Research Roundup: Antibiotic Use In Newborns Linked To Reduced Growth; How Mental Illness, Covid Are Linked

CIDRAP: Study Links Antibiotic Use In Newborns With Reduced Growth In Boys 
A new study by an international team of scientists has found an association between antibiotic use in the first few days of life and reduced height and weight in boys in early childhood. In the study, published yesterday in Nature Communications, a team led by scientists from Finland and Israel looked at the impacts of neonatal antibiotic use on two large cohorts of children and found in both that boys exposed to antibiotics within the first 14 days of life gained less weight and height during the first 6 years of life compared with boys who were not exposed to antibiotics. The findings were not observed in girls, however. (Dall, 1/27)

In covid research news —

CIDRAP: Schizophrenia, But Not Mood Or Anxiety Disorders, Tied To COVID-19 Death
COVID-19 patients diagnosed as having schizophrenia spectrum disorder—but not those with mood or anxiety disorders—were linked to an increased risk of death, according to an observational cohort study published today in JAMA Psychiatry. Researchers at New York University (NYU) Langone Medical Center led the study, which involved monitoring adult COVID-19 patients with psychiatric conditions at their center from Mar 3 to May 31, 2020. Of the 7,348 patients, 75 (1.0%) had a schizophrenia spectrum disorder, 564 (7.7%) had a mood disorder, and 360 (4.9%) had an anxiety disorder. (1/27)

The Guardian: Covid Linked To Risk Of Mental Illness And Brain Disorder, Study Suggests
One in eight people who have had Covid-19 are diagnosed with their first psychiatric or neurological illness within six months of testing positive for the virus, a new analysis suggests, adding heft to an emerging body of evidence that stresses the toll of the virus on mental health and brain disorders cannot be ignored. The analysis – which is still to be peer-reviewed – also found that those figures rose to one in three when patients with a previous history of psychiatric or neurological illnesses were included. It found that one in nine patients were also diagnosed with things such as depression or stroke despite not having gone to hospital when they had Covid-19, which was surprising, said the lead author, Dr Max Taquet of the department of psychiatry at the University of Oxford. (Grover, 1/25)

CIDRAP: Cumulative Smoking Especially Associated With More Severe COVID-19
People who have smoked for more than 30 pack-years—a unit for cumulative smoking—are about twice as likely to be hospitalized and to die after testing positive for COVID-19 as nonsmokers, according to a research letter published yesterday in JAMA Internal Medicine. The researchers looked at health records from 7,102 patients who were in Cleveland Clinic's COVID-19 registry from Mar 8 through Aug 25, 2020. Of those, 84.8% had never smoked, 2.4% were current smokers, and 12.8% formerly smoked. (1/26)

CIDRAP: COVID-19 Outbreaks Associated With Summer Camp, High School Wrestling
COVID-19 outbreaks at an overnight camp in Georgia and a high school wrestling tournament in Florida last year involved attack rates of at least 56% and 30%, respectively. Yesterday researchers in Pediatrics detailed the summer camp outbreak, noting that, of 627 staff, trainees (who left before camp officially began), and campers, 12 community-associated COVID infections (1.9%) led to 339 camp-associated infections (54.1%). The mean effective case reproduction number, or the number of secondary people infected per case, was as high as 4.0 during orientation, and instantaneous reproduction peaked at 10.0 the first day all the campers arrived. (1/27)