geoffrey modest medical blogs

  A recent article found that family members of patients hospitalized with Covid-19 acute respiratory distress syndrome (ARDS), versus family members with non-Covid ARDS, had significantly more posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) related symptoms (see  covid PTSD fam members jam2022   in dropbox, or doi:10.1001/jama.2022.2017)   Details: -- 602 family members and 307 patients were prospectively enrolled from 23 ICUs in France, from January 2020 to June 2020, with final follow-up by October 2020     -- 517 family members of 307 surviving patients , of whom 273 (89%) completed a 90-day assessment:         -- 303 family members of Covid-19 patients (median of 112 days post discharge)         -- 214 family members of non-Covid patients -- comparing demographics of family members of Covid versus non-Covid ARDS patients: mean age 50  vs  55, 75% vs 68% women, 50%  vs  47% spouses of the ICU pa...

  A recent Spanish study found that vitamin D given to hospitalized patients was associated with significantly decreased ICU admissions and mortality, in a preprint pre-peer reviewed article (see  covid vit d decreases ICU and mortality lancet2021  in dropbox, or   https://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=3771318#   )    Details:  -- 930 patients who were admitted with Covid-19 in Barcelona, 551 randomized to vitamin D3 in the form of  calcifediol  vs 379 controls       -- patients were given 532 µg (21,280 IU) of vitamin D on day 1 of hospital admission and 266 µg (10,640 IU) on days 3, 7, 15, and 30  -- 56% male, mean age 63, 86% white/8% Asian  -- baseline 25(OH)D was 15 ng/mL in the treated group vs 12   ng/mL  in the nontreated group (p<0.001); of these, 66% had levels <20   ng/mL : 55% in the treated group and 50% in the untreated [these numbers do not exactly match...