INTRODUCTION: The National Institute of Health and Care Excellence (NICE) has defined the terms, 'acute coronavirus disease 2019' (COVID-19), 'ongoing symptomatic COVID-19' and 'post-COVID-19 syndrome', with the latter two described as having persistent symptoms after the onset of COVID-19 symptoms for 4-12 weeks and >12 weeks, respectively. Persistent symptoms can either be due to the after-effects of COVID-19 or new-onset diseases after acute COVID-19. All symptoms observed beyond 4 weeks after the onset of COVID-19 need not be present at the time of onset. Previous studies on persistent post-COVID-19 symptoms have not mentioned new-onset diseases after acute COVID-19, and only a select few studies have discussed such new-onset symptoms. METHODS: Ninety-five patients who attended the post-COVID-19 clinic completed the requisite follow-up till 16 weeks after COVID-19 symptom onset. Data was recorded on a predesigned proforma. Necessary investigations were conducted to rule out any other cause of persistent symptoms. RESULTS: Fatigue (62.1%), breathlessness (50.5%) and cough (27.4%) were the most common symptoms present beyond 4 weeks after the onset of COVID-19 symptoms. Forty-nine (51.57%) patients developed post-COVID-19 syndrome - their severity of symptoms (odds ratio [OR] 17.77) and longer duration of hospital stay (OR 1.095) during acute disease were significantly associated with the development of post-COVID-19 syndrome. During follow-up, 25 patients developed new-onset symptoms, such as diabetes mellitus, hypertension and idiopathic tachycardia. CONCLUSION Patients can have persistent symptoms, new-onset symptoms and new-onset diseases after recovery from acute COVID-19.
Humans ; COVID-19/diagnosis* ; Female ; Male ; Prospective Studies ; Middle Aged ; Adult ; Fatigue/etiology* ; Post-Acute COVID-19 Syndrome ; SARS-CoV-2 ; Aged ; Cough/etiology* ; Dyspnea/etiology*

Background: Predicting difficult intubation (DI) is a key challenge, as no single clinical predictor is sufficiently valid to predict the outcome. We evaluated the effectiveness of four upper airway ultrasonographic parameters in predicting DI. The validity of the models using combinations of ultrasonography-based parameters was also investigated. Methods: This prospective, observational, double-blinded cohort trial enrolled 1,043 surgical patients classified as American Society of Anesthesiologists physical status I–III without anticipated difficult airway. Preoperatively, their tongue thickness (TT), invisibility of hyoid bone (VH), and anterior neck soft tissue thickness from the skin to thyrohyoid membrane (ST) and hyoid bone (SH) were measured by sublingual and submandibular ultrasonography. The logistic regression, Youden index, and receiver operator characteristic analysis results were reported. Results: Overall, 58 (5.6%) patients were classified as DI. The TT, SH, ST, and VH had accuracies of 78.4%, 85.0%, 84.7%, and 84.9%, respectively. The optimal values of TT, SH, and ST for predicting DI were > 5.8 cm (sensitivity, 84.5%; specificity; 78.1%; AUC, 0.880), > 1.4 cm (sensitivity, 81%; specificity, 85.2%; AUC, 0.898), and > 2.4 cm (sensitivity, 75.9%; specificity, 85.2%; AUC, 0.885), respectively. VH had a sensitivity and specificity of 72.4% and 85.6% (AUC, 0.790. The AUC values of the five models (with combinations of three or four parameters) ranged from 0.975–0.992. ST and VH had a significant impact on the individual models. Conclusions SH had the best accuracy. Individual parameters showed limited validity. The model including all four parameters offered the best diagnostic value.

Background: Predicting difficult intubation (DI) is a key challenge, as no single clinical predictor is sufficiently valid to predict the outcome. We evaluated the effectiveness of four upper airway ultrasonographic parameters in predicting DI. The validity of the models using combinations of ultrasonography-based parameters was also investigated. Methods: This prospective, observational, double-blinded cohort trial enrolled 1,043 surgical patients classified as American Society of Anesthesiologists physical status I–III without anticipated difficult airway. Preoperatively, their tongue thickness (TT), invisibility of hyoid bone (VH), and anterior neck soft tissue thickness from the skin to thyrohyoid membrane (ST) and hyoid bone (SH) were measured by sublingual and submandibular ultrasonography. The logistic regression, Youden index, and receiver operator characteristic analysis results were reported. Results: Overall, 58 (5.6%) patients were classified as DI. The TT, SH, ST, and VH had accuracies of 78.4%, 85.0%, 84.7%, and 84.9%, respectively. The optimal values of TT, SH, and ST for predicting DI were > 5.8 cm (sensitivity, 84.5%; specificity; 78.1%; AUC, 0.880), > 1.4 cm (sensitivity, 81%; specificity, 85.2%; AUC, 0.898), and > 2.4 cm (sensitivity, 75.9%; specificity, 85.2%; AUC, 0.885), respectively. VH had a sensitivity and specificity of 72.4% and 85.6% (AUC, 0.790. The AUC values of the five models (with combinations of three or four parameters) ranged from 0.975–0.992. ST and VH had a significant impact on the individual models. Conclusions SH had the best accuracy. Individual parameters showed limited validity. The model including all four parameters offered the best diagnostic value.

BACKGROUND/AIMS: The aim of this study was to study the efficacy and safety of zolpidem for sleep disturbances in patients with cirrhosis. METHODS: Fifty-two Child-Turcotte-Pugh (CTP) class A or B cirrhotics with Pittsburgh Sleep Quality Index >5 were randomized to either zolpidem 5 mg daily (n=26) or placebo (n=26) for 4 weeks. RESULTS: The therapy of 4 weeks was completed by 23 patients receiving zolpidem (3 stopped treatment due to excessive daytime drowsiness) and 24 receiving placebo (2 refused to continue the study). In the zolpidem group, after 4 weeks of therapy, there was significant increase in total sleep time (TST) and sleep efficiency compared to baseline and improvement in polysomnographic parameters of sleep initiation and maintenance (i.e., decrease in sleep latency time, decrease in wake time, and decreases in number of arousals and periodic limbs movements per hour of sleep), without any significant change in sleep architecture. CONCLUSIONS: Four weeks of 5 mg daily zolpidem in CTP class A or B cirrhosis patients with insomnia led to significant increases in TST and sleep efficiency and improvement in polysomnographic parameters of sleep initiation and maintenance without any significant change in sleep architecture.
Arousal ; Cytidine Triphosphate ; Extremities ; Fibrosis ; Humans ; Sleep Initiation and Maintenance Disorders