Study: Activity Reduces Risk Of Severe Covid

CNN: Severe Covid-19 Infection: Reduce Risk With Regular Physical Activity, Study Says 
A history of being consistently active is strongly associated with a reduced risk of severe Covid-19, according to a new study released Tuesday. The Kaiser Permanente study, published in the British Journal of Sports Medicine, looked at nearly 50,000 adults with Covid-19. The research found that those who met the target of the US Department of Health and Human Services' physical activity guidelines -- of at least 150 minutes per week of moderate to vigorous physical activity -- showed significantly lower incidences of hospitalization, ICU admission and death due to Covid-19 illness. (Santas, 4/13)

CIDRAP: ECMO May Improve Survival In Severely Ill COVID-19 Patients
Extracorporeal membrane oxygenation (ECMO) treatment for COVID-19 resulted in a 45.9% in-hospital mortality rate for those hospitalized with COVID-19 and acute respiratory distress syndrome (ARDS)—roughly half the rate reported in previous publications—according to a study late last week in the Annals of Surgery. The researchers looked at 11,182 US patients hospitalized with COVID-19 and ARDS between April and September 2020. The average length of stay was 36.8 days, including 29.1 days in the intensive care unit. Most patients (57.9%) were younger than 50 years, while roughly 37% were 51 to 64, and about 5% were 65 and older. (4/13)

The New York Times: Some Children With Covid-Related Syndrome Develop Neurological Symptoms
Reports about the mysterious Covid-related inflammatory syndrome that afflicts some children and teenagers have mostly focused on physical symptoms: rash, abdominal pain, red eyes and, most seriously, heart problems like low blood pressure, shock and difficulty pumping. Now, a new report shows that a significant number of young people with the syndrome also develop neurological symptoms, including hallucinations, confusion, speech impairments and problems with balance and coordination. The study of 46 children treated at one hospital in London found that just over half — 24 — experienced such neurological symptoms, which they had never had before. (Belluck, 4/13)

The New York Times: Zoom Burnout Is Real, And It’s Worse For Women
For all the advantages and disadvantages of remote work, video calls have emerged as such a widespread pain point that the term “Zoom fatigue” has entered our lexicon — a catchall phrase referring to the tiredness related to video calls on any number of platforms. Now, research from Stanford University published on Tuesday found that women experience significantly more Zoom fatigue than men. The research, which hasn’t been peer-reviewed, suggests that video calls simply amplify the longstanding gender dynamics in group settings and exacerbate an already wide gender stress gap, with women consistently reporting more stress and stress-related health conditions than men, according to the American Psychological Association. (Haridasani Gupta, 4/13)

CIDRAP: COVID Disrupts Healthcare In Low- And Middle-Income Countries
The COVID-19 pandemic has negatively affected healthcare programs in low- and middle-income countries (LMICs) that work to protect populations against HIV, tuberculosis (TB), and malaria, according to a new report by the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis, and Malaria. The fund found that, from April to September 2020, HIV testing fell 41%, TB referrals declined 59%, and malaria diagnoses fell 31% among 502 health facilities in 32 LMICs in Africa and Asia. According to 85% of the surveyed facilities, COVID-19 was the main reason patients no longer sought healthcare, with most reporting fear of transmission (28%), disruption to public transit (20%), lockdown or stay-at-home orders (20%), and general delayed care-seeking behaviors (15%). For instance, antenatal care visits fell 43%, and in seven Asian countries, they fell 66% while consultations for children under 5 dropped 74%. (4/13)

CIDRAP: Commission Planning Group Aims To Integrate COVID Lessons
More than two dozen of the nation's leading scientists, sponsored by Schmidt Futures, the Skoll Foundations, the Rockefeller Foundation, and Stand Together, are creating the Covid Commission Planning Group (CPG), the University of Virginia's Miller Center of Public Affairs announced today in a news release emailed to journalists. The goal of the commission is, according to the press release, to "seize this once-in-a-century opportunity to help America—and the world—begin to heal and safeguard our common future from new existential threats." Already, the team has debriefed nearly 100 experts and defined nine task forces in areas such as COVID-19's origins and the prevention of future pandemics, national readiness and initial responses, communities at risk, care for the sick (including COVID-19 long-haulers), data solutions, and diagnostics, therapeutics, and vaccines. (4/13)

In other medical research news —

CNN: School Meals Are The Healthiest Food Children Eat, Study Finds 
School food is often given a bad rap, but a new study found it can be the healthiest meal children eat in a day. Researchers analyzed the diets of over 21,000 children and 40,000 adults between 2003 and 2018 and found that the percentage of "poor nutritional quality food consumed from schools" declined from 55% to 24% over the 15-year period, according to a study published Monday in JAMA Network Open. (Marples, 4/13)