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Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the pressure on healthcare systems has been tremendous and it is having a huge economic impact. The objective of this paper is to carry out a systematic literature review of the publications that have analysed the costs derived from COVID-19 from the patient's perspective. Not only is this study aimed at measuring the impact of COVID-19 in economic terms, but also in qualitative terms, analysing, for instance, the types of costs (direct and indirect) and their variations depending on the geographical area under study. Searches were conducted in PubMed, Cochrane Library, Web of Science and Scopus. The time frame for the analysis was from the start of the pandemic until 9th December 2021. A total of 322 papers were found. The number of articles assessed for eligibility was 32, and after applying the exclusion criteria, 13 papers were included in the qualitative synthesis. Most of the studies analysed only direct costs (69.23%) and were focused on Asia (61.54%), where the larger indirect costs, as well as the greater total costs, were found. However, the higher costs per patient and year were shown for the United States. This investigation showed the importance of COVID-19 in national, regional and local budgets. More studies are to be developed in Europe due to both the existing differences in the health care systems and financing by country and the difference in the incidence of COVID-19 by country and wave., Competing Interests: Declaration of conflicting interestsThe authors declared no potential conflicts of interest with respect to the research, authorship, and/or publication of this article.

Background: Suicide is a significant cause of death worldwide. Various purposes can explain why people choose to attempt or commit suicide such as mental-health disorders, income-related-factors, quality of life or issues related to social context. This study aims to identify an updated association between 'isolation' and suicides., Methods: In this regard, we had made a systematic review of the most recent papers, published from January 2016 to March 2022, thought the most acknowledged databases. This review was conducted using the Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses guidelines for systematic reviews. To the best of our knowledge, this issue is very important due to the indirect relationship between COVID-19 and suicides., Results: Our analysis demonstrates that suicide and -social isolation and loneliness- have a positive and direct relationship although these findings varied slightly by areas. Moreover, most of the attention is focused on the youth during the most recent period and this is a real problem because economies cannot afford losing (young) population., Conclusions: In order to prevent suicides, public policies should prevent suicidal thoughts that it could induce to terminate the lives of individuals in their most productive years and harmful outcomes to their families and friends., (© The Author(s) 2023. Published by Oxford University Press on behalf of Faculty of Public Health. All rights reserved. For permissions, please e-mail: journals.permissions@oup.com.)

Background: Social distancing measures have been one of the core pillars of the strategy against COVID-19 in all the countries. This study aims at understanding what motivates behaviours and compliance with social distancing measures among students and workers from a Spanish public university., Methods: We carry out two logistics models considering two different dependent variables: not maintaining social relation with non-cohabiting people and not to leave home except for emergencies ( n  = 507, sample is formed by students and workers from the University of Cantabria in the North of Spain)., Results: Being very concerned about getting ill suggests higher risk of not maintaining social relation with non-cohabiting people. Getting older increase the probability of not leaving home except for emergencies as happens with those who are very concerned about getting ill. Young people often living with vulnerable older relatives may affect students' behaviour., Conclusions: Our findings suggest that compliance with social distancing measures depends on several factors related to age, the number or kind of cohabiting people and level of concern about getting ill. Policies should address all these factors through a multidisciplinary perspective., Competing Interests: The authors declare there are no competing interests., (©2023 Cantarero Prieto et al.)

Background: The stress and anxiety caused by COVID-19 lockdown may have changed the eating habits of the population. Our aim is to assess the eating changes that have taken place due to the pandemic., Methods: Data were collected through an electronic survey created by the Health Economics Research Group of the University of Cantabria and IDIVAL and conducted between 14/01/2021 and 19/02/2021. A total of 1,417 responses were recorded, but only 507 complete observations were considered. We carried out a cross-sectional analysis through ordered probit regressions., Results: The improvement in post-confinement eating habits is associated with higher income level, better self-assessed health status and more physical activity. The worsening of eating habits is associated with having a certain level of nomophobia or the fear of contagion., Conclusions: Our analysis can be used for designing and implementing new strategies to overcome the negative spill overs of the COVID-19 pandemic and improve the dietary patterns., Competing Interests: The authors declare that they have no competing interests., (© 2023 Cantarero Prieto et al.)