Shiloh
Editor, Senior Moderator
Source: https://www.cidrap.umn.edu/news-perspective/2021/12/covid-19-scan-dec-09-2021
COVID-19 Scan for Dec 09, 2021
COVID vaccination and nursing home deaths; Short after-birth hospital stay during COVID-19
Filed Under:
COVID-19
Low staff COVID vaccine uptake tied to more nursing home cases, deaths
In US counties with high COVID-19 case rates, nursing homes with low staff vaccine uptake saw more infections and deaths among residents than those with high staff vaccination rates, according to a research letter yesterday in the New England Journal of Medicine (NEJM).
Led by a University of Rochester researcher, the team mined national data, primarily from the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services COVID-19 Nursing Home Public File database. The investigators grouped 12,364 nursing homes, representing 81% of all US nursing homes, into quartiles by staff COVID-19 vaccine coverage by Jun 13, 2021.
From Jun 13 to Aug 22, nursing homes with the lowest COVID-19 staff uptake in counties with the highest case counts were tied to an additional 1.56 resident infections per 100 beds, 1.50 more cases among staff, and another 0.19 resident deaths, relative to nursing homes in the same county with the highest levels of staff vaccination.
The study authors said these values represent outcomes 132%, 58%, and 195% higher, respectively, than may have been seen if all facilities had high staff vaccination uptake. In counties with the lowest case rates of COVID-19, broad staff vaccination was linked with small differences in infection outcomes.
"Estimates from our model suggest that if all the nursing homes in our sample had been in the highest quartile of staff vaccination coverage (82.7% on average), 4775 cases among residents (29% of the total during the study window), 7501 cases among staff (29% of the total), and 703 COVID-19–related deaths among residents (48% of the total) could possibly have been prevented," the researchers wrote.
The results highlight the reason behind the federal government's nursing home staff vaccination mandate, which requires all staff of facilities participating in Medicare and Medicaid to be fully vaccinated by Jan 4, 2022. "These findings show the extent to which staff vaccination protects nursing home residents, particularly in communities with high COVID-19 transmission," they concluded.
Dec 8 NEJM research letter
After-birth hospital stays significantly shorter during COVID pandemic
A study of electronic health records in the United States shows that short hospital lengths of stay (LOS) after birth were 51% more common in the COVID-19 era, yet infant rehospitalization within a week did not increase. The study is published in Pediatrics.
Short hospital stay was defined as one or two nights for vaginal births and three or fewer for cesarean births. Infant rehospitalization within 1 week of discharge was also compared from the pandemic period (Mar 1 to Aug 31, 2020) to prepandemic periods (Mar 1 to Aug 31 in 2017, 2018, 2019).
The study included records from 202,385 infants born at 35 health systems across the country. A total of 57,110 infants were born in the COVID-19 era. Short birth hospitalization length of stay increased from 28.5% to 43.0% for all births (vaginal, 25.6% to 39.3%; cesarean, 40.1% to 61.0%), but there was no change in rehospitalization diagnoses between eras.
During the pandemic, short LOS were 51% more common than in the 3 years prior.
"This natural experiment suggests shorter birth hospitalization LOS among family- and clinician-selected, healthy term infants may be safe with respect to infant rehospitalization, although examination of additional outcomes is needed," the authors said.
Dec 10 Pediatrics study
COVID-19 Scan for Dec 09, 2021
COVID vaccination and nursing home deaths; Short after-birth hospital stay during COVID-19
Filed Under:
COVID-19
Low staff COVID vaccine uptake tied to more nursing home cases, deaths
In US counties with high COVID-19 case rates, nursing homes with low staff vaccine uptake saw more infections and deaths among residents than those with high staff vaccination rates, according to a research letter yesterday in the New England Journal of Medicine (NEJM).
Led by a University of Rochester researcher, the team mined national data, primarily from the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services COVID-19 Nursing Home Public File database. The investigators grouped 12,364 nursing homes, representing 81% of all US nursing homes, into quartiles by staff COVID-19 vaccine coverage by Jun 13, 2021.
From Jun 13 to Aug 22, nursing homes with the lowest COVID-19 staff uptake in counties with the highest case counts were tied to an additional 1.56 resident infections per 100 beds, 1.50 more cases among staff, and another 0.19 resident deaths, relative to nursing homes in the same county with the highest levels of staff vaccination.
The study authors said these values represent outcomes 132%, 58%, and 195% higher, respectively, than may have been seen if all facilities had high staff vaccination uptake. In counties with the lowest case rates of COVID-19, broad staff vaccination was linked with small differences in infection outcomes.
"Estimates from our model suggest that if all the nursing homes in our sample had been in the highest quartile of staff vaccination coverage (82.7% on average), 4775 cases among residents (29% of the total during the study window), 7501 cases among staff (29% of the total), and 703 COVID-19–related deaths among residents (48% of the total) could possibly have been prevented," the researchers wrote.
The results highlight the reason behind the federal government's nursing home staff vaccination mandate, which requires all staff of facilities participating in Medicare and Medicaid to be fully vaccinated by Jan 4, 2022. "These findings show the extent to which staff vaccination protects nursing home residents, particularly in communities with high COVID-19 transmission," they concluded.
Dec 8 NEJM research letter
After-birth hospital stays significantly shorter during COVID pandemic
A study of electronic health records in the United States shows that short hospital lengths of stay (LOS) after birth were 51% more common in the COVID-19 era, yet infant rehospitalization within a week did not increase. The study is published in Pediatrics.
Short hospital stay was defined as one or two nights for vaginal births and three or fewer for cesarean births. Infant rehospitalization within 1 week of discharge was also compared from the pandemic period (Mar 1 to Aug 31, 2020) to prepandemic periods (Mar 1 to Aug 31 in 2017, 2018, 2019).
The study included records from 202,385 infants born at 35 health systems across the country. A total of 57,110 infants were born in the COVID-19 era. Short birth hospitalization length of stay increased from 28.5% to 43.0% for all births (vaginal, 25.6% to 39.3%; cesarean, 40.1% to 61.0%), but there was no change in rehospitalization diagnoses between eras.
During the pandemic, short LOS were 51% more common than in the 3 years prior.
"This natural experiment suggests shorter birth hospitalization LOS among family- and clinician-selected, healthy term infants may be safe with respect to infant rehospitalization, although examination of additional outcomes is needed," the authors said.
Dec 10 Pediatrics study