Seyedreza Mirsoleymani; Seyyed Mojtaba Nekooghadam; Milad Ahmadi Marzaleh; Mahmoudreza Peyravi; Ahmad Soltani; Simintaj Sharififar; Rita Rezaee; Mahnaz Ahmadi; Hossein Akbarialiabad
Volume 22, Issue 9 , 2020
Abstract
Background: The outbreak of Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19) has led to a major concern for those who are more vulnerable to infections.
Objectives: This study aimed to evaluate the most important risk factors for severe COVID-19 pneumonia.
Methods: This retrospective study included information ...
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Background: The outbreak of Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19) has led to a major concern for those who are more vulnerable to infections.
Objectives: This study aimed to evaluate the most important risk factors for severe COVID-19 pneumonia.
Methods: This retrospective study included information on clinical and epidemiological features of 105 patients with severe COVID-19 pneumonia hospitalized in Tajrish Hospital, Tehran, Iran. Initially, the medical records of the patients were investigated, and an interview was conducted based on a pre-prepared checklist to seek information about symptoms, past medical history, medication history, and behavior before hospitalization.
Results: Out of 105 participants, 76 (72.5%) cases were male, and 54 (51.4%) patients were older than 54 years old. The majority of the patients (n=18; 17.1%) had both hypertension and diabetes (n=12; 11.4%). Metformin (n=36; 34.3%) was the most used medication amongst the studied patient. In addition, 24 (22.9%) patients were recreational hookah smokers, and the majority (75%) of them were under the age of 46 years old. Eventually, 19 patients were excluded from the study, of whom 11 individuals had diabetes, and 10 cases were using metformin.
Conclusion: Apparently, hookah smoking played a critical role in the spread of COVID-19 in Iran and has made younger people more susceptible. In addition to older age, the immunosuppressive effects of Metformin seem to make diabetic patients with an impaired immune system more vulnerable to severe COVID-19 pneumonia. More studies on the immune system of vulnerable individuals by identifying their differences can help to protect them.
Milad Ahmadi Marzaleh; Rita Rezaee; Abbas Rezaianzadeh; Mahnaz Rakhshan; Gholamhassan Haddadi; Mahmoudreza Peyravi
Volume 21, Issue 5 , 2019, Pages 1-8
Abstract
Background: The emergency department is the entrance gate of patients to a hospital. Hospitals are confronted with major chal- lenges in radiation, nuclear accidents, and nuclear terrorism. Iran is also at risk of disasters, accidents, and threats, so, the possibility of nuclear and radiation accidents ...
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Background: The emergency department is the entrance gate of patients to a hospital. Hospitals are confronted with major chal- lenges in radiation, nuclear accidents, and nuclear terrorism. Iran is also at risk of disasters, accidents, and threats, so, the possibility of nuclear and radiation accidents cannot be neglected.Objectives: The present study aimed to extract the effective factors in emergency department preparedness of hospitals for radia- tion, nuclear accidents, and nuclear terrorism in Iran.Methods: This qualitative study was conducted using in-depth semi-structured interviews with 32 key informants selected through purposive and snowball sampling. Experts were from seven different specialties. Data were analyzed using the thematic analysis method in order to extract the effective factors in emergency department preparedness of hospitals for radiation, nuclear accidents, and nuclear terrorism in Iran in 2019. The interviews were held in the cities of Bushehr, Tehran, Shiraz, and Isfahan from September 2018 to February 2019.Results: Effective factors in emergency department preparedness of hospitals were categorized into staff preparedness, equipment preparedness, and system preparedness with 20 subcategories. The experts emphasized that training courses and exercises could enhance the preparedness and response to these accidents.Conclusions: This study showed that the emergency departments of hospitals in Iran have many challenges. When the country moves towards having nuclear technology, must also provide the infrastructure of the preparedness. There must be an attempt toreduce these challenges by providing financial and structural support. Identifying effective factors in preparation can be helpful in setting up programs for emergency department preparedness of hospitals against nuclear and radiation accidents.
