The COVID‐19 pandemic poses significant challenges to healthcare systems worldwide. A key consideration is the adverse psychological impact on healthcare workers (HCWs). This study aimed to investigate the variable levels of psychological distress, perceived safety, trust, and self‐ and collective‐efficacy during the COVID‐19 crisis amongst varied HCWs. A survey was disseminated to nurses, physicians, interns, and administrative and logistical staff at an acute‐care hospital in Israel during the first wave of COVID‐19. The survey consisted of items on a 5‐point Likert scale, measuring HCW's perceptions concerning the aforementioned variables as well as demographic information. A total of 716 hospital personnel completed the survey. Nurses reported higher levels of psychological distress and lower levels of trust in the hospital's COVID‐19 guidelines compared to physicians (2.3 vs. 2.0 and 3.7 vs. 4.0, respectively). Nurses and interns felt the least safe when working in the hospital. Nurses reported the highest levels of concern regarding fear of uncontrollable spread, infection, and family transmission of the virus. Interns reported the lowest levels of self‐ and collective‐efficacy. In a regression model, the variables that predicted 32% of distress among nurses were age, gender, level of religiosity, indices of perceived safety, and self‐efficacy. This study demonstrated differences in distress and perceived safety, trust, and efficacy between varied HCWs during COVID‐19. This variability should be considered when designing policies to protect HCWs’ wellbeing during future pandemics.

BACKGROUNDS: It has been hypothesized that ankylosing spondylitis is associated with an increased risk of incident hip fractures due to osteoporosis and risk of falls but the supporting evidence is limited and mixed. OBJECTIVES: To assess the risk of hip fractures in a large cohort of patients with ankylosing spondylitis compared to a matched cohort. DESIGN: A retrospective cohort study. SUBJECTS: Men and women diagnosed with ankylosing spondylitis from 1 January 2002 to 31 December 2018. Matching in a 5:1 ratio was based on age and sex. Followup ended on 23 June 2019. MAIN MEASURES: Cox regression models adjusting for confounders defined in a causal inference framework were used to determine the hazard ratio for hip fractures. KEY RESULT: The final cohorts included 5,909 ankylosing spondylitis patients and 28,671 matched patients. The ankylosing spondylitis cohort had a mean age of 49 (17) years and was composed of 3,762 (64%) men, 3,638 (62%) patients born in Israel, and 1,532 (26%) patients of low residential socioeconomic status. During 45,388 and 224,192 cumulative person-years of follow-up, the ankylosing spondylitis and matched cohorts had 2.47 and 1.63 cases of hip fractures per 1,000 person-years, respectively. Ankylosing spondylitis patients also developed hip fractures earlier (74 [13] vs. 79 [10] years, p = 0.002). Ankylosing spondylitis was associated with hip fractures in the unadjusted (HR = 1.52, 95% CI [1.23-1.88]) and adjusted (HR = 1.56, 95% CI [1.27-1.93]) models. The association was evident in men (HR = 1.65, 95% ) and women (HR = 1.48, 95% CI [1.07-2.05]). CONCLUSION: This study found that ankylosing spondylitis patients developed hip fractures earlier and more often compared to a matched cohort. This study suggests that ankylosing spondylitis patients might benefit from more proactive screening, mitigation, and prevention of risk factors for hip fractures.

Objective To assess the association between familial Mediterranean fever and asthma. Methods This study was designed as a cross-sectional study. All patients diagnosed with familial Mediterranean fever between January 1, 2000, to December 31, 2016, who were prescribed colchicine were included in the study. Controls were matched by sex, date of birth, residential socioeconomic status, and country of birth. Logistic regression models were used to determine the odds ratio for asthma in familial Mediterranean fever patients and controls. Results A total of 7,098 familial Mediterranean fever patients who were prescribed colchicine were identified. Of them, 3,547 (50%) were females, 3,632 (51%) were of low residential socioeconomic status and 6,160 (87%) were born in Israel. Their median age at the end of follow-up was 37 years (23-54). In an unadjusted logistic regression, familial Mediterranean fever was associated with asthma (OR = 1.33, 95%CI 1.17-1.51; p < 0.001). The association persisted after adjusting for sex, socioeconomic status, and country of birth (OR = 1.33, 95%CI 1.18-1.52; p < 0.001) Conclusions Familial Mediterranean fever is positively associated with asthma. Further research is required to validate our results and explore possible explanations of this association. These findings cast doubt on previous studies implying familial Mediterranean fever to be a protective factor from asthma.

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