Oxygen level while walking indicates patients at risk; cancer patients should be given priority from the vaccine

(Reuters) – The following is a summary of some of the latest scientific studies on the novel coronavirus and efforts to find cures and vaccines for COVID-19, the disease that caused the virus.

Oxygen level while walking indicates patients at risk

It can be helpful to assess blood oxygen levels in patients when walking if that level is normal when sitting, a new study suggests. Low blood oxygen levels, or hypoxia, contribute to shortness of breath and worsening in patients with COVID-19. At 10 hospitals in the Chicago area, doctors examined 531 COVID-19 patients who had normal blood oxygen levels at rest. About one in four developed hypoxia when they woke up and walked. These people were nearly five times more likely to need basic oxygen support and nearly eight times more likely to need advanced oxygen therapy, compared to patients who had stable blood oxygen levels while walking. The drop in blood oxygen levels while walking could detect an average of 12 hours before patients needed extra oxygen, researchers found. The so-called “ambulatory hypoxia” may serve as an early, non-invasive physiological signal for the likelihood of developing moderate to severe disease and help clinicians test patients and start earlier interventions, “the researchers suggested in a paper posted Thursday on medRxiv ahead of a peer review. (bit.ly/3mC8n3e)

Cancer patients should be vaccinated

Cancer patients receiving COVID-19 are at high risk for adverse outcomes and should be considered for priority access to coronavirus vaccines, according to the American Society for the Study of COVID-19 Cancer and the Cancer Action Group. The task force reviewed the available data on the mortality rates of cancer patients who developed COVID-19 and based the recommendation on 28 publications. Their position paper was published Saturday in the journal Cancer Discovery. An individual Italian study confirmed that fear of infection should not be a reason for delaying cancer treatments. Among nearly 60,000 cancer patients treated early this year in Italy, less than 1% developed COVID-19, they reported Thursday in JAMA Oncology. Early reports from China identified a much higher risk of contracting COVID-19 among patients receiving cancer treatment, Dr. Carlo Aschele of Ospedale Sant’Andrea in La Spezia told Reuters. “In Italy, oncologists, as well as patients, feared that they would face many diseases and deaths, especially among patients receiving chemo or immunotherapy,” he said. These positive results allow oncologists and patients to make informed decisions regarding antitumor treatment during this pandemic, he said. (bit.ly/2Jce4ao; bit.ly/3nFhRvF)

EU regulators urge warning for vaccines, treatments in pregnant women

The European Medicines Agency said on Monday that the COVID-19 vaccine developed by Pfizer Inc and BioNTech SE should only be given when you are pregnant “on a case-by-case basis” as there is no data available. There is still plenty about the potential risks to pregnant women. The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) had already identified the issue on their website. He advises that “vaccination against pregnant people is a personal choice. ”There is also a lack of data for COVID-19 treatments in pregnant women, according to a paper published Wednesday in The Lancet Global Health. Researchers who reviewed clinical trial records found that out of 722 COVID-19 treatment studies, 538 (75%) specifically excluded pregnant women. “Without clear and proactive efforts to recruit and retain pregnant women in therapeutic trials for COVID-19, expectant mothers with fewer medical options will be available to them, because we are not including them in clinical trials, “coauthor Dr. Melanie Taylor from the World Health Organization and CDC said in a statement. “There is a real potential that treatment (for COVID-19) could be approved … without evidence-based guidelines for use in pregnant women.” (bit.ly/3h7hO9C; bit.ly/3rki4qD; reut.rs/3nFLnBI)

Low reactivity risk for those positive for antibodies

A study of more than three million people adds to evidence that people with COVID-19 antibodies have a much lower risk of infection with the new coronavirus in the future. Working with healthcare data analysis companies HealthVerity and Action, as well as commercial laboratories Quest Diagnostics and LabCorp, researchers at the U.S. National Cancer Institute (NCI) had access to the results of more than 50% of COVID- antibody tests. 19 commercials made in the United States. States through August. Overall, 11.6% of the tests were unsuccessful. When researchers looked at study subjects that returned to the lab for retests, they found that people who were antibody-resistant had a lower risk at the first test to have evidence of new disease compared to people with first negative test. “This finding suggests that people with good antibody test results … to SARS-CoV-2 have high immunity and are at lower risk for future infection,” said Dr. Norman Sharpless of the NCI. His team’s report was posted on medRxiv Sunday ahead of a peer review. (bit.ly/2LTk8FD)

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