To test or not to test, and how … copeptin, please advise!

The differential diagnosis of the polyuria-polydipsia syndrome has been notoriously cumbersome, often involving some modified form of the indirect water deprivation test. Furthermore, published vasopressin ranges for the various forms of diabetes insipidus overlap; and reliable assays, tedious and time consuming as they are, never found their way into clinical routine. Now, the introduction of a routine-proof assay for copeptin, the biochemically stable C-terminal glycopeptide segment of the vasopressin prohormone, paved the way out of this stalemate.

A research agenda for digital proximity tracing apps

It is likely that there is only a limited time window for the optimisation of the proximity tracing app and promotion of substantial population uptake. It will be all the more important that research programmes allow data-driven, evidence-based optimisations, and information for the public about the benefits, harms and costs of proximity tracing apps.

A pitfall in estimating the effective reproductive number Rt for COVID-19

The effective reproductive number Rt of COVID-19 is determined indirectly from data that are only incompletely known. Approaches based on reconstructing these data by sampling time lags from suitable distributions introduce noise effects that can result in distorted estimates of Rt. This, in turn, may lead to misleading interpretations of the efficacy of the various measures taken to limit COVID-19 transmission.

Sufficient physicians, but a misguided repartition leads to a shortage of primary care doctors and an excess of various specialists

Examinations and assessments in patients with a newly acquired spinal cord injury – retrospective chart analysis as part of a quality improvement project

The data presented here suggest a relevant gap between recommendations and clinical routine for time to some assessments after spinal cord injury. Within the framework of a quality improvement project, the next steps should be to build a national and international consensus on specific time frames for examinations and assessments in patients with a newly acquired spinal cord injury and thereafter, to develop an institutional implementation strategy.

Iron overload associated symptoms and laboratory changes in the Swiss Haemochromatosis Cohort – when a clinician should become attentive

Elevated ALT levels and metacarpophalangeal arthropathy remained independently associated with elevated ferritin levels in patients with haemochromatosis and should prompt clinicians to consider iron overload in patients with hereditary haemochromatosis.

Data-driven inference of the reproduction number for COVID-19 before and after interventions for 51 European countries

The authors present an online tool for the data-driven inference and quantification of uncertainties for the reproduction number, as well as the time points of interventions for 51 European countries.  The results quantify the rate of the disease’s spread before and after interventions and provide a metric for the effectiveness of non-pharmaceutical interventions in different countries.

A significant increase in exercise test performance with virtual group motivation: a randomised open-label controlled trial

Patients watching a video of a running group achieved significantly higher maximum exercise levels and longer test durations. This may have implications for the test’s validity. Furthermore, the virtual setting enhanced patient comfort.

Characteristics, predictors and outcomes among 99 patients hospitalised with COVID-19 in a tertiary care centre in Switzerland: an observational analysis

This analysis provides insights into the first consecutively hospitalised patients with confirmed COVID-19 at a Swiss tertiary care hospital during the initial period of the pandemic. Markers of disease progression such as inflammatory markers, markers for shock and impaired respiratory function provided the most prognostic information regarding severe COVID-19 progression in this sample.

Youths and poor emotional wellbeing: is it just a matter of stress? A longitudinal survey

Using a longitudinal approach, stress and perceived health status seem to be the main factors that change with emotional wellbeing among youths. Inquiring about stress could be a good proxy for emotional wellbeing, especially among males, who tend to underestimate their emotional worries.

Characteristics, comorbidities, 30-day outcome and in-hospital mortality of patients hospitalised with COVID-19 in a Swiss area – a retrospective cohort study

The authors report the first cohort of Swiss patients hospitalised with COVID-19. Thirty days after onset of the symptoms, 60% had returned home. Among them, 63% still presented symptoms.

Predictors of long-term employment among patients with cystic fibrosis undergoing lung transplantation

Pre-transplant employment is the dominant factor influencing lung transplantation employment in people with cystic fibrosis. People with cystic fibrosis undergoing lung transplantation should be encouraged to work for as long as their health status permits. Professional reintegration after successful lung transplantation should be supported by a multi-disciplinary lung transplant team.

Supplementum 243: Abstracts of the cancelled annual meeting 2020 of the Swiss Society of Paediatrics