China is facing the serious situation of 2019-novel coronavirus (2019-nCoV) infection. The health care institutions have actively participated in the prevention, diagnosis, and treatment of the disease. Proper regulation of in-hospital policy may help control virus spreading. We developed seven key clinical questions about the prevention and control of 2019-novel coronavirus infection in hospital, and provided recommendations based on the best available evidence and expert experience. We interpreted the recommendations for better feasibility in Chinese hospital. The current recommendations provide evidence and reference for the domestic medical institutions to reasonably adjust the hospital workflow during 2019-nCoV infection period..
In December 2019, an outbreak of pneumonia associated with the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) occurred in Wuhan, China. The lung imaging finding is like that of the lung cancer immune checkpoint inhibitors (ICI) associated pneumonia. Therefore, we speculated that they may have similar pathogenesis and treatment strategies, which is reviewed in this article in order to provide some reference to timely and effectively reduce the fatality rate of COVID-19.
Given the severe situation of coronavirus disease (COVID-19), the elderly, especially elderly patients with chronic diseases are the key populations for prevention and control. We developed recommendations of daily diets for elderly and the elderly patients with chronic diseases during the COVID-19 epidemic, based on the best available evidence and expert experiences. Levels of evidence and recommendations were determined by the method of the Oxford Centre for EBM Levels of Evidence (2001). These urgent recommendations aim to guide staffs in medical institutions to assist the elderly make sensible meal arrangements during this particular period.
The master protocol platform trial is a trial in which multiple treatments or different combinations of treatments are consistently evaluated in the context of a single disease, possibly within several sub-studies for different disease subtypes, allowing multiple treatments to enter or exit the trial platform based on a certain decision algorithm. Compared with the traditional clinical trial design, the master protocol platform trial as a scientific innovative model of clinical trial can accelerate drug evaluation to deal with the contradiction between the awaited evaluation of numerous drugs and lack of effective therapy for diseases. By using the large-scale randomized controlled clinical trial for COVID-19 inpatients (RECOVERY) led by the University of Oxford in the UK in 2020 as an illustration, this paper introduced the concept, design principle, and basic trial process of the master protocol platform trial to provide methodological references for clinical research of drugs.
ObjectiveTo analyze the influencing factors for re-positive nucleic acid test in discharged coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) patients in Chengdu, Sichuan Province, and to provide data support for the epidemics prevention and control. MethodsThe clinical data of 660 discharged COVID-19 patients from January 23, 2020 to February 28, 2021 in our center were retrospectively analyzed. The patients were divided into two groups according to the reexamination of virus nucleic acid, including a negative group [549 patients, including 428 males and 121 females with a median age of 33.0 (28.0, 48.0) years] and a positive group [111 patients, including 76 males and 35 females with a median age of 39.0 (28.0, 51.0) years]. The clinical data of the two groups were compared. Results The re-positive rate of the discharged patients was 16.82%. Univariate analysis showed that the re-positive rate of females was higher than that of males (χ2=4.608, P=0.032). The re-positive rate of confirmed patients was higher than that of asymptomatic infected patients (χ2=8.140, P=0.004). The re-positive rate of domestic patients was higher than that of imported patients (χ2=9.178, P=0.002). The counts of CD3+ (P=0.038), CD4+ (P=0.048) and CD8+ (P=0.040) T lymphocytes in the negative group were higher than those in the positive group. The binary logistic regression analysis showed that the clinical classification and CD8+ T lymphocyte count were independent risk factors affecting the recurrence of virility. ConclusionThe gender, origin, T lymphocyte subsets count and clinical type are the influencing factors for re-positive result, and clinical type and CD8+ T lymphocyte count are the independent influencing factors for re-positive result. Therefore, improving the immunity of infected patients, as well as early detection and timely treatment are effective means to reduce the re-positive occurrence.
ObjectiveTo explore the predictive value of a simplified signs scoring system for the severity and prognosis of patients with coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19). Methods Clinical data of 1 605 confirmed patients with COVID-19 from January to May 2020 in 45 hospitals of Sichuan and Hubei Provinces were retrospectively analyzed. The patients were divided into a mild group (n=1150, 508 males, average age of 51.32±16.26 years) and a severe group (n=455, 248 males, average age of 57.63±16.16 years). ResultsAge, male proportion, respiratory rate, systolic blood pressure and mean arterial pressure in the severe group were higher than those in the mild group (P<0.05). Peripheral oxygen saturation (SpO2) and Glasgow coma scale (GCS) were lower than those in the mild group (P<0.05). Multivariate logistic regression analysis showed that age, respiratory rate, SpO2, and GCS were independent risk factors for severe patients with COVID-19. Based on the above indicators, the receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curve analysis showed that the area under the curve of the simplified signs scoring system for predicting severe patients was 0.822, which was higher than that of the quick sequential organ failure assessment (qSOFA) score and modified early warning score (MEWS, 0.629 and 0.631, P<0.001). The ROC analysis showed that the area under the curve of the simplified signs scoring system for predicting death was 0.796, higher than that of qSOFA score and MEWS score (0.710 and 0.706, P<0.001). ConclusionAge, respiratory rate, SpO2 and GCS are independent risk factors for severe patients with COVID-19. The simplified signs scoring system based on these four indicators may be used to predict patient's risk of severe illness or early death.
With the change of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) prevention and control strategy in China, the number of COVID-19 cases has increased significantly recently, which has also brought new challenges to the perioperative risk control of thoracic surgery. This paper puts forward several suggestions, aiming to standardize the preoperative screening and evaluation during the COVID-19 period, strictly grasp the indications and timing of surgery, optimize the medical management process, individualize surgical decision-making, and minimize the risk of COVID-19 infection to surgery.
Since the outbreak of COVID-19 pandemic, a large number of elective or limited operations, including tumor treatment, have been postponed. With the deepening of the understanding of the virus and the change of the prevention policy, the impact of the pandemic is gradually shrinking, and a large number of operations delayed by the pandemic will be rescheduled. However, there is no consensus on the best time to perform surgery for patients infected with SARS-CoV-2, and the consensus on thoracic surgery is more limited. This article reviews the research progress in the timing of surgical operations, especially thoracic surgery, after SARS-CoV-2 infection.