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We evaluated the clinical course of asymptomatic and mildly symptomatic patients with laboratory-confirmed coronavirus disease (COVID-19) admitted to community treatment centers (CTCs) for isolation in South Korea. Of 632 patients, 75 (11.9%) had symptoms at admission, 186 (29.4%) were asymptomatic at admission but developed symptoms during their stay, and 371 (58.7%) remained asymptomatic during their entire clinical course. Nineteen (3.0%) patients were transferred to hospitals, but 94.3% (573/613) of the remaining patients were discharged from CTCs upon virologic remission. The mean virologic remission period was 20.1 days (SD + 7.7 days). Nearly 20% of patients remained in the CTCs for 4 weeks after diagnosis. The virologic remission period was longer in symptomatic patients than in asymptomatic patients. In mildly symptomatic patients, the mean duration from symptom onset to virologic remission was 11.7 days (SD + 8.2 days). These data could help in planning for isolation centers and formulating self-isolation guidelines. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Objectives: The purpose of this study was to determine whether the cranial vertebral angle (CVA) and the range of motion (ROM) was different between participants with a forward head posture (FHP), with or without pain. Methods: Forty-four participants who had FHP participated in this study. The FHP was assessed digitally by measuring a lateral view the CVA for each subject. A cervical ROM device measured the cervical ROM. The volunteers were allocated to either, with pain (n = 22), or without pain (n = 22) groups, and pain was evaluated using the Numeric Pain Rating Scale. Results: The FHP in the pain group showed a significant difference in the CVA, and the cervical ROM in both flexion and extension, compared with those in the FHP without pain group (p < 0.05). Logistic regression analysis indicated that the occurrence of cervical area pain was higher amongst subjects who had a decreased CVA and flexion motion. Conclusion: This study suggested that decreased CVA and cervical flexion range, were predictive factors for the occurrence of pain in the cervical region. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Experimental studies suggest that pre-stroke statin treatment has a dual effect of neuroprotection during ischemia and neurorestoration after ischemic injury. The aim of this study was to evaluate the effect of pre-stroke statin use on initial stroke severity and early clinical outcome. Methods: We used a prospective database enrolling patients with acute ischemic stroke from 12 hospitals in Korea between April 2008 and January 2012. Primary endpoint was the initial stroke severity as measured by the National Institutes of Health Stroke Scale (NIHSS) score. Secondary endpoints were good outcome (modified Rankin Scale [mRS], 0-2) and overall mRS distribution at discharge. Multivariable regression model and propensity score (PS) matching were used for statistical analyses. Results: Among the 8340 patients included in this study, 964 patients (11.6 %) were pre-stroke statin users. The initial NIHSS score (mean [95 % CI]) was lower among pre-stroke statin users vs. non-users in multivariable analysis (5.7 [5.2-6.3] versus 6.4 [5.9-6.9], p = 0.002) and PS analysis (5.2 [4.7-5.7] versus 5.7 [5.4-6.0], p = 0.043). Pre-stroke statin use was associated with increased achievement of mRS 0-2 outcome (multivariable analysis: OR [95 % CI], 1.55 [1.25-1.92], p < 0.001; PS matching: OR [95 % CI], 1.47 [1.16-1.88]; p = 0.002) and favorable shift on the overall mRS distribution (multivariable analysis: OR [95 % CI], 1.29 [1.12-1.51], p = 0.001; PS matching: OR [95 % CI], 1.31 [1.11-1.54]; p = 0.001). Conclusions: Pre-stroke statin use was independently associated with lesser stroke severity at presentation and better early functional recovery in patients with acute ischemic stroke. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Introduction: Data on the clinical course and duration of viral RNA detection in patients with mild or asymptomatic coronavirus disease 2019 are limited. Methodology: In this retrospective analysis, clinical characteristics and serial real-time reverse transcriptase-polymerase chain reaction (RTPCR) results were reviewed in a cohort of 1186 asymptomatic and mildly symptomatic coronavirus disease 2019 patients in South Korea. Factors associated with prolonged duration of RT-PCR positivity for severe acute respiratory syndrome-coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) were also evaluated. Patients with two consecutive negative RT-PCR tests ≥ 24 hours apart were considered to be in virologic remission and discharged. Results: The average virologic remission period, defined as the number of days from diagnosis to virologic remission, was 22.0 ± 9.7 days; patients with longer than 30 days accounted for 21.2% (251/1186) of the population. Patients who took longer than 30 days to achieve virologic remission had a higher frequency of overall symptoms (p < 0.001) and respiratory symptoms (p < 0.001). In multivariate analysis using Cox proportional hazard regression, it was confirmed that respiratory symptoms (hazard ratio [HR], 0.7372; 95% confidence interval [CI], 0.6540- 0.8311) and gastrointestinal symptoms (HR, 0.8213; 95% CI, 0.6970-0.9679) were independent factors associated with prolonged virologic remission. Age and co-morbidity such as diabetes and hypertension were not associated with the prolonged RT-PCR positivity. Conclusions: A considerable percentage of asymptomatic and mildly symptomatic patients with coronavirus disease 2019 showed prolonged RT-PCR positivity for SARS-CoV-2; which was independently associated with the presence of symptoms, but not with age and co-morbidity. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]