Significant reduction in the visits to the emergency room department during the COVID-19 pandemic in a tertiary hospital in Greece: Indirect victims of the pandemic?

COVID-19 pandemic caused a major crisis, affecting and straining health care systems, including some very advanced ones. The pandemic may have also indirectly affected access to health care for patients with other conditions, not related to COVID-19, even in countries not overwhelmed by an outbreak.We analyzed and compared visits to the emergency room (ER) department during the same calendar period of 2019 and 2020 (from March 1 to March 31 of each year) in our hospital, a medium size, tertiary center, located in the center of Athens, which is not a referral center for COVID-19.

Long-Term BMI changes since adolescence and markers of early and advanced subclinical atherosclerosis.

Although long-term weight gain has been associated with cardiovascular risk and intima-media thickening (IMT), no sufficient data exist on possible associations of such weight changes with more advanced stages of subclinical atherosclerosis. Moreover, the value of self-reported weight changes, a more practical approach to assess long-term history in adiposity status, is still a matter of debate. In this longitudinal study, long-term changes in BMI and overweight status were assessed in 106 healthy young adults (age 40.

Chlamydia pneumoniae and Epstein-Barr antibodies are not associated with carotid thickness: the effect of hypertension.

Background: To examine the relationship between Chlamydia pneumoniae (C. pneumoniae) seropositivity and carotid intima-media thickness (IMT) in three selected groups: 1) hypertensives; 2) white coat hypertensives; and 3) normotensives. Epstein-Barr antibodies were also measured.

High prevalence of Chlamydia pneumoniae antibodies in white-coat hypertensives.

Previous studies have linked essential sustained hypertension with Chlamydia pneumoniae (C. pneumoniae) and changes in intima-media thickness (IMT) of carotid arteries. The aim of this study was to examine if similar associations exist in subjects with white-coat hypertension.