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Background: Previous regional studies related to sarcopenia in multiethnic Indonesia suggested inconsistent findings. We aimed to find the prevalence of sarcopenia and its associated factors among Indonesian older adults., Methods: In this cross-sectional analysis, we utilised the data of Indonesia Longitudinal Aging Study (INALAS) from community-dwelling outpatients in eight centres. Statistical analyses included descriptive, bivariate, and multivariate analyses. We categorised older adults into sarcopenia group based on the criteria of the SARC-F questionnaire, namely strength, assistance with walking, rising from a chair, climbing stairs, and falls questionnaire., Results: Among 386 older adults, 17.6% were in sarcopenia group. The prevalence of sarcopenia was found to be the lowest in Sundanese group (8.2%). Following appropriate statistical adjustment, sarcopenia was associated with female sex (OR 3.01, 95% CI 1.34-6.73), dependent functional capacity (OR 7.38, 95% CI 3.26-16.70), frailty (OR 11.82, 95% CI 5.41-25.80), and history of fall (OR 5.17 (95% CI 2.36-11.32). Sarcopenia was not significantly associated with age 70 years and older (OR 1.67, 95% CI 0.81-3.45), Sundanese group (OR 0.44, 95% CI 0.15-1.29), and being at high risk for malnutrition or malnourished (OR 2.98, 95% CI 0.68-13.15). All centenarians had no sarcopenia nor frailty, and 80% of them were Sundanese older adults., Conclusion: One in five Indonesian community-dwelling older adults had sarcopenia, associated with female sex, dependent functional capacity, frailty, and history of fall. Albeit statistically nonsignificant, there may still be link between Sundanese, age 70 years and older, as well as being at high risk for malnutrition, and sarcopenia.

Autoimmune diseases are known to be a risk factor for severe COVID-19 infection. This is the first case series of patients with autoimmune disease suffering from COVID-19 infection in Jakarta, Indonesia. There were 12 confirmed cases of COVID-19 infection in autoimmune patients from March 2020 until February 2021. We select 5 patients in this case series. Three of them had systemic lupus erythematous (SLE), one of them had rheumatoid arthritis, and one of them had ankylosing spondylitis. Three of them had high BSR Risk Stratification. Most of them had used daily steroid therapy. Fatigue, abdominal pain, diarrhea, and cough were the common symptoms found.  None of the patients were admitted to ICU, used mechanical ventilators, and all of them survived. Most of the patients were prescribed anti-coagulant therapy. This first comprehensive case series can provide valuable information regarding the clinical characteristics of COVID-19 infection in the Indonesian autoimmune disorder patient population.

Background: Many studies identified the risk factors and prognostic factors related to in-hospital COVID-19 mortality using sophisticated laboratory tests. Cost and the availability of supporting blood tests may be problematic in resource-limited settings. This multicenter cohort study was conducted to assess the factors associated with mortality of COVID-19 patients aged 18 years and older, based on history taking, physical examination, and simple blood tests to be used in resource-limited settings., Methods: The study was conducted between July 2020 and January 2021 in five COVID-19 referral hospitals in Indonesia. Among 1048 confirmed cases of COVID-19, 160 (15%) died during hospitalization., Results: Multivariate analysis showed eight predictors of in-hospital mortality, namely increased age, chronic kidney disease, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, fatigue, dyspnea, altered mental status, neutrophil-lymphocyte ratio (NLR) ≥ 5.8, and severe-critical condition. This scoring system had an Area-under-the-curve (AUC) of 84.7%. With cut-off score of 6, the sensitivity was 76.3% and the specificity was 78.2%., Conclusion: The result of this practical prognostic scoring system may be a guide to decision making of physicians and help in the education of family members related to the possible outcome.

It has been a year since the Indonesian government announced its first COVID-19 identified in Jakarta. Since then, there have been more than 900,000 cases in Indonesia with case fatality rate (CFR) of 2.9%. The number of new cases per day is now ranging from 9,000 cases to almost 13,000 cases. Not only in Indonesia, but the number of new cases along with the mortality rate in other countries, such as Malaysia, Japan, United States, and Europe region also increased dramatically. COVID-19 vaccines are being investigated and the world hopes that vaccines will be the answer to tackle this pandemic. Is it really so? Immunization is an effort to induce immunity in individuals to prevent a disease or the complication related to the diseases that may be catastrophic. Immunization can be divided into passive, which is by giving certain type of antibody and active, which means that either we get the disease, or we get the antigen injected into our body.Having prior vaccination or past COVID-19 does not mean that someone is totally immune to COVID-19 as a recent study suggested that the antibody related to COVID-19 past infection is significantly decreasing after 3 months post-infection. Compliance to implementation of health protocol remained the most crucial strategy during this pandemic.

BackgroundWe aimed to systematically review all relevant studies related to the risk factors and laboratory test results associated with severe illness and mortality in COVID-19 patients.MethodsWe utilised PubMed, Scopus, ProQuest, Wiley Online Library, ScienceDirect and MedRxiv to search for studies, with additional hand-searched journals. We included systematic reviews/meta-analyses, cohort and case control studies of suspected and/or confirmed COVID-19 cases with severe illness and/or mortality as outcomes. We included laboratory test results and risk factors. We assessed risk of bias using ROBIS-I and Newcastle-Ottawa Scale assessment tool. Type of study, risk of bias, and precision of results determined evidence sufficiency.ResultsOf 26 records included, sufficient evidence suggested the association between age >60 years, hypertension, coronary heart disease, DM, serum LDH 250-500 U/L, LDH >500 U/L, and lymphopenia (lymphocyte count ≤1.0 x 109 /L) and severe illness of COVID-19. CD3+CD8+ cell count ≤ 75 cell/μl, D-dimer > 1 mg/L, AKI stage 2 and 3, proteinuria ≥1+, hematuria ≥1+, and peak serum creatinine > 13.26 μmol/L are associated with mortality.ConclusionAge >60 years, hypertension, DM, and coronary heart disease are the risk factors for severe illness of COVID-19. Laboratory test results associated with severe illness are serum LDH 250-500 U/L, LDH >500 U/L, and lymphopenia, whereas test results associated with mortality are CD3+CD8+ cell count ≤ 75 cell/μl, AKI stage 2 and 3, proteinuria ≥1+, hematuria ≥1+, D-dimer > 1 mg/L, peak serum creatinine > 13.26 μmol/L.