Among patients diagnosed with COVID-19, a substantial proportion are experiencing ongoing symptoms for months after infection, known as ‘long COVID’. Long COVID is associated with a wide range of physical and neuropsychological symptoms, including impacts on mental health, cognition, and psychological wellbeing. However, intervention research is only beginning to emerge. This systematic review synthesizes currently registered trials examining interventions for mental health, cognition, and psychological wellbeing in patients with long COVID.

Standard systematic review guidelines were followed. Trials registered in two large trial registries in 2020 to May 2022 were reviewed. Included studies were narratively synthesized by type of intervention and a risk-of-bias assessment was conducted.

Forty-two registered trials were included, with a total target sample size of 5814 participants. These include 11 psychological interventions, five pharmacological and other medical interventions, and five evaluating herbal, nutritional, or natural supplement interventions. An additional nine trials are examining cognitive and neurorehabilitation interventions and 12 are examining physiotherapy or physical rehabilitation. Most trials are randomized, but many are feasibility trials; trials are evaluating a wide spectrum of outcomes.

While there is a newly emerging body of research testing interventions for mental health, cognition, and psychological wellbeing in long COVID, the breadth and scope of the research remains limited. It is urgently incumbent on researchers to expand upon the intervention research currently under way, in order to generate high-quality evidence on a wide range of candidate interventions for diverse long COVID patient populations.

This study aims to look at the trends in our head and neck cancer patient population over the past 5 years with an emphasis on the past 2 years to evaluate how the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic has impacted our disparities and availability of care for patients, especially those living in rural areas. An additional aim is to identify existing disparities at our institution in the treatment of head and neck patients and determine solutions to improve patient care.

A retrospective chart review was performed to identify patients who were consulted and subsequently treated with at least one fraction of radiation therapy at our institution with palliative or curative intent. Patient demographic information was collected including hometown, distance from the cancer centre based on zip-codes and insurance information and type of appointment (in-person or telehealth). Rural–urban continuum codes were used to determine rurality.

A total of 490 head and neck cancer patients (n = 490) were treated from 2017 to 2021. When broken down by year, there were no significant trends in patient population regarding travel distance or rurality. Roughly 20–30% of our patients live in rural areas and about 30% have a commute > 50 miles for radiation treatment. A majority of our patients rely on public insurance (68%) with a small percentage of those uninsured (4%). Telehealth visits were rare prior to 2019 and rose to 5 and 2 visits in 2020 and 2021, respectively.

Head and neck cancer patients, despite rurality or distance from a cancer centre, may present with alarmingly enough symptoms despite limitations and difficulties with seeking medical attention even during the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020. However, providers must be aware of these potential disparities that exist in the rural population and seek to address these.

To examine the association between adherence to plant-based diets and mortality.

Prospective study. We calculated a plant-based diet index (PDI) by assigning positive scores to plant foods and reverse scores to animal foods. We also created a healthful PDI (hPDI) and an unhealthful PDI (uPDI) by further separating the healthy plant foods from less-healthy plant foods.

The VA Million Veteran Program.

315 919 men and women aged 19–104 years who completed a FFQ at the baseline.

We documented 31 136 deaths during the follow-up. A higher PDI was significantly associated with lower total mortality (hazard ratio (HR) comparing extreme deciles = 0·75, 95 % CI: 0·71, 0·79, Ptrend < 0·001]. We observed an inverse association between hPDI and total mortality (HR comparing extreme deciles = 0·64, 95 % CI: 0·61, 0·68, Ptrend < 0·001), whereas uPDI was positively associated with total mortality (HR comparing extreme deciles = 1·41, 95 % CI: 1·33, 1·49, Ptrend < 0·001). Similar significant associations of PDI, hPDI and uPDI were also observed for CVD and cancer mortality. The associations between the PDI and total mortality were consistent among African and European American participants, and participants free from CVD and cancer and those who were diagnosed with major chronic disease at baseline.

A greater adherence to a plant-based diet was associated with substantially lower total mortality in this large population of veterans. These findings support recommending plant-rich dietary patterns for the prevention of major chronic diseases.

Declines in mental health among youth in the COVID-19 pandemic have been observed, yet longitudinal studies on how housing may impact these declines are lacking.

Our aim was to determine whether changes in mental health among Danish youth were dependent on their housing conditions.

Young participants from the Danish National Birth Cohort, who had responded to an online questionnaire at 18 years of age, and later during the initial national Danish lockdown, were included. Associations between housing conditions (direct access to outdoor spaces, urbanicity, household density, and household composition) and changes in mental health (mental well-being, quality of life (QoL) and loneliness) were examined in multivariate linear and logistic regression analyses.

We included 7455 participants. Greater decreases in mental well-being were observed for youth with no access to direct outdoor spaces and those living in denser households (mean difference -0.83 [95 % CI -1.19, -0.48], -0.30 [-0.43, -0.18], respectively). Onset of low mental well-being was associated with no access and living alone (odds ratios (OR) 1.68 [1.15, 2.47] and OR 1.47 [1.05, 2.07], respectively). Household density was negatively associated with QoL (mean difference -0.21 [-0.30, -0.12]). Youth living alone experienced more loneliness (OR 2.12 [95 % CI 1.59, 2.82]).

How youth’s mental health changed from before to during lockdown was associated with housing conditions. Among the Danish youth in our study, greater decreases in mental health during lockdown were observed among youth without access to outdoor spaces, living alone, or living in denser households.

No significant relationships.

The current cross-sectional study examined cognition and performance-based functional abilities in a continuing care senior housing community (CCSHC) that is comparable to other CCSHCs in the US with respect to residents’ demographic characteristics.

Participants were 110 older adult residents of the independent living unit. We assessed sociodemographics, mental health, neurocognitive functioning, and functional capacity.

Compared to normative samples, participants performed at or above expectations in terms of premorbid functioning, attention span and working memory, processing speed, timed set-shifting, inhibitory control, and confrontation naming. They performed below expectation in verbal fluency and verbal and visual learning and memory, with impairment rates [31.4% (>1 SD below the mean) and 18.49% (>1.5 SD below the mean)] well above the general population (16% and 7%, respectively). Within the cognitive test battery, two tests of delayed memory were most predictive of a global deficit score. Most cognitive test scores correlated with performance-based functional capacity.

Overall, results suggest that a subset of older adults in the independent living sector of CCSHCs are cognitively and functionally impaired and are at risk for future dementia. Results also argue for the inclusion of memory tests in abbreviated screening batteries in this population. We suggest that CCSHCs implement regular cognitive screening procedures to identify and triage those older adults who could benefit from interventions and, potentially, a transition to a higher level of care.

To examine the association between the place of residence and receiving free samples and advice to feed the baby with infant formula.

A cross-sectional study.

The current study covered twelve counties/districts in China.

5112 mothers with infants aged 0–5·9 months.

About 16 % of the mothers received free samples of infant formula. During pregnancy, this likelihood was higher among mothers in small and medium cities (OR: 1·96; 95 % CI 1·14, 3·38) and non-poor rural counties (OR: 4·65; 95 % CI 1·65, 13·14) compared with mothers in big cities. During the hospital stay, it was lower in big cities. After discharge, it was lower in poor rural counties (OR: 0·14; 95 % CI 0·05, 0·41). About 26 % of the mothers were advised to feed their infants with infant formula. The likelihood of receiving advice to feed the baby with infant formula from hospitals was lower in non-poor (OR: 0·37; 95 % CI 0·21, 0·66) and poor rural counties (OR: 0·35; 95 % CI 0·13, 0·91) than in big cities. Mothers in non-poor rural counties were less likely to receive advice from traditional mass media (OR: 0·17; 95 % CI 0·06, 0·48), while mothers in small and medium cities were more likely to receive advice from modern mass media (OR: 1·84; 95 % CI 1·20, 2·80) compared with mothers in big cities.

The promotion strategy of infant formula varies from different places of residence in China. The study suggests the need to strengthen enforcement of relevant regulations, especially within health facilities and through modern mass media.

Surgical site infection (SSI) is a common postprocedure complication that may be prevented by adhering to established recommendations, including administration of preoperative antibiotic prophylaxis. Patients with a β-lactam allergy (BLA) label have an increased risk of SSI. We sought to evaluate the appropriateness of preoperative antibiotic prophylaxis in patients labeled with a BLA compared those without a BLA.

This was a single-center, retrospective, matched cohort study of adult patients who underwent a clean or clean-contaminated knee replacement, abdominal hysterectomy, colorectal surgery, or coronary artery bypass graft (CABG). Patients with a BLA label were matched to patients without a BLA label based on procedure, age, and body mass index (BMI). The primary end point was the rate of appropriate preoperative antibiotic prophylaxis, including antibiotic selection and timing prior to incision.

In total, 260 patients were included. Knee replacement (38%) was the most common procedure, followed by abdominal hysterectomy (25%), colorectal surgery (18%), and CABG (18%). Appropriate preoperative antibiotic prophylaxis was higher among patients without a BLA (76% vs 37%; P < .001). Among patients with a mild-to-moderate reaction or intolerance, 29 (53%) received antibiotics that would have been appropriate only if the patient had had a severe BLA. Patients with a BLA were more likely to have had an antibiotic omitted from the prophylactic regimen (44% vs 4%; P < .001).

Patients with a BLA were more likely to receive inappropriate preoperative antibiotic prophylaxis, attributed to misinterpretation of BLA labels and antibiotic omissions. Optimizing antibiotic prophylaxis among patients with BLAs remains an area of opportunity to prevent SSIs.