Responses to COVID-19 in five Latin American countries.

Background: COVID-19 reached Latin-American countries slightly later than European countries, around February/March, allowing some emergency preparedness response in countries characterized by low health system capacities and socioeconomic disparities.

Objective: This paper focuses on the first months of the pandemic in five Latin American countries: Brazil, Chile, Colombia, Ecuador and Peru. It analyses how the pre-pandemic context, and the government's responses to contain and mitigate the spread together with economic measures have affected the COVID-19 health outcomes.

Long-term effect of continuous positive airway pressure on BP in patients with hypertension and sleep apnea.

Objective: To analyze the long-term effect of continuous positive airway pressure (CPAP) on ambulatory BP in patients with obstructive sleep apnea (OSA) and hypertension, and to identify subgroups of patients for whom CPAP could be more effective.

Methods: We conducted a prospective, long-term follow-up trial (24 months) in 55 patients with OSA and hypertension (mean CPAP use, 5.3 +/- 1.