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Background: Many severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus-2 (SARS-CoV-2) positive patients take commonly prescribed medications with properties which may affect mortality.
Objective: Assess if common medications postulated to affect clinical outcomes are associated with mortality in SARS-CoV-2 positive patients in the Veterans Health Administration (VHA).
Design: Observational national cohort analysis.
Participants: Consecutive 26,508 SARS-CoV-2 positive Veterans (7% of 399,290 tested from March 1 to September 10, 2020) constitute the study cohort.
Main Measures: The primary outcome was 30-day mortality from the first positive SARS-CoV-2 test date. In patients receiving medications or drug pairs within 2 weeks post-SARS-CoV-2 positive test, 30-day mortality was estimated as relative risk (RR) on the log-binomial scale or using multinomial models with and without adjusting for covariates.
Key Results: The 26,508 SARS-CoV-2 positive patients were predominantly male (89%) and White (59%), and 82% were overweight/obese. Medications associated with decreased 30-day mortality risk included the following: metformin (aRR, 0.33; 95% CI, 0.25-0.43), colchicine, angiotensin-converting-enzyme inhibitors (ACEi), angiotensin II receptor blockers, statins, vitamin D, antihistamines, alpha-blockers, anti-androgens, and nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drugs (aRR, 0.69; 95% CI, 0.61-0.78). The effect of co-prescribed medications on 30-day mortality risk revealed the lowest risk for combined statins and metformin (aRR, 0.21; 95% CI, 0.15-0.31), followed by ACEi and statins (aRR, 0.25; 95% CI, 0.18-0.35), ACEi and metformin (aRR, 0.26; 95% CI, 0.17-0.40), antihistamines and NSAIDs (aRR, 0.41; 95% CI, 0.32-0.52), and in men, combined alpha-blockers and anti-androgens (aRR, 0.51; 95% CI, 0.42-0.64).
Conclusions: In this large national cohort, treatment of SARS-CoV-2 positive patients with individual or co-prescribed metformin and statins, ACEi and statins (or metformin) and other medications was associated with a markedly decreased 30-day mortality and can likely be continued safely. Clinical trials may assess their therapeutic benefit.
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http://dx.doi.org/10.1007/s11606-022-07701-3 | DOI Listing |
Infection
September 2025
General Intensive Care Unit, University Hospital Southampton NHS Foundation Trust, Tremona Road, Southampton, SO16 6YD, UK.
Introduction: Severe viral infections are common in patients requiring admission to intensive care units (ICU). Furthermore, these patients often have additional secondary or co-infections. Despite their prevalence, it remains uncertain to what extent those additional infections contribute to worse outcomes for patients with severe viral infections requiring ICU admission.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFInfluenza Other Respir Viruses
September 2025
World Health Organization Regional Office for Europe, Copenhagen, Denmark.
Background: Few studies have evaluated COVID-19 vaccine effectiveness (VE) in middle-income countries, particularly in eastern Europe. We aimed to estimate COVID-19 VE against SARS-CoV-2-confirmed hospitalizations and severe outcomes in Kosovo.
Methods: We conducted a test-negative case-control study using data from Kosovo's severe acute respiratory infection (SARI) sentinel surveillance system from January 2022 to June 2024.
BMJ Glob Health
September 2025
Aix-Marseille Univ, IRD, SSA, MINES, Marseille, France.
Introduction: Several sub-Saharan African countries are launching malaria vaccination programmes for children. We assessed how attitudes to malaria vaccination for children could be better understood by considering the individual dynamics of COVID-19 vaccine intention/uptake over the 2021-2023 campaigns, with a view to highlighting barriers likely to affect malaria vaccine uptake.
Methods: We conducted a six-wave telephone-based survey of 600 randomly selected Senegalese households.
J Med Internet Res
September 2025
Chulalongkorn University, Bangkok, Thailand.
Background: The interprofessional educational curriculum for patient and personnel safety is of critical importance, especially in the context of the COVID-19 pandemic, to prepare junior multiprofessional teams for emergency settings.
Objective: This study aimed to evaluate the effectiveness of an innovative interprofessional educational curriculum that integrated medical movies, massive open online courses (MOOCs), and 3D computer-based or virtual reality (VR) simulation-based interprofessional education (SimBIE) with team co-debriefing to enhance interprofessional collaboration and team performance using Team Strategies and Tools to Enhance Performance and Patient Safety (TeamSTEPPS). This study addressed 3 key questions.
JMIR Form Res
September 2025
Department of Psychological Science, School of Social Ecology, University of California, Irvine, 4201 Social and Behavioral Sciences Gateway, Irvine, CA, 92697, United States, 1 203-887-8857.
Background: Rates of loneliness have risen sharply since the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic, largely due to disruptions in social relationships and daily routines, with college students experiencing some of the greatest increases. While prevention programs targeting loneliness have been developed, their success has been limited. One promising approach may lie in enhancing the quality of existing relationships rather than simply increasing social interactions during periods of acute loneliness.
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