Search

Aim: Depression is a frequent outcome of long‐term stress, but no studies have examined depression rates among Japanese healthcare workers fighting the COVID‐19 pandemic. Therefore, we conducted a web‐based interview of hospital employees to assess depression prevalence and factors. Methods: This observational cohort study was conducted from July to August, 2020, as part of a mandatory health checkup of Juntendo University Hospital employees (Tokyo, Japan). A total of 4239 participants completed a web‐based questionnaire on medical history and current health status. The Center for Epidemiologic Studies Depression Scale (CES‐D) was used for self‐assessment, with a score of ≥16 considered to indicate depression. Results: Among all employees, the proportion of depression was 31.3% in 2020, the highest measured in the last 10 years and substantially greater than the pre‐pandemic value in 2019 (27.5%). The proportion of depression for 2020 was significantly higher in new recruits than in employees with more than 2 years of experience (47.0% vs 29.9%, respectively, P <.0001) and in new recruits in 2019 (26.4%, P <.0001). When subdivided by occupation, nurses demonstrated the highest depression rate (43.2%), followed by paramedics (35.1%) and clerks (31.6%), whereas residents (22.9%), doctors (20.4%), teaching staff (18.0%), and part‐time staff (15.3%) reported lower depression rates. The positive CES‐D score significantly correlated with age (P <.0001). Conclusions: Younger and newer employees demonstrated the highest rates of depression independent of occupation. Therefore, mental healthcare programs focusing on these vulnerable groups need to be established. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The current pandemic represents unprecedented times in medical education. In addition to the already strenuous demands of medical school, the SARS-CoVid-2 pandemic introduced a new source of ethical and moral pressure on students. Medical students navigated finishing their didactic years in isolation and initiated their clinical rotations in a pandemic environment. Many medical students found themselves in the frustrating position of being non-essential healthcare workers but still wanting to help. This paper follows the personal and shared experiences of a second-year medical student transitioning to their third year. In particular, this paper examines the author's personal ties to the disability community through their family, and how this impacted their approach in striving to aid in the pandemic. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

COVID‐19 has developed into a worldwide pandemic; early identification of severe illness is critical for controlling it and improving the prognosis of patients with limited medical resources. The present study aimed to analyze the characteristics of severe COVID‐19 and identify biomarkers for differential diagnosis and prognosis prediction. In total, 27 consecutive patients with COVID‐19 and 75 patients with flu were retrospectively enrolled. Clinical parameters were collected from electronic medical records. The disease course was divided into four stages: initial, progression, peak, and recovery stages, according to computed tomography (CT) progress. to mild COVID‐19, the lymphocytes in the severe COVID‐19 progressively decreased at the progression and the peak stages, but rebound in the recovery stage. The levels of C‐reactive protein (CRP) in the severe group at the initial and progression stages were higher than those in the mild group. Correlation analysis showed that CRP (R =.62; P <.01), erythrocyte sedimentation rate (R =.55; P <.01) and granulocyte/lymphocyte ratio (R =.49; P <.01) were positively associated with the CT severity scores. In contrast, the number of lymphocytes (R = −.37; P <.01) was negatively correlated with the CT severity scores. The receiver‐operating characteristic analysis demonstrated that area under the curve of CRP on the first visit for predicting severe COVID‐19 was 0.87 (95% CI 0.10–1.00) at 20.42 mg/L cut‐off, with sensitivity and specificity 83% and 91%, respectively. CRP in severe COVID‐19 patients increased significantly at the initial stage, before CT findings. Importantly, CRP, which was associated with disease development, predicted early severe COVID‐19. Highlights: Compared with COVID'19, Patients with flu had higher WBC and granulocyte. Lymphocyte progressively decreased in the progress of COVID'19. CRP level associated with CT scores and disease development of COVID'19. CRP increased at the initial stage of severe COVID'19, prior to CT findings. CRP showed good performance in prediction of severe COVID'19. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article presents the discussion on SDG indicators such as poverty reduction, hunger, and economic growth being dependent on labor market conditions.