Objectives: The purpose of this observational retrospective study was to evaluate, in patients with a severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 infection, the association between the severity of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) respiratory illness and the risk of infected patients to develop obstructive sleep apnea (OSA). Methods: Ninety-six patients with confirmed COVID-19 infection were enrolled in the study. The STOP-BANG questionnaire to investigate the risk of the OSA syndrome was filled in by the patients at admission. The enrolled patients were divided into 2 groups according to the respiratory disease: group 1 (72 patients), hospitalized patients undergoing conventional oxygen therapy; group 2 (24 patients), patients requiring enhanced respiratory support. STOP-BANG results of these 2 groups were compared to observe whether patients with high OSA risk more frequently presented a severe form of COVID-19. Results: 41.6% of the patients in group 2 had a STOP-BANG score between 5 and 8 (high risk of having apnea); in contrast, 20.8% of the patients in group 1 had a STOP-BANG score between 5 and 8, with a statistically significant difference between the 2 groups ( P = .05). A complementary trend was observed regarding the proportion of patients in the range 0 to 2, which classifies patients at a low risk of OSA (48.6% vs 20.8% for groups 1 and 2, P = .01). Conclusions: According to our data, the chances of having a severe case of COVID-19 should be considered in patients at high risk of OSA. Current Knowledge/Study Rationale: Emerging research suggests that OSA could represent a potentially important risk factor for the severe forms of COVID-19. The purpose of this observational retrospective study was to evaluate the potential association between OSA and the severity of COVID-19 disease. Study Impact: According to our data, the likelihood of contracting a severe form of COVID-19 disease should be considered in patients at high risk of OSA.

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enhanced recovery after surgery (eRAS) programs are perioperative evidencebased interventions that have the purpose of making the perioperative pathway more efficient in safeguarding patient safety and quality of care. Recently, several eRAS components have been introduced in the setting of bariatric surgery (enhanced Recovery After Bariatric Surgery, eRABS). The aim of the present study was to evaluate clinical efficiency and cost-effectiveness of the implementation of an eRABS program. It was a retrospective case-control study comparing a group of adult obese (body mass index >40) patients treated according to the eRABS protocol (2014-2015) with a historical control group that received standard care (2013-2014) in the general and emergency Surgery department, Arcispedale S. maria nuova hospital, Reggio emilia, Italy. data on the occurrence of complications, mortality, re-admissions and re-operations were extracted retrospectively from medical case notes and emergency patient admission lists. length of hospital stay was significantly different between the two cohort patients. In the control group, the mean length of stay was 12.6±10.9 days, whereas in the eRABS cohort it was 7.1±2.9 days (p=0.02). during hospital stay, seven patients in the control group developed surgical complications, including one patient with major complications, whereas in the eRABS group three patients developed minor complications. economic analysis revealed a different cost distribution between the two groups. On the whole, there were significant savings for almost all the variables taken into consideration, mainly driven by exclusion of using intensive care unit, which is by far more expensive than the average cost of post-anesthesia care unit. Our study confirmed the implementation of an eRABS protocol to have shortened hospital stay and was cost-saving while safeguarding patient safety.

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