Psychological Distress Associated with Enforced Hospital Isolation Due to COVID-19 during the "Flatten the Curve" Phase in Morocco: A Single-Center Cross-Sectional Study.

(1) Background: although much research has highlighted the mental health challenges faced by patients in hospital isolation during the COVID-19 pandemic, data from low-middle-income countries, including Morocco, are lacking. The main objective of this study was to assess the psychological distress of patients undergoing enforced hospital isolation during the initial phase of the COVID-19 pandemic in Morocco. (2) Methods: we conducted a cross-sectional study between 1 April and 1 May 2020, among patients hospitalized in isolation for suspected or confirmed COVID-19 at the Ibn Sina University Hospital of Rabat, Morocco. Anxiety and depression were assessed using the Hospital Anxiety and Depression Scale (HADS). Binary logistic regression was performed to identify variables associated with anxiety and depression, with a cutoff of ≥8 used for both scales to create dichotomous variables. (3) Results: among 200 patients, 42.5% and 43% scored above the cut-off points for anxiety and depression, respectively. Multiple logistic regression identified female gender, a higher education level, a longer duration of isolation, and a poor understanding of the reasons for isolation as significant factors associated with anxiety. Conversely, female gender, chronic disease, a longer duration of isolation, and a poor understanding of the reasons for isolation were factors significantly associated with depression. (4) Conclusions: our study underscores high rates of anxiety and depression among patients forced into hospital isolation during the initial phase of COVID-19 in Morocco. We identified several factors associated with patients experiencing psychological distress that may inform future discussions on mental health and psychiatric crisis management.

[Evaluation of blood cell morphology with the RBC Advanced Application: Which cut-offs are most needed for which specific abnormalities?] / Évaluation de la morphologie érythrocytaire avec le RBC Advanced : Quels seuils pour quelles anomalies ?

The detection of erythrocyte morphological abnormalities is a valuable and sometimes overlooked element in the diagnostic management of anemias. The aim of this article is to evaluate the clinical performance of the different detection thresholds tested by our laboratory using the Cellavision RBC Advanced module, after manual reclassification by an experienced operator, and comparing them to the guidelines by the ICSH (International Council for Standardization in Haematology). We arbitrarily set thresholds at 1% for "critical" abnormalities (tear drop cells, target cells, schizocytes and spherocytes) except for sickle cells (threshold set at 0.01%). Our data show excellent sensitivity of 100% for the cut-offs defined by the investigation for tear drop cells and sickle cells, but low specificity for detection of associated clinical pathology compared with ICSH cut-offs, varying from 4% for teardrop cells (detection of myelofibrosis), 26% for target cells (detection of martial deficiency) to 55% for schizyocytes (presence of hemolytic anemia). Our results show a better specificity of the thresholds established by ICSH than our studied thresholds for the detection of the pathologies of concern, suggesting a better clinical relevance.