COVID-19

The United States continues to have significantly higher excess death rates compared with similarly high-income European countries, and this gap widened during the pandemic, according to study results published in PLoS One.

A 2022 outbreak of unexplained acute severe hepatitis in children has been linked to a strain of adeno-associated virus 2, supporting the theory that disease pathogenesis results from viral coinfection, according to data reported in Nature.

Glucocorticoid use, older age, male sex and comorbidity burden are among the predictors of more severe COVID-19 in patients with psoriasis, psoriatic arthritis or axial spondyloarthritis, according to data.

Onset of the COVID-19 pandemic was associated with significant increases in postpartum opioid fills, which may lead to increases in adverse outcomes, according to a retrospective cross-sectional study published in JAMA Network Open.

Patients hospitalized with COVID-19 who coughed 3.4 times per hour or less based on digital cough monitoring faced a greater risk for intubation or death, according to study results published in Journal of Biomedical Informatics.

SEATTLE —SARS-CoV-2 viral loads were more than four times lower among participants in a phase 3 trial who received the diabetes drug metformin than among those who received placebo, according to findings presented at a medical conference.

Prior COVID‐19 was not associated with a higher risk for complications during and after pharmacologic myocardial perfusion imaging stress testing, data from a large claims database analysis show.

Meaningful end-of-life care efforts during the COVID-19 pandemic included maintaining relationships with isolated patients, connecting patients to families and creating humanistic episodes, according to study results published in CHEST.

A survey assessing universal masking showed nearly all facilities represented planned to continue doing so, with the most common reasons being prevention of respiratory viruses and limiting the impact on staff.

Mothers who contract COVID-19 during pregnancy are more likely to have infants with a lower birth weight and greater weight gain during the first year of life compared with mothers who did not have COVID-19, according to study data.