To date, there is limited evidence for health care providers regarding the determinants of early assessment of poor outcomes of adult in-patients due to earthquakes. This study aimed to explore factors related to early assessment of adult earthquake trauma patients (AETPs).

The data on 29,933 AETPs in the West China Earthquake Patients Database (WCEPD) were analyzed retrospectively. Then, 37 simple variables that could be obtained rapidly upon arrival at the hospital were collected. The least absolute shrinkage and selection operator (LASSO) regression analyses were performed. A nomogram was then constructed.

Nine independent mortality-related factors that contributed to AETP in-patient mortality were identified. The variables included age (OR:1.035; 95%CI, 1.027-1.044), respiratory rate ([RR]; OR:1.091; 95%CI, 1.050-1.133), pulse rate ([PR]; OR:1.028; 95%CI, 1.020-1.036), diastolic blood pressure ([DBP]; OR:0.96; 95%CI, 0.950-0.970), Glasgow Coma Scale ([GCS]; OR:0.666; 95%CI, 0.643-0.691), crush injury (OR:3.707; 95%CI, 2.166-6.115), coronary heart disease ([CHD]; OR:4.025; 95%CI, 1.869-7.859), malignant tumor (OR:4.915; 95%CI, 2.850-8.098), and chronic kidney disease ([CKD]; OR:5.735; 95%CI, 3.209-10.019).

The nine mortality-related factors for ATEPs, including age, RR, PR, DBP, GCS, crush injury, CHD, malignant tumor, and CKD, could be quickly obtained on hospital arrival and should be the focal point of future earthquake response strategies for AETPs. Based on these factors, a nomogram was constructed to screen for AETPs with a higher risk of in-patient mortality.

In this study, we aimed to evaluate the correlation between the trauma score of individuals wounded in the Lushan earthquake and emergency workload for treatment. We further created a trauma score-emergency workload calculation model.

We included data from patients wounded in the Lushan earthquake and treated at West China Hospital, Sichuan University. We calculated scores per the following models separately: Revised Trauma Score (RTS), Prehospital Index (PHI), Circulation Respiration Abdominal Movement Speech (CRAMS), Therapeutic Intervention Scoring System (TISS-28), and Nursing Activities Score (NAS). We assessed the association between values for CRAMS, PHI, and RTS and those for TISS-28 and NAS. Subsequently, we built a trauma score-emergency workload calculation model to quantitative workload estimation.

Significant correlations were observed for all pairs of trauma scoring models with emergency workload scoring models. TISS-28 score was significantly associated with PHI score and RTS; however, no significant correlation was observed between the TISS-28 score and CRAMS score.

CRAMS, PHI, and RTS were consistent in evaluating the injury condition of wounded individuals; TISS-28 and NAS scores were consistent in evaluating the required treatment workload. Dynamic changes in emergency workload in unit time were closely associated with wounded patient visits.

A simple evaluation tool for patients with novel coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) could assist the physicians to triage COVID-19 patients effectively and rapidly. This study aimed to evaluate the predictive value of 5 early warning scores based on the admission data of critical COVID-19 patients.

Overall, medical records of 319 COVID-19 patients were included in the study. Demographic and clinical characteristics on admission were used for calculating the Standardized Early Warning Score (SEWS), National Early Warning Score (NEWS), National Early Warning Score2 (NEWS2), Hamilton Early Warning Score (HEWS), and Modified Early Warning Score (MEWS). Data on the outcomes (survival or death) were collected for each case and extracted for overall and subgroup analysis. Receiver operating characteristic curve analyses were performed.

The area under the receiver operating characteristic curve for the SEWS, NEWS, NEWS2, HEWS, and MEWS in predicting mortality were 0.841 (95% CI: 0.765-0.916), 0.809 (95% CI: 0.727-0.891), 0.809 (95% CI: 0.727-0.891), 0.821 (95% CI: 0.748-0.895), and 0.670 (95% CI: 0.573-0.767), respectively.

SEWS, NEWS, NEWS2, and HEWS demonstrated moderate discriminatory power and, therefore, offer potential utility as prognostic tools for screening severely ill COVID-19 patients. However, MEWS is not a good prognostic predictor for COVID-19.

Limited information is available on the prevalence and effect of hypertriglyceridaemic–waist (HTGW) phenotype on the risk of type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM) in rural populations.

In the present cross-sectional study, we investigated the prevalence of the HTGW phenotype and T2DM and the strength of their association among rural adults in China.

HTGW was defined as TAG >1·7 mmol/l and waist circumference (WC) ≥90 cm for males and ≥80 cm for females. Logistic regression analysis yielded adjusted odds ratios (aOR) relating risk of T2DM with HTGW.

Adults (n 12 345) aged 22·83–92·58 years were recruited from July to August of 2013 and July to August of 2014 from a rural area of Henan Province in China.

The prevalence of HTGW and T2DM was 23·71 % (males: 15·35 %; females: 28·88 %) and 11·79 % (males: 11·15 %; females: 12·18 %), respectively. After adjustment for sex, age, smoking, alcohol drinking, blood pressure, physical activity and diabetic family history, the risk of T2DM (aOR; 95 % CI) was increased with HTGW (v. normal TAG and WC: 3·23; CI 2·53, 4·13; males: 3·37; 2·30, 4·92; females: 3·41; 2·39, 4·85). The risk of T2DM with BMI≥28·0 kg/m2, simple enlarged WC and simple disorders of lipid metabolism showed an increasing tendency (aOR=1·31, 1·75 and 2·32).

The prevalence of HTGW and T2DM has reached an alarming level among rural Chinese people, and HTGW is a significant risk factor for T2DM.

We aimed to quantify the impact of few times floods on hand-foot-mouth disease (HFMD) in Qingdao during 2009-2013.

The Spearman correlation test was applied to examine the lagged effects of floods on monthly morbidity of HFMD during study period in Qingdao. We further quantified the effects of 5 flood events on the morbidity of HFMD using the time-series Poisson regression controlling for climatic factors, seasonality, and lagged effects among different populations.

A total of 55,920 cases of HFMD were reported in the study region over the study period. The relative risks of floods on the morbidity of HFMD among the total population, males, females, under 1-2 years old, and 3-5 years old were 1.178, 1.165, 1.198, 1.338, and 1.245, respectively.

This study has, for the first time, provided the positive evidence of the impact of floods on HFMD. It demonstrates that floods can significantly increase the risk of HFMD during study period. Additionally, among the different populations, the risks were higher among children under 1-5 years old. (Disaster Med Public Health Preparedness. 2018;12:723-729)