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▲ 13 r/COVID19_Pandemic

Endothelial dysfunction and metabolic biomarkers in post-COVID-19 syndrome

This article: https://www.nature.com/articles/s41598-026-50965-6

Related:

  • Zdenek Vrozina: "A new warning study that deserves attention. SARS-CoV-2 leaves a long-term endothelial and metabolic footprint in the blood months after infection - even in people without obvious Long COVID symptoms. And that matters🧵…" https://xcancel.com/ZdenekVrozina/status/2054869633564295558

From study:

>Abstract

>Acute SARS-CoV-2 infection has been implicated in the development of endothelial dysfunction and metabolic alterations. These disturbances may contribute to the pathophysiology of post-COVID-19 syndrome (PCS), a multifaceted condition characterized by persistent symptoms, including neuropsychiatric symptoms. The diagnosis of PCS primarily relies on symptom-based criteria. Here, we aimed to identify biomarkers associated with PCS and disease severity. This prospective single-center cohort study investigated soluble blood biomarkers related to endothelial dysfunction and amino acid, fatty acid, carnitine, eicosanoid and resolvin metabolism in individuals post-acute SARS-CoV-2 infection with or without PCS compared with individuals without documented SARS-CoV-2 infection. Additionally, we explored the association between these biomarkers and PCS-related fatigue severity as assessed by the Multidimensional Fatigue Inventory (MFI). At a median of 37.4 weeks after SARS-CoV-2 infection, participants with prior infection showed higher levels of soluble thrombomodulin (TM) and L-lactate dehydrogenase (LDH) than those without previous infection. Alterations in arginine biosynthesis and taurine and hypotaurine metabolism indicate disruption of the NO-metabolism. These findings were made in participants without and with symptoms of PCS. In participants with PCS-related high fatigue severity, concentrations of the polyunsaturated fatty acid (PUFA) linoleic acid (LA), and the monounsaturated fatty acids (MUFAs) oleic acid (OA) and palmitoleic acid (PA) were higher than in participants with low fatigue severity. Alterations in markers of endothelial dysfunction and NO-metabolism are detectable at a median of 37.4 weeks after SARS-CoV-2 infection independent of PCS-related fatigue severity. Additionally, in individuals with high PCS-related fatigue severity, specific fatty acid alterations were observed.

nature.com
u/zeaqqk — 15 hours ago
▲ 45 r/COVID19_Pandemic

Life lost due to the COVID-19 pandemic: A model-based cohort analysis of mortality displacement in the registered population of England

>Abstract

>Background

>Uncertainty about the prior health status of those dying during the pandemic has fuelled debate about its impact. To date, attempts to quantify life years lost during the pandemic have relied on using life tables without taking into account varying levels of vulnerability among those that died.

>Methods

>Using retrospective, linked data from March 2020 to September 2022 for the cohort of all individuals in England alive at outset, we quantified the risk of death, associated with a wide variety of comorbidities, using primary care and hospital data, as well as evidence of vaccination and COVID-19 infection. We then simulated the survival of every individual in the population with a positive COVID-19 test, with and without the assumption that COVID-19 affected their survival, taking account of their personal vulnerability. We used the difference between these simulated survival times to estimate mortality displacement (how long those who died would have lived, had they not tested positive). We used the displacement estimates for those aged 65 and older to revise estimates of excess deaths.

>Results

>We estimated median mortality displacement of 4.8 (IQR = 1.5 to 16) years for females and 4.4 (IQR = 1.4 to 12.6) years for males at ages 65 and over. We estimate 28% of those dying with COVID-19 aged 65 and over would have survived five years or more without the infection (66% for females aged 65–74).

>Conclusions

>Life expectancy of those who died with COVID-19 was substantial and, based on our analysis of vulnerability, most of those who died at ages 65 and over are unlikely to have been close to death. In future pandemics, real-time modelling of displacement would be helpful in assessing the mortality impact of the pandemic.

journals.plos.org
u/zeaqqk — 15 hours ago
▲ 67 r/COVID19_Pandemic

Reinfection Raises Long COVID Risk in Children and Adolescents

This article: https://news.feinberg.northwestern.edu/2026/05/08/reinfection-raises-long-covid-risk-in-children-and-adolescents/

Study: Long COVID associated with SARS-CoV-2 reinfection among children and adolescents in the omicron era (RECOVER-EHR): a retrospective cohort study https://www.thelancet.com/journals/laninf/article/PIIS1473-3099(25)00476-1/fulltext

From study:

>Summary

>Background

>Post-acute sequelae of SARS-CoV-2 infection (PASC) remain a major public health challenge. Although previous studies have focused on characterising PASC in children and adolescents after an initial infection, the risks of PASC after reinfection with the omicron variant remain unclear. We aimed to assess the risk of PASC diagnosis (U09.9) and symptoms and conditions potentially related to PASC in children and adolescents after a SARS-CoV-2 reinfection during the omicron period.

>Methods

>This retrospective cohort study used data from 40 children's hospitals and health institutions in the USA participating in the Researching COVID to Enhance Recovery (RECOVER) Initiative. We included patients younger than 21 years at the time of cohort entry; with documented SARS-CoV-2 infection after Jan 1, 2022; and who had at least one health-care visit within 24 months to 7 days before the first infection. The second SARS-CoV-2 infection was confirmed by positive PCR, antigen tests, or a diagnosis of COVID-19 that occurred at least 60 days after the first infection. The primary endpoint was a clinician-documented diagnosis of PASC (U09.9). Secondary endpoints were 24 symptoms and conditions previously identified as being potentially related to PASC. We used the modified Poisson regression model to estimate the relative risk (RR) between the second and first infection episodes, adjusted for demographic, clinical, and health-care utilisation factors using exact and propensity-score matching.

>Findings

>We identified 407 300 (87·5%) of 465 717 eligible children and adolescents with a first infection episode and 58 417 (12·5%) with a second infection episode from Jan 1, 2022, to Oct 13, 2023, in the RECOVER database. 233 842 (50·2%) patients were male and 231 875 (49·8%) were female. The mean age was 8·17 years (SD 6·58). The incident rate of PASC diagnosis (U09.9) per million people per 6 months was 903·7 (95% CI 780·9–1026·5) in the first infection group and 1883·7 (1565·1–2202·3) in the second infection group. Reinfection was associated with a significantly increased risk of an overall PASC diagnosis (U09.9) (RR 2·08 [1·68–2·59]) and a range of symptoms and conditions potentially related to PASC (RR range 1·15–3·60), including myocarditis, changes in taste and smell, thrombophlebitis and thromboembolism, heart disease, acute kidney injury, fluid and electrolyte disturbance, generalised pain, arrhythmias, abnormal liver enzymes, chest pain, fatigue and malaise, headache, musculoskeletal pain, abdominal pain, mental ill health, POTS or dysautonomia, cognitive impairment, skin conditions, fever and chills, respiratory signs and symptoms, and cardiovascular signs and symptoms.

>Interpretation

>Children and adolescents face a significantly higher risk of various PASC outcomes after reinfection with SARS-CoV-2. These findings add to previous evidence linking paediatric long COVID to multisystem effects and highlight the need to promote vaccination in younger populations and support ongoing research to better understand PASC, identify high-risk subgroups, and improve prevention and care strategies.

news.feinberg.northwestern.edu
u/zeaqqk — 6 days ago
▲ 37 r/COVID19_Pandemic

Acute COVID-19 mortality in England in the Omicron era: a national level matched cohort study

>Abstract

>Fluctuations in disease severity were observed throughout the COVID-19 pandemic in England associated with new variants and changes in population immunity. Deaths caused by COVID-19 reduced from 2022, however a smaller reduction was observed in deaths following a COVID-19 test. This study examines whether the risk of death within 28-days of a positive SARS-CoV-2 test remained elevated during a period associated with reduced disease severity.

>National level routinely collected health data was linked to create a cohort of individuals tested for SARS-CoV-2 throughout the pandemic with their vaccination, hospital and death records. Individuals testing positive and negative were matched on demographic and disease characteristics. The risk of death in both groups was calculated and univariable and multivariable conditional logistic regression models were used to compare the risk of death, for the overall study time-period (March 2020-April 2022) and the focus time-period (January-April 2022).

>During the overall time-period, individuals testing positive had a 228% increased risk of death compared to those testing negative, with risk peaking in early 2021. In the focused time-period the odds of death within 28 days of a SARS-Cov-2 test were 63% higher among test-positive individuals, after accounting for vaccination and previous hospitalisation. The risk was 238% higher among unvaccinated individuals who tested positive, compared to 155% among vaccinated individuals.

>Despite widespread vaccination coverage and reduced disease severity at the end of the pandemic, the risk of death following COVID-19 remained elevated, especially among unvaccinated individuals, supporting continued COVID-19 booster vaccination campaigns.

cambridge.org
u/zeaqqk — 7 days ago
▲ 94 r/COVID19_Pandemic

Mike Hoerger: "Even when the CDC indicates that a state has "Very Low" COVlD levels, it is important to note that there are sometimes still hotspots. The CDC uses the state's median (middle value). If 51% of wastewater sites are "Very Low," the whole state will use that category."

xcancel.com
u/zeaqqk — 8 days ago
▲ 8 r/COVID19_Pandemic

From article:

>The working class in Britain faces a surge in unemployment as the economic shockwaves from the war on Iran push an already stagnating economy towards recession.

>New forecasts point to a sharp deterioration in labour market conditions, with up to 250,000 additional job losses forecast. This would see the official number of unemployed to increase from 1.87 million to over 2.1 million.

>The EY Item Club, an economic forecasting group, warns that the UK economy will flatline across the second and third quarters of this year, placing it on the brink of a technical recession, defined as two consecutive quarters of contraction. Economic growth, already weak, is projected to collapse from 1.4 percent in 2025 to just 0.7 percent this year, cutting across earlier signs of modest recovery reflected in February’s slight uptick in gross domestic product.

>The consequences for the working class are severe. Unemployment is expected to rise to 5.8 percent by mid-2027, up from the current five-year high of 5.2 percent, as the crisis triggered by the Middle East conflict reverberates through the global economy.

>Britain’s real level of unemployment is far higher, due to the doctoring of figures implemented by successive governments for decades. According to the latest figures available, the number of people aged between 16 and 64 classed as “economically inactive” hit 22 percent in 2024. According to the publicfinance website, this “equates to 9.1 million Britons aged between 16 and 64, up from around 8.5 million before the pandemic in early 2020.” This gives some indication of the grim onslaught on public health as the virus was allowed to “let rip,” with around 2 million people suffering the debilitating consequences of Long COVID.

>Britain’s economy was already in a perilous position, with Chancellor Rachel Reeves having virtually no “headroom”.

>The International Monetary Fund’s (IMF) half-yearly update states that a worst-case “severe scenario” involving prolonged war and sustained high energy prices will bring a global recession—the fifth since 1980—alongside rising unemployment.

>The IMF forecasts the sharpest growth downgrade and the joint highest inflation rate in the G7 for the UK this year, even if energy costs stabilise by mid-2026. It cut the UK growth outlook for next year by 0.2 percentage points to 1.3 percent and warned unemployment could rise to 5.6 percent, the highest since early 2015 and above the 5.5 percent peak during the height of the COVID-19 pandemic.

>For this year, it reduced growth forecasts by 0.5 percentage points to 0.8 percent, while warning inflation could approach 4 percent—double the government’s 2 percent target.

>Pre-war economic projections forecasting even a semblance of stability are already obliterated…

u/zeaqqk — 9 days ago
▲ 87 r/COVID19_Pandemic

This article: https://pagesix.com/2026/05/05/celebrity-news/buffy-the-vampire-slayer-star-nicholas-brendons-cause-of-death-revealed/

Related:

From the present article:

>…The “Buffy the Vampire Slayer” star — who died on March 20 in Indiana — died of atherosclerotic and hypertensive cardiovascular disease, with acute pneumonia and previous myocardial infarction (heart attack) being contributing factors, according to his autopsy report obtained exclusively by Page Six.

>Hypertensive and atherosclerotic cardiovascular disease involves high blood pressure damaging artery walls, which accelerates plaque buildup (atherosclerosis) and narrows arteries, restricting blood flow.

>Meanwhile, acute pneumonia is a sudden-onset infection that causes inflammation in the lungs as fluid or pus fill the air sacs.

>The mechanism of Brendon’s death, which was determined to be natural, was 90 percent blockage of his right coronary artery.

>“Autopsy demonstrated an adult male with a markedly enlarged heart, severe stenosis of the right coronary artery, moderate stenosis of the left anterior descending and left circumflex arteries, acute pneumonia and inflammation of the small bowel,” Putnam County Coroner Todd Zeiner explained of his findings. “The small bowel inflammation is most likely secondary to ischemic changes related to the cardiogenic shock.”

>Brendon’s longtime manager and friend, Theresa Fortier, was the person who found him “in a sleeping position on the couch” and called 911 just before 8:30 a.m. local time.

>“There was no resuscitation attempt made due to obvious signs of death,” Zeiner wrote. “I presumed time of death was around 6 a.m. due to body temp[erature] and rigor [mortis]/livor [mortis] signs.”

>Rigor mortis is the stiffening of the muscles caused by chemical changes that occur after death, and livor mortis is the gravitational pooling of blood that causes dark purple or reddish discoloration of a deceased person’s body parts.

>Zeiner added, “He was markedly coughing and had a ‘raspy’ voice. Theresa stated the decedent had been having a persistent cough and had been self-medicating with over-the-counter medications. He had been complaining about chest pain.”…

u/zeaqqk — 9 days ago