting even more individuals through disruption of daily living. Long-term adverse outcomes have been reported with similar diseases from other coronaviruses, namely Middle East Respiratory Syndrome (MERS) and Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome (SARS). Emerging evidence suggests that COVID-19 adversely affects different systems in the human body. This review summarizes the current evidence on the short-term adverse health outcomes and assesses the risk of potential long-term adverse outcomes of COVID-19. Major adverse outcomes were found to affect different body systems: immune system (including but not limited to Guillain-Barré syndrome and paediatric inflammatory multisystem syndrome), respiratory system (lung fibrosis and pulmonary thromboembolism), cardiovascular system (cardiomyopathy and coagulopathy), neurological system (sensory dysfunction and stroke), as well as cutaneous and gastrointestinal manifestations, impaired hepatic and renal function. Mental health in patients with COVID-19 was also found to be adversely affected. The burden of caring for COVID-19 survivors is likely to be huge. Therefore, it is important for policy makers to develop comprehensive strategies in providing resources and capacity in the healthcare system. Future epidemiological studies are needed to further investigate the long-term impact on COVID-19 survivors.

Assessment of glomerular filtration rate in addition to albuminuria is important in managing type II diabetes.

Although much emphasis has been placed on screening for albuminuria in type II diabetic patients, less attention has been focused on the role of glomerular filtration rate (GFR) in the assessment of risk. Herein, we examined the association between GFR and vascular complications in a consecutive cohort of 5174 type II diabetic patients between 1995 and 2000. Renal function was assessed by GFR (estimated by Modification of Diet in Renal Disease equation). The frequency of chronic kidney disease (CKD) as defined by GFR <60 ml/min/1.73 m(2), micro- and macrovascular complications, and their associations were analyzed. In this study cohort, 6% had serum creatinine > or =150 micromol/l and 15.8% had CKD. After adjustment for potential confounders, including urinary albumin excretion, odds ratios [95% confidence interval (CI)] across different stages of estimated GFR (> or =90, 60-89, 30-59, 15-29, <15 ml/min/1.73 m(2)) for macrovascular disease were 1.00, 1.42 [1.12-1.80], 1.80 [1.32-2.45], 2.74 [1.64-4.56], and 4.05 [1.77-9.26], respectively (P for trend <0.001); for retinopathy were 1.00, 1.23 [1.04-1.46], 1.80 [1.40-2.30], 2.05 [1.25-3.37], and 4.12 [1.56-10.90], respectively (P for trend <0.001); for sensory neuropathy were 1.00, 1.53[1.27-1.85], 2.09 [1.58-2.76], 4.32 [2.41-7.77], and 3.16 [1.25-8.02], respectively (P for trend <0.001); and for microalbumuria (with GFR <15 ml/min/1.73 m(2) excluded from the analysis) were 1.00, 1.51 [1.30-1.75], 5.80 [4.52-7.44], and 52.5 [16.4-168.2] respectively (P for trend <0.001). Measurement of serum creatinine alone without GFR may underestimate renal impairment in type II diabetic patients. Decreasing GFR was significantly associated with increasing frequency of micro- and macrovascular complications.