Severity Patterns in COVID-19 Hospitalised Patients in Spain: I-MOVE-COVID-19 Study.

In the frame of the I-MOVE-COVID-19 project, a cohort of 2050 patients admitted in two Spanish reference hospitals between March 2020 and December 2021 was selected and a range of clinical factor data were collected at admission to assess their impact on the risk COVID-19 severity outcomes through a multivariate adjusted analysis and nomograms. The need for ventilation and intensive care unit (ICU) admission were found to be directly associated with a higher death risk (OR 6.9 and 3.

Severity of respiratory syncytial virus compared with SARS-CoV-2 and influenza among hospitalised adults ≥65 years.

Introduction: Our aim was to estimate the risk of pneumonia, admission to intensive care unit (ICU) or death in individuals ≥65 years old admitted to hospital with RSV, compared to influenza or COVID-19.

Methods: We included hospitalised patients from Severe Acute Respiratory Infection Surveillance in Spain between 2021-2024, aged ≥65 years, laboratory confirmed for RSV, influenza or SARS-CoV-2. Using a binomial regression with logarithmic link, we estimated the relative risk (RR) of pneumonia, ICU admission and in-hospital mortality, in patients with RSV compared to influenza or SARS-CoV-2, adjusting for age, sex, season and comorbidities.

Exploring the effect of clinical case definitions on influenza vaccine effectiveness estimation at primary care level: Results from the end-of-season 2022-23 VEBIS multicentre study in Europe.

Background: Within influenza vaccine effectiveness (VE) studies at primary care level with a laboratory-confirmed outcome, clinical case definitions for recruitment of patients can vary. We used the 2022-23 VEBIS primary care European multicentre study end-of-season data to evaluate whether the clinical case definition affected IVE estimates.

Methods: We estimated VE using a multicentre test-negative case-control design.

Influenza hospitalisations in Spain between the last influenza and COVID-19 pandemic (2009-2019).

Knowing the burden of severe disease caused by influenza is essential for disease risk communication, to understand the true impact of vaccination programmes and to guide public health and disease control measures. We estimated the number of influenza-attributable hospitalisations in Spain during the 2010-2011 to 2019-2020 seasons - based on the hospitalisations due to severe acute respiratory infection (SARI) in Spain using the hospital discharge database and virological influenza information from the Spanish Influenza Sentinel Surveillance System (SISSS). The weekly numbers of influenza-attributable hospitalisations were calculated by multiplying the weekly SARI hospitalisations by the weekly influenza virus positivity, obtained from the SISSS in each season, stratified by age group and sex.

Traumatic stress symptoms among Spanish healthcare workers during the COVID-19 pandemic: a prospective study.

Aim: To investigate the occurrence of traumatic stress symptoms (TSS) among healthcare workers active during the COVID-19 pandemic and to obtain insight as to which pandemic-related stressful experiences are associated with onset and persistence of traumatic stress.

Methods: This is a multicenter prospective cohort study. Spanish healthcare workers ( = 4,809) participated at an initial assessment (i.

Impact of Influenza Vaccination on the Burden of Severe Influenza in the Elderly: Spain, 2017-2020.

Annual influenza vaccination is the main strategy to reduce the burden of seasonal influenza epidemics and is recommended for the elderly in most countries with influenza vaccination strategies, with the main objective of preventing hospitalizations and mortality associated with seasonal influenza in this age group. Studies from different countries have estimated the benefits of seasonal influenza vaccination programs in the elderly, preventing a considerable number of cases, hospitalizations and deaths every year. A study measured the number of medically attended confirmed influenza cases in primary care that are prevented annually by vaccination in the population aged 65 and older in Spain, the Netherlands and Portugal, but estimates of the impact of the national influenza vaccination program in the prevention of severe disease in Spain are lacking.

Effect of neuraminidase inhibitor (oseltamivir) treatment on outcome of hospitalised influenza patients, surveillance data from 11 EU countries, 2010 to 2020.

BackgroundTimely treatment with neuraminidase inhibitors (NAI) can reduce severe outcomes in influenza patients.AimWe assessed the impact of antiviral treatment on in-hospital deaths of laboratory-confirmed influenza patients in 11 European Union countries from 2010/11 to 2019/20.MethodsCase-based surveillance data from hospitalised patients with known age, sex, outcome, ward, vaccination status, timing of antiviral treatment, and hospitalisation were obtained.

[Comparative severity of COVID-19 cases caused by Alpha, Delta or Omicron SARS-CoV-2 variants and its association with vaccination].

Background: This study compares the severity of SARS-CoV-2 infections caused by Alpha, Delta or Omicron variants in periods of co-circulation in Spain, and estimates the variant-specific association of vaccination with severe disease.

Methods: SARS-CoV-2 infections notified to the national epidemiological surveillance network with information on genetic variant and vaccination status were considered cases if they required hospitalisation or controls otherwise. Alpha and Delta were compared during June–July 2021; and Delta and Omicron during December 2021–January 2022.

[Effectiveness of vaccines against SARS-CoV-2 used in Spain: infection, hospitalization and mortality in people aged fifty/fifty-nine.].

In this paper we compared brand-specific COVID-19 vaccine effectiveness (VE) during August 2021 in persons born 1962-1971 and vaccinated during June. For SARS-CoV-2 symptomatic infection, protection was lower for Janssen (56%; CI95%: 53-59) or AstraZeneca [Vaxzevria] (68%; CI95%: 65-70), compared to Pfizer-BioNTech [Comirnaty] (78%; CI95%: 77-78), AstraZeneca/Pfizer (86%; CI95%: 80-90) or Moderna [Spikevax] (89%; CI95%: 88-90). VE against hospitalization was ranged 86% for Janssen to 97%-98% for other vaccines.

COVID-19 vaccine effectiveness against hospitalization due to SARS-CoV-2: A test-negative design study based on Severe Acute Respiratory Infection (SARI) sentinel surveillance in Spain.

Background: With the emergence of SARS-CoV-2, influenza surveillance systems in Spain were transformed into a new syndromic sentinel surveillance system. The Acute Respiratory Infection Surveillance System (SiVIRA in Spanish) is based on a sentinel network for acute respiratory infection (ARI) surveillance in primary care and a network of sentinel hospitals for severe ARI (SARI) surveillance in hospitals.

Methods: Using a test-negative design and data from SARI admissions notified to SiVIRA between January 1 and October 3, 2021, we estimated COVID-19 vaccine effectiveness (VE) against hospitalization, by age group, vaccine type, time since vaccination, and SARS-CoV-2 variant.

Effectiveness of a Second Dose of an mRNA Vaccine Against Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome Coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) Omicron Infection in Individuals Previously Infected by Other Variants.

Background: Single-dose vaccination was widely recommended in the pre-Omicron era for persons with previous SARS-CoV-2 infection. The effectiveness of a second vaccine dose in this group in the Omicron era is unknown.

Methods: We linked nationwide population registries in Spain to identify community-dwelling individuals aged 18-64, with a positive SARS-CoV-2 test before single-dose mRNA vaccination (mRNA-1273 or BNT162b2).

Effectiveness of mRNA vaccine boosters against infection with the SARS-CoV-2 omicron (B.1.1.529) variant in Spain: a nationwide cohort study.

Background: The omicron (B.1.1.

Concentrations of nitrogen compounds are related to severe rhinovirus infection in infants. A time-series analysis from the reference area of a pediatric university hospital in Barcelona.

Background: There is scarce information focused on the effect of weather conditions and air pollution on specific acute viral respiratory infections, such as rhinovirus (RV), with a wide clinical spectrum of severity.

Objective: The aim of this study was to analyze the association between episodes of severe respiratory tract infection by RV and air pollutant concentrations (NO and SO ) in the reference area of a pediatric university hospital.

Methods: An analysis of temporal series of daily values of NO and SO , weather variables, circulating pollen and mold spores, and daily number of admissions in the pediatric intensive care unit (PICU) with severe respiratory RV infection (RVi) in children between 6 months and 18 years was performed.

Effectiveness of complete primary vaccination against COVID-19 at primary care and community level during predominant Delta circulation in Europe: multicentre analysis, I-MOVE-COVID-19 and ECDC networks, July to August 2021.

IntroductionIn July and August 2021, the SARS-CoV-2 Delta variant dominated in Europe.AimUsing a multicentre test-negative study, we measured COVID-19 vaccine effectiveness (VE) against symptomatic infection.MethodsIndividuals with COVID-19 or acute respiratory symptoms at primary care/community level in 10 European countries were tested for SARS-CoV-2.

Assessing the effect of non-pharmaceutical interventions on COVID-19 transmission in Spain, 30 August 2020 to 31 January 2021.

BackgroundAfter a national lockdown during the first wave of the COVID-19 pandemic in Spain, regional governments implemented different non-pharmaceutical interventions (NPIs) during the second wave.AimTo analyse which implemented NPIs significantly impacted effective reproduction number (R) in seven Spanish provinces during 30 August 2020-31 January 2021.MethodsWe coded each NPI and levels of stringency with a 'severity index' (SI) and computed a global SI (mean of SIs per six included interventions).

Near real-time surveillance of the SARS-CoV-2 epidemic with incomplete data.

When responding to infectious disease outbreaks, rapid and accurate estimation of the epidemic trajectory is critical. However, two common data collection problems affect the reliability of the epidemiological data in real time: missing information on the time of first symptoms, and retrospective revision of historical information, including right censoring. Here, we propose an approach to construct epidemic curves in near real time that addresses these two challenges by 1) imputation of dates of symptom onset for reported cases using a dynamically-estimated "backward" reporting delay conditional distribution, and 2) adjustment for right censoring using the NobBS software package to nowcast cases by date of symptom onset.

All-cause versus cause-specific excess deaths for estimating influenza-associated mortality in Denmark, Spain, and the United States.

Background: Seasonal influenza-associated excess mortality estimates can be timely and provide useful information on the severity of an epidemic. This methodology can be leveraged during an emergency response or pandemic.

Method: For Denmark, Spain, and the United States, we estimated age-stratified excess mortality for (i) all-cause, (ii) respiratory and circulatory, (iii) circulatory, (iv) respiratory, and (v) pneumonia, and influenza causes of death for the 2015/2016 and 2016/2017 influenza seasons.

Perimeter confinements of basic health zones and COVID-19 incidence in Madrid, Spain.

Background: A unique policy of perimeter closures of Basic Health Zones (small administrative health units) was implemented in the Autonomous Community of Madrid from September 21st 2020 to May 23rd 2021 to face the COVID-19 pandemic.

Aim: To assess the impact of local perimeter confinements on the 14-days cumulative incidence of SARS-CoV-2 during the second wave of the pandemic in Madrid, Spain.

Methods: We compare the errors in estimation of two families of mathematical models: ones that include the perimeter closures as explanatory covariables and ones that do not, in search of a significant improvement in estimation of one family over the other.

Regional excess mortality during the 2020 COVID-19 pandemic in five European countries.

The impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on excess mortality from all causes in 2020 varied across and within European countries. Using data for 2015-2019, we applied Bayesian spatio-temporal models to quantify the expected weekly deaths at the regional level had the pandemic not occurred in England, Greece, Italy, Spain, and Switzerland. With around 30%, Madrid, Castile-La Mancha, Castile-Leon (Spain) and Lombardia (Italy) were the regions with the highest excess mortality.

The Impact of COVID-19 on Mortality in Spain: Monitoring Excess Mortality (MoMo) and the Surveillance of Confirmed COVID-19 Deaths.

Measuring mortality has been a challenge during the COVID-19 pandemic. Here, we compared the results from the Spanish daily mortality surveillance system (MoMo) of excess mortality estimates, using a time series analysis, with those obtained for the confirmed COVID-19 deaths reported to the National Epidemiological Surveillance Network (RENAVE). The excess mortality estimated at the beginning of March 2020 was much greater than what has been observed in previous years, and clustered in a very short time.