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 Lung diseases worsen COVID-19 by altering airway genes
New findings shed light on why chronic lung diseases that block the
airways - such as chronic bronchitis, emphysema and pulmonary
fibrosis - increase patients' risks for severe COVID-19. The
diseases cause genetic changes in the epithelial cells that line the
airways, making the cells more vulnerable to attack from the
coronavirus, researchers reported on Wednesday in Nature
Communications https://go.nature.com/3kmjsYy. Laboratory studies of
these cells found changes in their molecular makeup that likely make
it easier for the virus to enter the body, make copies of itself,
and trigger out-of-control immune responses that fill the lungs with
fluid and cause severe organ damage. The researchers, led by
Nicholas Banovich at Translational Genomics Research Institute in
Phoenix, were only able to examine cells from lung-disease patients
without COVID-19 but said their "study highlights crucial areas for
future research."
Anemia linked with rehospitalization
Anemia, a blood disorder characterized by a low red blood cell
count, should probably be added to the list of risk factors for
poorer COVID-19 outcomes, according to researchers who studied 374
COVID-19 survivors who were hospitalized and then released, with
tests showing the virus was gone from their systems. They found that
104 patients needed to be rehospitalized, and rates of moderate or
severe anemia (as indicated by levels of hemoglobin, a protein in
red blood cells that carries oxygen) were higher among the
readmitted patients in the year before their COVID-19 diagnosis and
while they were sick with the coronavirus. The study, published in
iScience https://bit.ly/3wHhHaO, cannot prove that anemia caused or
contributed to the readmissions. Still, the research team from data
analytics company nference in Cambridge, Massachusetts said the
"robust association" of anemia with rehospitalization calls for
research into whether anemia treatments might be beneficial in some
cases.
Heart problems unlikely after mild COVID-19
Survivors of mild cases of COVID-19 do not need to be screened later
for heart problems, researchers advise. They performed
cardiovascular magnetic resonance imaging on 74 healthcare workers
who had recovered six months earlier from mild or asymptomatic
coronavirus infections, and on 75 uninfected individuals matched for
age, sex, and ethnicity. According to a report published on Tuesday
in European Heart Journal: Cardiovascular Imaging ttps://bit.ly/2U9Brqx,
there were no differences between the survivor group and the control
group in any parameters of heart structure or function or in lab
tests that would suggest heart disease.
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 The researchers, led by
George Joy of Barts Heart Center in London,
conclude, "Our study provides societal
reassurance for the cardiovascular health of
working-aged individuals with convalescence from
mild SARS-CoV-2. Screening asymptomatic
individuals following mild diseases is not
indicated."
Variants causing more severe COVID-19 in Canada
The Alpha, Beta and Gamma variants of the novel coronavirus
increased patients' risks of hospitalization and death by 60%
compared to earlier forms of the virus, and the Delta variant was
even more virulent, according to researchers who studied more than
211,000 patients in Canada diagnosed with COVID-19 between February
and June 2021. Alpha, Beta and Gamma - first seen in the UK, South
Africa and Brazil - more than doubled the risk of needing intensive
care, even though the patients were generally younger and healthier
than those infected earlier in the pandemic. With the Delta variant,
first identified in India and now becoming dominant in many
countries, "risks of hospitalization and death more than doubled,
and risk of ICU admission more than tripled" compared to earlier
SARS-CoV-2 strains, said Dr. David Fisman of the University of
Toronto, who coauthored a report posted on Monday on medRxiv
https://bit.ly/3egxgjs ahead of peer review. He told Reuters his
team did find an overall downward trend in disease severity over
time, likely because of vaccinations.
Click for a Reuters graphic https://tmsnrt.rs/3c7R3Bl on vaccines in
development.
(Reporting by Nancy Lapid; Editing by Tiffany Wu)
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