Aim Older adults are the main risk group for coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID‐19). This study aimed to describe the clinical manifestations and factors associated with mortality from COVID‐19 among older adults in Brazil. Methods A cross‐sectional observational study was carried out with data from 9807 cases of COVID‐19 among older adults in the state of Alagoas, Brazil. We determined the case fatality rate between age groups and clinical factors associated with mortality. Results A total of 52.5% (n = 5145) were women, and with an average age of 70.21 ± 8.37 years. The fatality rate was 11.9%, with a higher rate in men (14.4%) compared with women (9.8%). The fatality rate increased with age. The most common manifestations were fever (n = 4926; 50.2%), cough (n = 5737; 58.5%), headache (n = 1980; 20.2%) and fatigue (n = 2022; 20.6%). The most prevalent comorbidities were diabetes (n = 1528; 5.6%), cardiovascular disease (n = 1528; 15.6%) and systemic arterial hypertension (n = 597; 6.1%). The factors associated with mortality were male sex (OR 1.54), age ≥75 years (OR 2.40), dyspnea (OR 2.92), diabetes (OR 2.33), hypertension (OR 1.53) and chronic kidney disease (OR 2.02). Conclusions The profile and the risk factors evidenced show the need to adopt mechanisms to protect the elderly population.

Occupational exposure is an important source of coronavirus transmission among health professionals. The objective of this study is to review the literature on the clinical and epidemiological profile of health professionals infected by COVID-19. An integrative review was conducted based on searches of the LILACS, Medline, and PubMed databases using the following terms: medical workers, healthcare workers, healthcare personnel, and healthcare professionals combined with COVID-19, SARS-CoV-2, 2019-nCoV, n-CoV, and coronavirus, with the Boolean operators “AND” and “OR”. A total of 710 publications were identified, 18 of which were selected for the review, totaling 2,208 infected health professionals in eight countries. It was observed that 67.4% (n = 1,489) of these professionals were women, and 39.4% of the population described in the 15 studies that provided information on occupation (n = 811) were nurses. Seven publications (n = 553) reported severity, among which the most prevalent category was mild/common (47.3% of cases; n = 213). The most common comorbidities were migraine (9.6%, n = 87 of 906), systemic arterial hypertension (5.5%, n = 78 of 1,427), and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (3.7%, n = 52 of 1,399). The most common symptoms were coughing (34.3%, n = 597 of 1,740), headache (36.8%, n = 582 of 1,583), and myalgia (31.6%, n = 544 of 1,720). The most frequent radiological findings were bilateral involvement (34.5%, n = 139 of 403), ground glass (49%, n = 101 of 206), and bilateral pneumonia (77.4%, n = 65 of 84). The study found that the most often affected health professionals were female nursing professionals, the main symptom was coughing, and the most frequent comorbidity was migraine. The study’s limitation is the small sample. There is a need for more studies with these professionals.

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The simultaneous prescription of multiple drugs used in therapeutic schemes can result in drug interactions, with desirable or undesirable effects. Thus, the objective of this study was to describe the mechanisms involved in clinically relevant drug interactions. This is a narrative review in which studies published in PUBMED and the VHL were searched in the following databases: MedLine, Lilacs, and Scielo. The search was performed in May 2021, after reading the articles and their references. The results showed that drug interactions occur through the co-administration of different compounds. In this context, drugs can suffer pharmaceutical interactions due to different physical-chemical processes, as well as after administration, interfering in the mechanisms of absorption, distribution, metabolism, and elimination of pharmacokinetics or pharmacodynamics, with changes in the pharmacological effect. Such mechanisms can cause undesirable outcomes, such as increased toxicity or impairment of therapeutic effect, or be used as a strategy for beneficial interactions to increase the pharmacological effect or reduce toxicity. Given the clinical impacts that may occur due to drug interactions, knowledge about the different mechanisms involved in drug interactions is essential.

A COVID-19, doença causada pelo vírus SARS-CoV-2, tem como característica a rápida transmissão. Desde seu relato no final de dezembro de 2019, em Wuhan, na China, a doença se alastrou pelos 5 continentes. Em 20 março de 2020, o governador de Alagoas decretou estado de calamidade pública no Estado de Alagoas atribuído à pandemia do COVID-19, suspendendo o funcionamento de vários estabelecimentos. Face ao exposto, a quantidade de conteúdos veiculados nas redes sociais acerca da pandemia contribui com a disseminação de notícias falsas. Essas notícias, uma vez espalhadas, dificultam a adesão às medidas de contenção do vírus orientadas pelas agências oficiais de saúde. Uma das consequências é o aumento do número de pessoas infectadas, levando à sobrecarga do sistema de saúde. Dessa maneira, o presente projeto busca minimizar os impactos da propagação de informações falsas a partir de debates das Fake News relacionadas à COVID-19. Neste boletim, vamos apresentar sete notícias falsas relacionadas com a COVID-19.