The world is currently subjected to the worst health crisis documented in modern history: an epidemic led by the novel coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19). At the epicenter of this crisis, healthcare professionals continue working to safeguard our well-being. To the regular high levels of stress, COVID-19 adds even more so to healthcare professionals in particular, depending on their area, specialty, and type of work. Here we investigated what are the tendencies or areas most affected. Through an adaptation of the original COVID-stress scales, we developed a remote, fast test designed for healthcare professionals in the northeastern part of Mexico, an important part of the country with economic and cultural ties to the United States. Our results showed four key correlations as highly dependent: work area–xenophobia (p < 0.045), work with COVID patients–traumatic stress (p < 0.001), total number of COVID patients per day–traumatic stress (p < 0.027), and total number of COVID patients–compulsive checking and reassurance. Overall, we concluded that normal levels of stress have increased (mild–moderate). Additionally, we determine that the fear of being an asymptomatic patient (potential to spread without knowing) continues being a concern.

COVID-19 vaccination programs continue in child populations. Thus, parents’ attitude towards COVID-19 vaccination of their children is crucial for these strategies to succeed. The present study derives from the application of an online COVID-19 Vaccine Acceptance & Hesitancy Questionnaire (COV-AHQ) in which we measure parent’s hesitancy towards children’s vaccination (section 4 of the COV-AHQ) and other significant factors. A logistic regression analysis with backward stepwise method was used to quantify the associations between factors and parent’s hesitancy. According to the correlation analysis, the most representative factors predicting vaccine hesitancy/acceptance were positive attitude towards vaccination, parents believing that the COVID-19 vaccine will enhance the economic situation of the country, parents actively researching information, having the willingness to obtain the COVID-19 vaccine themselves, and the possibility of their children developing adverse effects. Our findings also showed that parents are highly interested in having their children vaccinated. Nonetheless, parents expressed high levels of concern involving their children in developing adverse effects from the vaccine. In addition, obtaining influenza immunization prompted interest in obtaining the COVID-19 vaccine, and younger-aged parents are much more concerned with having their children vaccinated. Therefore, in order to ensure successful vaccination programs, policymakers and health authorities should design strategies to gain confidence and provide security amongst the population, including giving continuous information about the benefits of vaccination and presenting the frequency of side effects to bring parents on board with vaccinating their children.

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Cardiovascular diseases (CVDs) continue to be the leading cause of death worldwide. Over the past couple of years and with the surge of the COVID-19 pandemic, mortality from CVDs has been slightly overshadowed by those due to COVID-19, although it was during the peak of the pandemic. In the present study, patients with CVDs (CVDs; n = 41,883) were analyzed to determine which comorbidities had the largest impact on overall patient mortality due to their association with both diseases (n = 3,637). Obesity, hypertension, and diabetes worsen health in patients diagnosed positive for COVID-19. Hence, they were included in the overview of all patients with CVD. Our findings showed that 1,697 deaths were attributable to diabetes (p &lt; 0.001) and 987 deaths to obesity (p &lt; 0.001). Lastly, 2,499 deaths were attributable to hypertension (p &lt; 0.001). Using logistic regression modeling, we found that diabetes (OR: 1.744, p &lt; 0.001) and hypertension (OR: 2.179, p &lt; 0.001) significantly affected the mortality rate of patients. Hence, having a CVD diagnosis, with hypertension and/or diabetes, seems to increase the likelihood of complications, leading to death in patients diagnosed positive for COVID-19.

Stress and anxiety have shown to be indirect effects of the COVID-19 pandemic, therefore managing stress becomes essential. One of the most affected populations by the pandemic are healthcare professionals. Thus, it is paramount to understand and categorize their perceived levels of stress, as it can be a detonating factor leading to mental illness. In our study, we used a machine learning prediction model to help measure perceived stress; a C5.0 decision tree algorithm was used to analyze and classify datasets obtained from healthcare professionals of the northeast region of Mexico. Our analysis showed that 6 out of 102 instances were incorrectly classified. Missing two cases for mild, three for moderate and 1 for severe (accuracy of 94.1%), statistical correlation analysis was performed to ensure integrity of the method, in addition we concluded that severe stress cases can be related mostly to high levels of Xenophobia and Compulsive stress.