Sociodemographic features, body mass index, smoking status, concomitant diseases, income rates, and BCG vaccination status of subjects were analyzed in 123 patients diagnosed with COVID‐19 pneumonia in a state hospital in Istanbul, Turkey. BCG vaccination is not associated with disease severity in COVID‐19 pneumonia. Age and low income are the main determinants of severe COVID‐19 pneumonia.

A 53-year old male applied to the emergency room with complaints of generalized pruritus and rush which continued for about 48 hours. He had no previous history of atopic conditions including drug or food allergy, chronic urticaria etc. He had quitted smoking 10 years ago after smoking 20 pack.years of cigarette. He had a history of being abroad 10 days ago. Body temperature was 36.6 °C, heart rate was 80 bpm, blood pressure was 110/70 mmHg, oxygen saturation breathing room air was 98%. Physical examination revealed edematous and itchy plaques throughout the body (Figure 1). Any other abnormal finding was not recorded in This article is protected by copyright. All rights reserved.

Background There are conflicting results in the literature regarding the frequency of allergic diseases in COVID‐19 patients. The effect of having an allergic disease on COVID‐19 disease severity has been little studied. Purpose In this study, we tried to determine the frequency of allergic diseases in COVID‐19 patients and the effect of having an allergic disease on COVID‐19 disease severity. Design/Method A retrospective cross‐sectional study was conducted in patients diagnosed with COVID‐19 in a state hospital in Istanbul, Turkey. Patients were contacted by phone and those who approved to participate in the study were questioned about their sociodemographic characteristics, body mass index, smoking history, and about their atopic status. Rate of atopic diseases among mild and severe COVID‐19 patients and risk estimates for mild disease in atopic and non‐atopic COVID‐19 patients were calculated. Results Study population consisted of 235 adults with COVID‐19 (mean age, 45.3 years [standard deviation, 15.0 years]; 139 [59.1%] male). Among study population, 16 (6.8%) subjects had one of the three atopic symptoms, which were wheezing, rhinitis, or eczema. Among the subjects with atopic status, four (1.7%) subjects had wheezing, eight (3.4%) had rhinitis, and four (1.7%) had eczema within the last 12 months. Although atopic status is associated with 3.1 times higher odds for mild disease, being atopic or not being atopic was not found to be associated with COVID‐19 severity ( P = .054). Conclusion The information that atopic diseases are less common in COVID‐19 patients may guide clinical risk classification.

Objective: To investigate the effect of lactate levels on length of hospital stay in patients with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease exacerbation.Material and methods: Patients who were hospitalized for chronic obstructive pulmonary disease exacerbation between October 2017 and December 2018 were evaluated. Those who had pneumonia or any other additional disease that might affect the lactate level during hospitalization were excluded from the study. The arterial blood gas parameters and lactate levels measured at the time of hospitalization were examined. The patients were divided into two groups according to the length of stay: longer than seven days and shorter than seven days. The relationship of lactate levels with the length of hospital stay and requiring non-invasive mechanical ventilation during hospitalization was investigated.Results: A total of 101 patients, 28 females (27.72%) and 73 males (72.28%), participated in the study. The mean age of the patients was 68±9 years. Fifty-seven (56.44%) patients were hospitalized for 7 days or less and 44 patients (43.56%) were hospitalized for more than 7 days. The mean length of hospital stay was 7.37 ± 2.24 days. An examination of the relationship between lactate and length of hospital stay revealed a significant correlation (p<0.001; r=0.791). When the patients were divided into two groups according to their length of hospital stay, lactate levels were found to be higher in patients who were hospitalized for longer than seven days (2.74±0.74) compared with patients who were hospitalized for seven days or less (1.50±0.58) (p<0.001). The body mass index of patients hospitalized for longer than seven days was found to be lower than in the patients hospitalized for seven days or less (p<0.001). The lactate levels of the patients requiring non-invasive mechanical ventilation were found to be higher (2.29±0.91) than the other patients (1.70±0.76) (p=0.001). A determinative cut-off point was examined for the lactate level in hospitalizations of patients. When the lactate value was taken as 1.95, 90.91% sensitivity and 84.21% specificity were obtained.Conclusion: Lactate levels may become important in clinical practice to predict the duration of hospitalization because it can be measured quickly and easily.

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