COVID 19 is a major planetary emergency and intense workloads and the potential heat stress create critical conditions for healthcare workers. A web survey was carried out in Italy during summer 2020 as part of WORKLIMATE project with the aim of assessing the interaction between Personal Protective Equipment (PPE) and heat stress in healthcare workers. Preliminary results on 191 questionnaires show an increase of heat stress perception in the areas covered by PPE determining symptoms such as thirst, sweating and general distress. This information could be useful to allow preventive measure to safeguard health and productivity of these workers.

Context: In December 2019, the SARS-COVID19 infection is diagnosed in Wuhang (China) and it is spreading rapidly worldwide. Its impact on psychiatric patients institutionalized requires further research.

Objective: This study aims to know the impact that social isolation measures have had during the COVID-19 pandemic in institutionalized patients psychiatric through a narrative review.

Results: In patients with psychiatric pathology and diagnosed by COVID 19, an elevated level of symptomatology related to post-traumatic stress was obtained (96.2%), mainly depressive symptoms (p=.016). In China, patients considered that the lack of assistance and protection resources against the virus as well as the strict measures of social isolation have aggravated their illness, while patients from United States attribute the worsening of the disease to an effective diagnosis of the virus, the difficulty of implementing social distancing measures, and the lack of adequate adherence to treatment. In the Middle East, elderly psychiatric patients are doubly affected due to the lack of care resources. In fact, a French study showed that the mortality of patients with psychiatric pathology was higher than that of all other pathologies (26.7% vs. 8.7%, p = .039).. Finally, inmates psychiatric patients have worsened their pathology related to lack of psychiatric care, stress and measures taken against COVID19 in prisons.

Conclusion: Little attention has been paid to the impact on the mental health of psychiatric patients. It is important to know the consequences of this pandemic in institutionalized settings, where health resources acquire an important dimension to effectively prevent both the disease caused by COVID 19 and its impact on mental health. In this sense, the work of health promotion and promotion of healthy lifestyles (more in psychiatric patients) is especially important to improve psychoneuroimmunity against COVID 19

Introduction. Sensory Processing Sensitivity (SPS), defined as a personality feature which describes the differences among individuals that is related to the perception of environmental stimuli. Previous researches have associated this personality trait with some mental health negative consequences however, the studies are rare and an integration of the obtained findings needs to be addressed. Objective. To analyze the association between sensory processing sensitivity and mental health implications. Methods. We conducted a systematic review of studies using Scopus, ScienceDirect and PubMed databases to assess the information about the sensory processing sensitivity and its consequences in mental health. Results. Thirteen studies fulfilling inclusion criteria were included and analyzed in the review. According to these studies, high levels of sensory processing of sensitivity might be related to the appearance of mental diseases such as anxiety, depression and personality disorders. Conclusions. Despite the health implications of sensory processing sensitivity, more research studies are needed to understand it and to create clinical tools of assessment and intervention to improve the health and quality of life of people who present this personality trait.

The SARS-CoV-2 pandemic is the worst global respiratory viral emergency since the pandemic influenza of 1918-1919. As of December 2020, nearly 70 million persons have been infected, and 1.5 million lives have been lost to coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19). Schools worldwide were drastically impacted as they closed due to illness and absenteeism, transmission, and risk to vulnerable members of the school community, and community concerns. The decision to reopen school during a pandemic will have important implications for the educational and social well-being of school children, but schools must be kept safe from viral spread to ensure the safety of children, families, and teachers and staff. If schools remain closed, children may experience social isolation and have suboptimal educational experiences, especially concerning for youth with special needs. Lower-income families may have more limited computing assets and/or online access. Reopening schools requires careful consideration of benefits, risks, and necessary precautions. Our aim in this paper is to highlight the risk-mitigation strategies in school reopening during the COVID-19 pandemic, based on our experiences in the United States. These include fundamental principles of disease control requiring school-directed initiatives (physical distancing and mask use, hand/face and surface cleansing, administrative and engineering controls for air quality and outdoor activities). Most risk mitigation approaches depend on individual-level risk reduction based on maximal adherence to guidelines. School-initiated “top-down” approaches and individual-level “bottom-up” approaches must be synergized, as no single method will ensure safety. The effective layering of complementary strategies in each educational space (classroom, music, sports, art, drama, workshop, lunchroom, entry/exit) can increase safety. Given the vulnerability of children, we also highlight special considerations for mental health and social support. Safety principles, disease control strategies, and other critical policy issues are key to feasibly and safely reopening schools.

The aim of the present study was to analyze the relationship of peer victimization (both as victim and witness) and self-esteem with child-to-parent violence (CPV) towards mother and father, controlling for participants´ substances use and age. Alongside, the moderator role of the participants´ sex on those relationships was tested.

Eight hundred fifty five Spanish high school students (402 female and 453 male) aged between 13 and 20 years (M = 15.29, SD = 1.10) were surveyed. Information about CPV was obtained trough the Child-to-Parent Aggression Questionnaire (CPAQ). Sociodemographic data, self-esteem and peer victimization were assessed trough a self-constructed questionnaire, the Rosenberg Self-esteem Scale (RSS) and the Violence Exposure Questionnaire (VEQ), respectively.

Regarding violence towards mothers, the results of the multiple regression analyses showed a relationship with suffering and witnessing peer victimization, along with lower scores on self-esteem. A moderating role of the aggressor’s sex over self-esteem was found, being the relationship of self-esteem with CPV significant only in the case of male participants.

With regard to the violence towards fathers, results showed a relationship with witnessing peer victimization, as well as with self-esteem. Again, a moderating role of the aggressor’s sex over self-esteem was found, the relationship with CPV being significant only in the case of male participants.

Results confirm the idea that both suffering and witnessing peer violence, as well as low self-esteem levels, have an effect on the probability of CPV perpetration, which differs according to the sex of the perpetrator in the case of self-esteem.

Introduction: In spite of many studies, the pathomechanism of dysmenorrhea (DM) still remains unclear. Previous studies have demonstrated that DM is a complex process that may depend on many factors including an early age of the menarche, stress, menstruation time-period and intensity, the occurrence of premenstrual syndrome (PMS) as well as periodic changes in hormone levels.

The study was aimed at evaluating the levels of progesterone and 17-beta oestradiol, and the severity of dysmenorrhea in six young women, including three after the use of manual therapy and the other three after the administration of ibuprofen.

Material and methods: In six patients aged 21.8±1.6 gynaecological and physiotherapeutic examinations were completed. Moreover, a two-fold determination of progesterone and 17-beta oestradiol levels were carried out. The intensity of dysmenorrhea was assessed in the numerical pain rating scale (NPRS, range 0-10). The group of patients was divided into two subgroups. Subgroup A (n=3) was subjected to manual therapy (3 x 45 min), while in subgroup B (n=3) the patients were administered ibuprofen 3 x 400 mg/24 h during menstruation.

Results: Lower progesterone levels were detected in the blood of the 3 women from subgroup A after manual therapy and in 2 of the women from subgroup B after administrating ibuprofen. After the therapy, the level of 17-beta oestradiol was lower in one woman from subgroup A and in two from subgroup B. Once the manual therapy had been instituted in subgroup A, dysmenorrhea was reduced on average from 8 down to 4 points in the NPRS. Furthermore, its duration time was shortened by one day on average (3/2 days). In subgroup B receiving ibuprofen dysmenorrhea was decreased on average from 8 to 3 points in the NPRS, yet no changes in its duration time were observed (3/3 days).

Conclusions: It has been demonstrated that manual therapy alleviated dysmenorrhea to a similar degree as ibuprofen. However, only the manual therapy exerted an effect on the shortening of dysmenorrhea duration time. The use of manual therapy probably influenced the diminution of progesterone level. Further studies using a greater number of patients are required.

Health care personnel (HCP) might be at high risk for contracting SARS-CoV-2, the virus that causes coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19). This study aims to characterize the seroprevalence of SARS-CoV-2 among health professionals in Portugal. A cross-sectional study was conducted between June 1^st and July 19^th, 2020, following the first wave of COVID-19 in the country, with a convenience sample of HCP working in different Portuguese health units, both from the community and clinical settings, geographically distributed at the national level. HCP diagnosed with COVID-19 was an exclusion criterion of the study. Participants were tested for antibodies to SARS-CoV-2 with a chemiluminescence immunoassay that detect and quantify SARS-CoV-2 antibodies anti-IgG, and then asked about demographic characteristics, medical history, COVID-19 symptoms, previous clinical testing for acute SARS-CoV-2 infection, and Personal Protective Equipment (PPE) practices while caring for patients in areas with COVID-19 patients. A total of 1,802 HCP participated in the study, from all Regional Health Authorities of mainland Portugal, of which 81.0% were women. Almost half of the participants (48,1%) were nurses, and 29.6% were doctors. Among all participants, 55 (3.1%) had positive test results for SARS-CoV-2 antibodies and, from these, 28 (50.9%) did not reported to have had COVID-19 symptoms since the beginning of the year 2020. The majority of the HCP who had SARS-CoV-2 positivity indicated to always use PPE. Factors associated with infection, namely geographical distribution, profession, having had a family member with COVID-19 and having had contact with family members with COVID-19, as well as limitations to the study, will be discussed in further detail in this presentation. Understanding the prevalence of and factors associated with SARS-CoV-2 infection among HCP is important for protecting both HCP and their patients.

Environmental noise affects the health and wellbeing of millions of people in Europe. Some of the health effects of noise exposure include new cases of ischemic heart disease, chronic annoyance, sleep disturbance and premature death. Our home soundscape, which involves both positive (i.e. restorative sounds) and negative sounds (i.e. noise), changed drastically during the first COVID-19 lockdown. Sounds associated with daily activity became almost non-existent, especially during the strictest lockdown weeks. In this context, the Sons al Balcó project is aimed at studying the effect that the first lockdown due to the COVID-19 pandemic has caused on the perception of both positive and negative sounds in Catalonia. The hypothesis is that the decrease in outdoor noise, accompanied by a rise of a more positive soundscape would have a positive impact on the degree of annoyance in the population, increasing wellbeing. We performed a socio-acoustic survey targeting all the citizens of Catalonia. The survey included socio-demographic questions as well as questions about 1) the quality of the residential soundscape and 2) the individual positive and negative sound perception before and during the lockdown for a range of sound sources. Furthermore, the survey allowed the participants to upload videos of their residential soundscapes and to characterize several types of sounds present during the recordings. More than 350 participants answered the questionnaire. As a result, we depicted the first soundscape of Catalonia during the first COVID-19 lockdown. Whereas 16.4% of the respondents found their sound environment “very good” before the lockdown, this proportion reached 63.4% during the lockdown. In addition, a 76.4% of respondents did not use the adjectives "strong", "noisy", "disturbing", and "sharp" to describe the sounds in their videos, which suggests the presence of positive soundscapes. Future work will allow us to perform a comparison between both objective (sound and video) and subjective (questionnaires) measures, giving us the opportunity to compare aspects never previously studied.

Hospitalized SARI (Severe Acute Respiratory Infection) cases reported to the Brazilian Ministry of Health through the SIVEP Gripe system are subject to our analysis. Out of 617,020 cases included in the analysis, 364,904 (59.1%) had COVID-19 as the etiologic agent, while the rest had another (called non-COVID). Clinical manifestations and comorbidities are reported for each group. Among COVID and non-COVID cases 50.4% and 46.4% used non-Invasive Ventilatory Support (nIVS), 21.2% and 16.8% used Invasive Ventilatory Support (IVS) and 36.6% and 29.8% were admitted to ICU. 40% and 25.2% in each group evolved to death. Mean length of hospitalization and ICU stay were higher in COVID patients (10.8 vs 8.6 and 10.2 vs 7.3 days).

The comparison in time of SARI cases from 2020 with those reported in 2019 showed an increase in reporting of non-COVID cases. The proportion of COVID-19 cases for whom PCR test was detectable was up to 90%, while in non-COVID cases it was less than 20%. Logistic Regression analysis showed that patients having less education had lower odds of PCR test being detectable.

Full logistic regression models were used to estimate the effect of comorbidities, severity of SARI, etiologic agent, age, sex and race on outcomes simultaneously. Heart disease, lung disease, diabetes, and obesity had significantly higher odds of being admitted to ICU, having used nIVS and IVS. These same comorbidities, immunosuppression, renal, and liver diseases had also higher odds of dying. Asthma on the other hand showed to be a protective factor and was associated with significantly lower odds of being admitted to ICU and dying of SARI. Females had significantly better outcomes. COVID patients had higher odds of being admitted to the ICU, receiving nIVS and IVS, and dying.

Introduction

Illicit opioid use contributes more to the global burden of disease than any other illicit drug use. Global estimates of prescription opioid use doubled from 2001 to 2013, accompanied by a rise in non-medical use and related harms (opioid poisoning, addiction, dependence, and related injuries and deaths). COVID-19 has seen increases in risk factors for illicit drug use including social isolation and unemployment. It is important that post-COVID-19 prevalence rates are considered in the context of recent prevalence information and trends, which this study aims to provide.

Methods

This study included 72,586 individuals aged 14 and above who participated in the National Drug Strategy Household Surveys in 2010, 2013, and 2016. We estimated population prevalence of non-medical prescription opioid use across the years. Binary logistic regression was used to assess participants’ characteristics and their association with the probability of non-medical prescription opioid use over time.

Results

The national weighted prevalence were 3.22% in 2010, 3.45% in 2013, and 3.56% in 2016, but the changes were statistically non-significant. Individuals with high levels of psychological distress, socioeconomically disadvantaged and residing in the non-metropolitan area were more likely to have used non-medical prescription opioid in the past year. The prevalence of uses among individuals in the 40-49 age group increased significantly between 2010 and 2016.

Conclusions

The finding supports a position that Australia is not on a trajectory towards an opioid crisis, as seen in the USA. However, limitations in 2016 data collection methods could have concealed an increase in non-medical prescription opioid use. Impending 2019 data will be important to include as a pre-COVID-19 baseline for future studies. Implications and future research directions are discussed.