Objective: Since the declaration of the coronavirus 2019 (COVID-19) outbreak as pandemic, there are reports on the increased prevalence of physical symptoms observed in the general population. We investigated the association between psychological outcomes and physical symptoms among healthcare workers. Methods: Healthcare workers from 5 major hospitals, involved in the care for COVID-19 patients, in Singapore and India were invited to participate in a study by performing a self-administered questionnaire within the period of February 19 to April 17, 2020. Healthcare workers included doctors, nurses, allied healthcare workers, administrators, clerical staff and maintenance workers. This questionnaire collected information on demographics, medical history, symptom prevalence in the past month, Depression Anxiety Stress Scales (DASS-21) and the Impact of Events Scale-Revised (IES-R) instrument. The prevalence of physical symptoms displayed by healthcare workers and the associations between physical symptoms and psychological outcomes of depression, anxiety, stress, and post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) were evaluated. Results: Out of the 906 healthcare workers who participated in the survey, 48 (5.3%) screened positive for moderate to very-severe depression, 79 (8.7%) for moderate to extremely-severe anxiety, 20 (2.2%) for moderate to extremely-severe stress, and 34 (3.8%) for moderate to severe levels of psychological distress. The commonest reported symptom was headache (32.3%), with a large number of participants (33.4%) reporting more than four symptoms. Participants who had experienced symptoms in the preceding month were more likely to be older, have pre-existing comorbidities and a positive screen for depression, anxiety, stress, and PTSD. After adjusting for age, gender and comorbidities, it was found that depression (OR 2.79, 95% CI 1.54-5.07, p = 0.001), anxiety (OR 2.18, 95% CI 1.36-3.48, p = 0.001), stress (OR 3.06, 95% CI 1.27-7.41, p = 0.13), and PTSD (OR 2.20, 95% CI 1.12-4.35, p = 0.023) remained significantly associated with the presence of physical

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Acute ischemic stroke (AIS) is a life-threatening complication of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) infection. Increasing reports suggest an association between COVID-19 and AIS, although the underlying mechanism remains uncertain. We performed a systematic review to characterize the clinical characteristics, neuroimaging findings, and outcomes of AIS in COVID-19 patients. A literature search was performed in PubMed and Embase using a suitable keyword search strategy from 1st December 2019 to 29th May 2020. All studies reporting AIS occurrence in COVID-19 patients were included. A total of 39 studies comprising 135 patients were studied. The pooled incidence of AIS in COVID-19 patients from observational studies was 1.2% (54/4466) with a mean age of 63.4 ± 13.1 years. The mean duration of AIS from COVID-19 symptoms onset was 10 ± 8 days, and the mean NIHSS score was 19 ± 8. Laboratory investigations revealed an elevated mean d -dimer (9.2 ± 14.8 mg/L) and fibrinogen (5.8 ± 2.0 g/L). Antiphospholipid antibodies were detected in a significant number of cases. The majority of AIS neuroimaging patterns observed was large vessel thrombosis, embolism or stenosis (62.1%, 64/103), followed by multiple vascular territory (26.2%, 27/103). A high mortality rate was reported (38.0%, 49/129). We report the pooled incidence of AIS in COVID-19 patients to be 1.2%, with a high mortality rate. Elevated d -dimer, fibrinogen and the presence of antiphospholipid antibodies appear to be prominent in COVID-19 patients with concomitant AIS, but further mechanistic studies are required to elucidate their role in pathogenesis. Electronic supplementary material The online version of this article (10.1007/s11239-020-02228-y) contains supplementary material, which is available to authorized users.

Brief screening tests during acute admission in patients with mild stroke are predictive of significant vascular cognitive impairment 3-6 months after stroke.

ObjectivesTo investigate the prognostic value of the neurocognitive status measured by screening instruments, the Montreal Cognitive Assessment (MoCA) and Mini-Mental State Examination (MMSE), individually and in combination with the stroke severity scale, the National Institute of Health Stroke Scale (NIHSS), obtained at the subacute stroke phase or the baseline (≤2 weeks), for functional outcome 3–6 months later.DesignProspective observational study.SettingTertiary stroke neurology service.Participants400 patients with a recent ischaemic stroke or transient ischaemic attack (TIA) received NIHSS, MoCA and MMSE at baseline and were followed up 3–6 months later.Primary outcome measuresAt 3–6 months following the index event, functional outcome was measured by the modified Rankin Scale (mRS) scores.ResultsMost patients (79.8%) had a mild ischaemic stroke and less disability (median NIHSS=2, median mRS=2 and median premorbid mRS=0), while a minority of patients had TIA (20.3%). Baseline NIHSS, MMSE and MoCA scores individually predicted mRS scores at 3–6 months, with NIHSS being the strongest predictor (NIHSS: R2 change=0.043, p<0.001). Moreover, baseline MMSE scores had a small but statistically significant incremental predictive value to the baseline NIHSS for mRS scores at 3–6 months, while baseline MoCA scores did not (MMSE: R2 changes=0.006, p=0.03; MoCA: R2 changes=0.004, p=0.083). However, in patients with more severe stroke at baseline (defined as NIHSS>2), baseline MoCA and MMSE had a significant and moderately large incremental predictive value to the baseline NIHSS for mRS scores at 3–6 months (MMSE: R2 changes=0.021, p=0.010; MoCA: R2 changes=0.017, p=0.021).ConclusionsCognitive screening at the subacute stroke phase can predict functional outcome independently and improve the predictive value of stroke severity scores for functional outcome 3–6 months later, particularly in patients with more severe stroke.