Together, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) and asthma account for the most common non-infectious respiratory pathologies. Conflicting preliminary studies have shown varied effect for COPD and asthma as prognostic factors for mortality in coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19). The aim of this study was to explore the association of COPD and asthma with in-hospital mortality in patients with COVID-19 by systematically reviewing and synthesizing with a meta-analysis the available observational studies. MEDLINE, Scopus, and medRxiv databases were reviewed. A random-effects model meta-analysis was used, and I-square was utilized to assess for heterogeneity. In-hospital mortality was defined as the primary endpoint. Sensitivity and meta-regression analyses were performed. Thirty studies with 21,309 patients were included in this meta-analysis (1465 with COPD and 633 with asthma). Hospitalized COVID-19 patients with COPD had higher risk of death compared to those without COPD (OR: 2.29; 95% CI: 1.79–2.93; I² 59.6%). No significant difference in in-hospital mortality was seen in patients with and without asthma (OR: 0.87; 95% CI: 0.68–1.10; I² 0.0%). The likelihood of death was significantly higher in patients with COPD that were hospitalized with COVID-19 compared to patients without COPD. Further studies are needed to assess whether this association is independent or not. No significant difference was demonstrated in COVID-19-related mortality between patients with and without asthma.

While the relative efficacy of remdesivir as a therapeutic agent in selected patients with COVID-19 has been established, safety concerns have been raised regarding potential nephrotoxicity and hepatotoxicity. Our main objective was to investigate the kidney- and liver-related safety outcomes in patients with COVID-19 treated with remdesivir in a public hospital in New York. A propensity score-matched retrospective study was conducted in hospitalized patients with COVID-19 from 1 June 2020 to 10 March 2021. A total of 927 patients were included in this study (remdesivir: 427, non-remdesivir: 500; women: 51.8%; median age 61 years; median BMI: 28.5 kg/m²). Matching without replacement yielded a cohort of 248 patients (124 in each group). In the matched cohort, the remdesivir group had a significantly lower rate of acute kidney injury (AKI) (12.1% vs. 21.8%, p = 0.042), a lower rate of acute liver injury (ALI) on the verge of statistical significance (7.3% vs. 14.5%, p = 0.067), and non-significantly lower death rate (13.7% vs. 16.1%, p = 0.593) compared to the non-remdesivir group. Multivariable analyses revealed that patients treated with remdesivir were found to be associated with a significantly lower likelihood for AKI (OR: 0.40; 95% CI: 0.24–0.67, p < 0.001), no association was found for ALI (OR: 0.68; 95% CI: 0.35–1.30, p = 0.241), while a trend towards an association of patients treated with remdesivir with a lower likelihood for in-hospital death was observed (OR: 0.57; 95% CI: 0.32–1.01, p = 0.053). In conclusion, no safety concerns with regards to renal and liver outcomes were raised in patients with COVID-19 treated with remdesivir. Instead, there were signals of possible nephroprotection and improved in-hospital mortality.

Introducción: Se ha encontrado una prevalencia alta de parasitosis en escolares de la amazonía; pese a ello, no hay estudios realizadosque revisen su asociación con el nivel socioeconómico y estado nutricional. Objetivos: Determinar la relación entre nivel de pobreza yestado nutricional con la presencia de parásitos intestinales en estudiantes escolares del caserío Venenillo, Huánuco. Diseño: Estudiotransversal-analítico. Lugar: Caserío de Venenillo, Huánuco. Participantes: Estudiantes escolares de la única institución educativa delcentro poblado. Intervenciones: A 42 estudiantes se les realizó examen coproparasitológico mediante observación directa con lugoly técnica de sedimentación rápida de Lumbreras. El nivel de pobreza fue determinado mediante el índice de necesidades básicasinsatisfechas (NBI); y el grado de desnutrición, por medio del índice de Waterlow. El análisis estadístico fue realizado mediante elcoeficiente gamma de Goodman y Kruskal. Principales medidas de resultados: Relación de parasitosis intestinal con pobreza y estadonutricional. Resultados: Los parásitos intestinales estuvieron presentes en 97,6%. Se encontró asociación significativa entre el nivelde parasitismo y el nivel de pobreza (p=0,02; gamma=0,82). No se encontró asociación significativa entre nivel de desnutrición yparasitismo (p=0,77). Conclusiones: La parasitosis intestinal se asoció al nivel de pobreza, no así con el nivel de desnutrición en lapoblación de estudio.