The study investigated whether the level of life satisfaction and general mental health was associated with COVID-19 worries at the initial stage of the COVID-19 pandemic in Poland. A cross-sectional observational study using an online questionnaire was conducted between 19 March and 27 April 2020, i.e. at the beginning of the epidemic in Poland. The study participants were residents of Poland over the age of 18 years. A total of 412 completed responses were received. The majority of respondents were women (75%), 84% respondents were mentally healthy and did not have any diagnosis of mental illnesses. Sixty-eight percent respondents indicated that they had been worried about the COVID-19 pandemic for the average of 21.75 days (SD +-16), while the median period from the onset of epidemic in Poland (20 March) to the participation in the study was 11 days. The main domains of concern included: death of loved ones (75%), severe course of illness in loved ones (72%), healthcare failure (64%), consequences of the pandemic at an individual and social level (64% and 63%, respectively). There was a significant medium decrease in the level of happiness and life satisfaction during the COVID-19 epidemic (p <.001).

The aim of this study was to validate and report the factorial analysis of the World Health Organization's 5-item Well-being Index (WHO-5) among outpatients with type 2 diabetes. We investigated the psychometric properties of the WHO-5 and its suitability for identifying potential depressive symptoms in Polish adults with diabetes. Methods: Participants were randomly chosen among Polish diabetes outpatients and invited to participate in the cross-sectional study (N = 216). Participants completed the Polish version of the WHO-5, Problem Areas in Diabetes Scale and Patient Health Questionnaire. Results: Factor analyses identified the one-factor structure of the Polish version of the WHO-5. The internal consistency of the Polish version of the WHO-5 is satisfying. With regard to convergent validity, there were significant negative associations between the WHO-5 and PAID, the PHQ-9, HbA1c and the amount of medical complications. The AUC indicates that the WHO-5 is an effective measure for identifying depressive symptoms. The optimal cut off values of 12 yielded the best sensitivity/specificity trade-off for identifying depression among people with diabetes. Conclusions: The Polish version of the WHO-5 is a reliable, valid outcome measure for outpatients with type 2 diabetes and can be a useful instrument for screening for depression in people with diabetes.

Background/Aim: Pathological processes associated with aging increase the risk of cognitive deficits. Frailty syndrome may significantly accelerate these pathological processes in elderly patients with heart failure. The objective of this review was to better understand the association between frailty syndrome and co-occurring cognitive decline in patients with heart failure.Methods: We conducted a systematic review based on PubMed/MEDLINE, Scopus, EMBASE, and CINAHL as databases. The search followed the method described by Webb and Roe. For inclusions, the studies were selected employing cross-sectional and longitudinal designs. The included studies had to evaluate frailty syndrome and cognitive impairments among participants with heart failure. As we were interested in older adults, the search was limited to individuals &gt;65 years of age. The search was limited to primary research articles written in English published since the year 2000.Results: Of the 1,245 studies retrieved by the systematic review, 8 relevant studies were enclosed for the full-text review. Our review revealed that most studies of patients with HF demonstrated evidence of an association between greater frailty and cognitive impairment. In particular, six studies reported evidence for the significant association between higher levels of frailty and cognitive impairment in patients with heart failure. The remaining two studies failed to find an association between frailty and cognitive impairment.Conclusions: The development of frailty and cognitive impairment in heart failure is particularly important because this cardiovascular disease is a common cause of both morbidity and mortality in the world. The results of this review fill the existing gap in the literature related to the identification of clinical factors linked with frailty syndrome that contribute to cognitive impairment in patients with a diagnosis of heart failure. The prevalence of overlapping frailty and cognitive impairment in patients with heart failure, therefore, necessitates a routine assessment of these components in the care of patients with cardiovascular disease.