Becker's Clinical Quality & Infection Control

36 QUALITY IMPROVEMENT & MEASUREMENT 10% of diabetics with COVID-19 died within a week of hospitalization, study shows By Anuja Vaidya O ne in 10 diabetics with COVID-19 died within seven days of being hospitalized, a study of hospitals in France found. The study, published in the journal Diabetolo- gia, examined data for 1,317 patients admitted to 53 hospitals in France between March 10 and March 31. On the seventh day of hospitalization, research- ers found that 10.3 percent had died and 20.3 percent had been intubated and placed on a ventilator in intensive care. Most of the hospitalized patients (89 percent) had Type 2 diabetes, and nearly half (47 percent) had microvascular complications, which included damage to the eyes, kidneys and nerves. Anoth- er 41 percent had macrovascular complications, which included damage to the arteries of the heart, brain and legs. The presence of microvascular or macrovascular complications more than doubled the risk of death within a week. n Strokes more severe among coronavirus patients, New York study finds By Anuja Vaidya S trokes are more severe and deadly among COVID-19 patients than among people without the disease, a study published in the journal Stroke found. The study examined 3,556 patients who were being treated for COVID-19 at two hospitals in New York City and Long Island, N.Y., between March 15 and April 19. Researchers found that 32 of the 3,556 patients also suffered a stroke, which is less than 1 percent of all the hospitalized COVID-19 patients. But stroke patients with COVID-19 had more severe symptoms than their counterparts without the disease, researchers found. During the study period, 63 percent of the stroke patients with COVID-19 died, compared to 9 percent of those without COVID-19. Researchers also found at least 56 percent of the strokes among stroke patients with COVID-19 seemed to result from increased blood-clotting in their bodies. "Our study suggests that stroke is an uncommon yet important complication of coronavirus given that these strokes are more severe when compared with strokes occurring in patients who tested negative for the virus," said Shadi Yaghi, MD, an assistant professor in the neurology department of Neurology at NYU Lan- gone Health in New York City and the study's lead author. n 10% drop in ER volume significantly cuts patient death rates, study finds By Mackenzie Bean I f hospitals are able to lower the number of emergency room patients by just 10 percent, it could significantly lower pa- tients' risk of death, a study published in the Journal of Health Economics found. Lindsey Woodworth, PhD, an assistant professor in economics at the University of South Carolina in Columbia, found that the opening of a new emergency room cut patient volume at existing facilities by an average of 10 percent. This drop was linked to a 24 percent decrease in mortality rates over 30 days and a 17 percent decline over six months. Dr. Woodworth said the decrease may be due to fewer people leaving the ER against medical advice when faced with long wait times. She also found that a 10 percent drop in ER volume led to a 51 percent decrease in patients walking out without seeking care. For her study, Dr. Woodworth examined death records and hos- pital administrative data from seven EDs in South Carolina, each of which had a new emergency room open in the same vicinity between 2004 and 2010, according to The Wall Street Journal. Staffing levels and the types of patients being treated at each facility did not significantly change after crowding decreased at the existing facilities. n

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