Association of Vitamin D Status and Other Clinical Characteristics With COVID-19 Test Resultshttps://jamanetwork.com/journals/jamanetworkopen/fullarticle/2770157Is vitamin D status, reflecting vitamin D levels and treatment, associated with test results for coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19)?
Findings: In this cohort study of 489 patients who had a vitamin D level measured in the year before COVID-19 testing, the relative risk of testing positive for COVID-19 was 1.77 times greater for patients with likely deficient vitamin D status compared with patients with likely sufficient vitamin D status, a difference that was statistically significant. (relative risk, 1.77; 95% CI, 1.12-2.81; P = .02)
Vitamin D deficiency was defined by the last measurement of 25-hydroxycholecalciferol less than 20 ng/mL or 1,25-dihydroxycholecalciferol less than 18 pg/mL before COVID-19 testing.
These findings appear to support a role of vitamin D status in COVID-19 risk;
randomized clinical trials are needed to determine whether broad population interventions and interventions among groups at increased risk of vitamin D deficiency and COVID-19 could reduce COVID-19 incidence.
Predicted COVID-19 rates in the deficient group were 21.6% (95% CI, 14.0%-29.2%) vs 12.2%(95% CI, 8.9%-15.4%) in the sufficient group.
In this
single-center, retrospective cohort study, likely deficient vitamin D status was associated with increased COVID-19 risk, a finding that suggests that randomized trials may be needed to determine whether vitamin D affects COVID-19 risk.
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Mental Health Issues Double the Odds of Dying With COVID-19, Study Findshttps://medicalxpress.com/news/2020-09-mental-health-issues-odds-dying.htmlFolks diagnosed with any type of psychiatric problem—anxiety or depression, dementia, psychosis—were up to 2.3 times more likely to die in the hospital from COVID-19, researchers found.
Li and her colleagues tracked the health of 1,685 patients hospitalized at Yale New Haven Health, a five-hospital system in Connecticut, between February and April. Of those patients, 28% had received a psychiatric diagnosis prior to hospitalization.
36% of COVID-19 patients with a psychiatric diagnosis died within two weeks of hospitalization, compared with 15% of those with no such diagnosis.
41% of patients with mental illness died within three weeks, compared with 22% of those without.
The four-week mortality rate was 45% for those with a diagnosed psychiatric condition and 32% for those without.
The findings were published online Sept. 30 in
JAMA Network Open.--------------------------------------
Trump Admin. Overrules CDC Director On Extending Ban On Cruiseshttps://arstechnica.com/science/2020/09/trump-admin-overrules-cdc-director-on-extending-ban-on-cruises/Trump administration officials have once again sidelined the head of the country’s leading public health agency while crafting public health policy. This time, officials torpedoed a plan to extend the “no-sail” order on cruise ships until next year.
Cruise ships were initial hotbeds of coronavirus transmission at the start of the global pandemic, which is still far from under control in the United States. Mass outbreaks on the tightly-packed, social vessels forced the cruise industry to shut down in March, and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention issued a no-sail order that is set to expire today, Wednesday, September 30.
In a meeting in the White House Situation Room Tuesday, CDC Director Robert Redfield floated a recommendation to extend the no-sail order until February 2021, according to a report by Axios. But Vice President Mike Pence, who chaired the meeting, told Redfield that the administration will be setting a different course.
Instead, the administration will only extend the no-sail order until October 31, matching a self-imposed ban by the cruise industry. Between now and then, the administration expects the cruise industry to demonstrate its plans to allow cruises to “sail in a safe and responsible manner and that the companies assume the burden of dealing with any possible outbreaks," according to officials at the meeting. Further, cruise industry representatives will meet with Trump this Friday to pitch their plans and discuss if the no-sail order needs to be extended further.
US health officials privately complained to Axios that the administration sank Redfield’s recommendation for political reasons. The cruise industry has significant economic influence in Florida, which is a critical battleground in the upcoming presidential election.