A New Natural Language Processing-Inspired Methodology (Detection, Initial Characterization, and Semantic Characterization) to Investigate Temporal Shifts (Drifts) in Health Care Data: Quantitative Study.

Background: Proper analysis and interpretation of health care data can significantly improve patient outcomes by enhancing services and revealing the impacts of new technologies and treatments. Understanding the substantial impact of temporal shifts in these data is crucial. For example, COVID-19 vaccination initially lowered the mean age of at-risk patients and later changed the characteristics of those who died.

Comprehensive statistical analysis reveals significant benefits of COVID-19 vaccination in hospitalized patients: propensity score, covariate adjustment, and feature importance by permutation.

Background: COVID-19 vaccines effectively prevent infection and hospitalization. However, few population-based studies have compared the clinical characteristics and outcomes of patients hospitalized for COVID-19 using advanced statistical methods. Our objective is to address this evidence gap by comparing vaccinated and unvaccinated patients hospitalized for COVID-19.

Utility index and vision-related quality of life in patients awaiting specialist eye care.

Objectives: This study aimed to ascertain utility and vision-related quality of life in patients awaiting access to specialist eye care. A secondary aim was to evaluate the association of utility indices with demographic profile and waiting time.

Methods: Consecutive patients that had been waiting for ophthalmology care answered the 25-item National Eye Institute Visual Function Questionnaire (NEI VFQ-25).

Palliative care and COVID-19: acknowledging past mistakes to forge a better future.

Context: COVID-19 induces complex distress across physical, psychological, and social realms and palliative care (PC) has the potential to mitigate this suffering significantly.

Objectives: To describe the clinical characteristics and outcomes of COVID-19 patients with an indication of PC, compared to patients who had no indication, in different pandemic waves.

Methods: This retrospective multicenter observational cohort included patients from 40 hospitals, admitted from March 2020 to August 2022.

Clinical characteristics and outcomes in COVID-19 in kidney transplant recipients: a propensity score matched cohort study.

Patients with chronic kidney disease (CKD), especially those on dialysis or who have received a kidney transplant (KT), are considered more vulnerable to severe COVID-19. This susceptibility is attributed to advanced age, a higher frequency of comorbidities, and the chronic immunosuppressed state, which may exacerbate their susceptibility to severe outcomes. Therefore, our study aimed to compare the clinical characteristics and outcomes of COVID-19 in KT patients with those on chronic dialysis and non-CKD patients in a propensity score-matched cohort study.

Patients hospitalized with active tuberculosis and Covid-19 coinfection: A matched case-control from the Brazilian Covid-19 Registry.

Although control of Covid-19 has improved, the virus continues to cause infections, such as tuberculosis, that is still endemic in many countries, representing a scenario of coinfection. To compare Covid-19 clinical manifestations and outcomes between patients with active tuberculosis infection and matched controls. This is a matched case-control study based on data from the Brazilian Covid-19 Registry, in hospitalized patients aged 18 or over with laboratory confirmed Covid-19 from March 1, 2020, to March 31, 2022.

ABCO risk score for in-hospital mortality of COVID-19 patients admitted to intensive care units.

Purpose: To develop a mortality risk score for COVID-19 patients admitted to intensive care units (ICU), and to compare it with other existing scores.

Materials And Methods: This retrospective observational study included consecutive adult patients with laboratory-confirmed COVID-19 admitted to ICUs of 18 hospitals from nine Brazilian cities, from September 2021 to July 2022. Potential predictors were selected based on the literature review.

Corrigendum: Assessment of risk scores to predict mortality of COVID-19 patients admitted to the intensive care unit.

[This corrects the article DOI: 10.3389/fmed.2023.

Clinical characteristics and outcomes of COVID-19 patients with preexisting dementia: a large multicenter propensity-matched Brazilian cohort study.

Background: Although dementia has emerged as an important risk factor for severe SARS-CoV-2 infection, results on COVID-19-related complications and mortality are not consistent. We examined the clinical presentations and outcomes of COVID-19 in a multicentre cohort of in-hospital patients, comparing those with and without dementia.

Methods: This retrospective observational study comprises COVID-19 laboratory-confirmed patients aged ≥ 60 years admitted to 38 hospitals from 19 cities in Brazil.

Real-Life Data on Hydroxychloroquine or Chloroquine with or Without Azithromycin in COVID-19 Patients: A Retrospective Analysis in Brazil.

Background: Despite no evidence showing benefits of hydroxychloroquine and chloroquine with or without azithromycin for COVID-19 treatment, these medications have been largely prescribed in Brazil.

Objectives: To assess outcomes, including in-hospital mortality, electrocardiographic abnormalities, hospital length-of-stay, admission to the intensive care unit, and need for dialysis and mechanical ventilation, in hospitalized COVID-19 patients who received chloroquine or hydroxychloroquine, and to compare outcomes between those patients and their matched controls.

Methods: A retrospective multicenter cohort study that included consecutive laboratory-confirmed COVID-19 patients from 37 Brazilian hospitals from March to September 2020.

Temporal validation of the MMCD score to predict kidney replacement therapy and in-hospital mortality in COVID-19 patients.

Background: Acute kidney injury has been described as a common complication in patients hospitalized with COVID-19, which may lead to the need for kidney replacement therapy (KRT) in its most severe forms. Our group developed and validated the MMCD score in Brazilian COVID-19 patients to predict KRT, which showed excellent performance using data from 2020. This study aimed to validate the MMCD score in a large cohort of patients hospitalized with COVID-19 in a different pandemic phase and assess its performance to predict in-hospital mortality.

COVID-19 outcomes in people living with HIV: Peering through the waves.

Objective: To evaluate clinical characteristics and outcomes of COVID-19 patients infected with HIV, and to compare with a paired sample without HIV infection.

Methods: This is a substudy of a Brazilian multicentric cohort that comprised two periods (2020 and 2021). Data was obtained through the retrospective review of medical records.

Assessment of risk scores to predict mortality of COVID-19 patients admitted to the intensive care unit.

Objectives: To assess the ABC-SPH score in predicting COVID-19 in-hospital mortality, during intensive care unit (ICU) admission, and to compare its performance with other scores (SOFA, SAPS-3, NEWS2, 4C Mortality Score, SOARS, CURB-65, modified CHA2DS2-VASc, and a novel severity score).

Materials And Methods: Consecutive patients (≥ 18 years) with laboratory-confirmed COVID-19 admitted to ICUs of 25 hospitals, located in 17 Brazilian cities, from October 2020 to March 2022, were included. Overall performance of the scores was evaluated using the Brier score.

Potential and limitations of machine meta-learning (ensemble) methods for predicting COVID-19 mortality in a large inhospital Brazilian dataset.

The majority of early prediction scores and methods to predict COVID-19 mortality are bound by methodological flaws and technological limitations (e.g., the use of a single prediction model).

Myocardial Injury and Prognosis in Hospitalized COVID-19 Patients in Brazil: Results From The Brazilian COVID-19 Registry.

Background: Cardiovascular complications of COVID-19 are important aspects of the disease's pathogenesis and prognosis. Evidence on the prognostic role of troponin and myocardial injury in Latin American hospitalized COVID-19 patients is still scarce.

Objectives: To evaluate myocardial injury as independent predictor of in-hospital mortality and invasive mechanical ventilation support in hospitalized patients, from the Brazilian COVID-19 Registry.

Clinical characteristics and outcomes of hospital-manifested COVID-19 among Brazilians.

Objectives: To analyze the clinical characteristics and outcomes of admitted patients with the hospital- versus community-manifested COVID-19 and to evaluate the risk factors related to mortality in the first population.

Methods: This retrospective cohort included consecutive adult patients with COVID-19, hospitalized between March and September 2020. The demographic data, clinical characteristics, and outcomes were extracted from medical records.

Frequency and burden of neurological manifestations upon hospital presentation in COVID-19 patients: Findings from a large Brazilian cohort.

Background: Scientific data regarding the prevalence of COVID-19 neurological manifestations and prognosis in Latin America countries is still lacking. Therefore, the study aims to understand neurological manifestations of SARS-CoV 2 infection and outcomes in the Brazilian population.

Methods: This study is part of the Brazilian COVID-19 Registry, a multicentric cohort, including data from 37 hospitals.

Hospital characteristics associated with COVID-19 mortality: data from the multicenter cohort Brazilian Registry.

The COVID-19 pandemic caused unprecedented pressure over health care systems worldwide. Hospital-level data that may influence the prognosis in COVID-19 patients still needs to be better investigated. Therefore, this study analyzed regional socioeconomic, hospital, and intensive care units (ICU) characteristics associated with in-hospital mortality in COVID-19 patients admitted to Brazilian institutions.

Neurological manifestations by sex and age group in COVID-19 inhospital patients.

Introduction: Neurological manifestations have been associated with a poorer prognosis in COVID-19. However, data regarding their incidence according to sex and age groups is still lacking.

Methods: This retrospective multicentric cohort collected data from 39 Brazilian hospitals from 17 cities, from adult COVID-19 admitted from March 2020 to January 2022.

Predictors of venous thromboembolism in COVID-19 patients: results of the COVID-19 Brazilian Registry.

Previous studies that assessed risk factors for venous thromboembolism (VTE) in COVID-19 patients have shown inconsistent results. Our aim was to investigate VTE predictors by both logistic regression (LR) and machine learning (ML) approaches, due to their potential complementarity. This cohort study of a large Brazilian COVID-19 Registry included 4120 COVID-19 adult patients from 16 hospitals.

Hypothyroidism does not lead to worse prognosis in COVID-19: findings from the Brazilian COVID-19 registry.

Background: It is not clear whether previous thyroid diseases influence the course and outcomes of COVID-19.

Methods: The study is a part of a multicentric cohort of patients with confirmed COVID-19 diagnosis from 37 hospitals. Matching for age, sex, number of comorbidities, and hospital was performed for the paired analysis.