SUMMARY. The objectives of the present study were to assess the possible predictors of COVID-19 severity and duration of hospitalization and to identify the possible correlation between patient parameters, disease severity and duration of hospitalization. The study included retrospective medical record extraction of previous coron avirus COVID-19 patients in Basra hospitals, Iraq from March 1st and May 31st, 2020. The information of the participants was investigated anonymously. All the patients’ characteristics, treatments, vital signs and laboratory tests (hematological, renal and liver function tests) were collected. The analysis was conducted using the SPSS (version 22, USA). Spearman correlation was used to measure the relationships between different blood lab data predictors, the disease severity and the duration of hospitalization. The Kruskal Wallis Test was used to measure the difference in the severity of the disease according to the serum ferritin level. Overall, 499 patients were includ ed in the current study: 58.4% were female and 41.6% were male. Nearly half of the patients had chronic disease particularly diabetes mellitus (20.8%) and hypertension (23.6%). With regards to hematological tests, there was a significant correlation between lymphocyte level and disease severity, duration of hospitalization, ferritin, platelets and neutrophil level. In addition, serum urea and creatinine have significant (p-value < 0.05) positive correlation with the disease (COVID-19) severity. Similarly, there is a significant difference in the severity of the disease ac cording to the ferritin level. Thus, patients with more severe symptoms had higher level of blood ferritin. Further more, patients with co-existing diseases have experienced more severe COVID-19 symptoms. This indicates that, lymphocyte and ferritin levels are good predictors of COVID-19 severity. This study finding indicated that evalua tion of blood laboratory indices (CBC including lymphocytes and ferritin) and renal/liver function parameters in the beginning of the COVID-19 could predict the severity and duration of hospitalization. In addition, patients with multiple comorbidities are at higher risk of longer days of hospitalization. An early attention to the patient parameter and lab data may help in tailoring treatments and promote possible interventions to triage hospitaliza tion and save more lives particularly Iraqi might experience a second wave of the pandemic.
Inflammatory bowel disease includes both Crohn’s disease and ulcerative colitis, is a chronic, progressive relapsing disease of gastrointestinal tract that require long-term treatment or maintenance therapy. Taking patient’s beliefs about the prescribed medication in consideration had been shown to be an important factor that affects compliance of the patient in whom having positive beliefs is a prerequisite for better compliance. The aim of the current study was to investigate and assess beliefs about medicines among a sample of Iraqi patients with inflammatory bowel disease and to determine possible association between these beliefs and some patient-specific factors.
This study is a cross-sectional study carried out o
... Show MoreThis case series aims to evaluate patients affected with post COVID‐19 mucormycosis from clinical presentation to surgical and pharmacological treatment to improve the disease prognosis.
This case series was conducted at a specialized surgery hospital in Baghdad Medical City for over 10 months. Fifteen cases who had mild to severe COVID‐19 infections followed by symptoms similar to aggressive periodontitis, such as mobility and bone resorption around the multiple maxillary teeth, were included in this case series.
This study aims to analyze the spatial distribution of the epidemic spread and the role of the physical, social, and economic characteristics in this spreading. A geographically weighted regression (GWR) model was built within a GIS environment using infection data monitored by the Iraqi Ministry of Health records for 10 months from March to December 2020. The factors adopted in this model are the size of urban interaction areas and human gatherings, movement level and accessibility, and the volume of public services and facilities that attract people. The results show that it would be possible to deal with each administrative unit in proportion to its circumstances in light of the factors that appe
The aim of this study was to critically appraise and synthesize the best available evidence on the effectiveness of interventions suitable for delivery by nurses, designed to enhance cardiac patients' adherence to their prescribed medications.
Cardiac medications have statistically significant health benefits for patients with heart disease, but patients' adherence to prescribed medications remains suboptimal.
A systematic quantitative review of intervention effects.
Objective: To review and identify the major drivers for COVID-19 vaccine acceptance. Methods: A scoping review of studies of COVID-19 vaccine perceptions and barriers to using the COVID-19 vaccines. Two search engines, including PubMed and Google Scholar, were purposefully searched. Results: Eight studies from different countries were reviewed to categorize factors influencing people's acceptance of COVID-19 according to the Health Belief Model (HBM). Perceived susceptibility, and severity of the disease (COVID-19), in addition to perceived benefits of COVID-19 vaccination and "cues to action", can enhance vaccination acceptance. In contrast, perceived barriers to the COVID-19 vaccine can increase people's hesitancy to be vaccinated
... Show MoreThe pandemic of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19), first reported in China, in December 2019 and since then the digestive tract involvement of COVID-19 has been progressively described. In this review, I summed recent studies, which have addressed the pathophysiology of COVID-19-induced gastrointestinal symptoms, their prevalence, and bowel pathological and radiological findings of infected patients. The effects of gut microbiota on SARS-CoV-2 and the challenges of nutritional therapy of the infected patients are depicted. Moreover, I provide a concise summary of the recommendations on the management of inflammatory bowel disease, colorectal cancer, and performing endoscopy in the COVID era. Finally, the COVID pancreatic re
... Show MoreThe objective of this study was to investigate the levels of depression, anxiety, and stress among dentists during covid-19 lockdown and to investigate the relationship between stress and each mental health state.
A cross-sectional survey on 269 dentists was conducted using DASS-21 and PHQ-9 questionnaires. Bivariate and multivariate models were constructed and the odds ratio (OR) was calculated to assess the strength of the association between an independent categorical variable and the outcome.
Being unsatisfied with the job was as
The COVID-19 pandemic has necessitated new methods for controlling the spread of the virus, and machine learning (ML) holds promise in this regard. Our study aims to explore the latest ML algorithms utilized for COVID-19 prediction, with a focus on their potential to optimize decision-making and resource allocation during peak periods of the pandemic. Our review stands out from others as it concentrates primarily on ML methods for disease prediction.To conduct this scoping review, we performed a Google Scholar literature search using "COVID-19," "prediction," and "machine learning" as keywords, with a custom range from 2020 to 2022. Of the 99 articles that were screened for eligibility, we selected 20 for the final review.Our system
... Show MoreBackground: Chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) is a progressive airflow limitation that is preventable but not curable. It is associated with persistent symptoms that cause a considerable burden on individual productivity at work, and daily activities, and reduced quality of life, also burdening the healthcare system and society. Objectives: The study aims to measure the burden of COPD on patients in terms of daily activities and work productivity. It also seeks to investigate some inflammatory biomarkers' levels and their correlation with selected outcomes. Patients and Methods: A cross-sectional study on 120 stable COPD patients who were diagnosed and treated according to the GOLD guidelines at Kirkuk General Hospital's
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