That’s awesome!
But… your grocery workers still cannot get vaxxed? Yikes! That sucks. IL and Chicago put those in 1B, behind healthcare and nursing homes.
3 Likes
I’m totally taking ugly-cry selfies after both shots.
2 Likes
Sharing another article, spoilered for length.
Another Medscape- Women with PCOS at increased risk for COVID-19
Women With PCOS at Increased Risk for COVID-19
Editor’s note: Find the latest COVID-19 news and guidance in Medscape’s Coronavirus Resource Center.
Women with polycystic ovary syndrome(PCOS) face an almost 30% increased risk for COVID-19 compared with unaffected women, even after adjusting for cardiometabolic and other related factors, suggests an analysis of United Kingdom primary care data.
“Our research has highlighted that women with PCOS are an often overlooked and potentially high-risk population for contracting COVID-19,” said joint senior author Wiebke Arlt, MD, PhD, Director of the Institute of Metabolism and Systems Research at the University of Birmingham, UK, in a press release.
“Before the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic, women with PCOS consistently report fragmented care, delayed diagnosis and a perception of poor clinician understanding of their condition,” added co-author Michael W. O’Reilly, MD, PhD, University of Medicine and Health Sciences, Dublin, Ireland.
“Women suffering from this condition may fear, with some degree of justification, that an enhanced risk of COVID-19 infection will further compromise timely access to healthcare and serve to increase the sense of disenfranchisement currently experienced by many patients,” he added.
Consequently, “these findings need to be considered when designing public health policy and advice as our understanding of COVID-19 evolves,” noted first author Anuradhaa Subramanian, PhD Student, Institute of Applied Health Research, University of Birmingham.
The research was published by the European Journal of Endocrinology on March 9.
Women With PCOS: A Distinct Subgroup?
PCOS, which is thought to affect up to 16% of women, is associated with a significantly increased risk for type 2 diabetes, non-alcoholic fatty liver disease, and cardiovascular disease, all which have been linked to more severe COVID-19.
The condition is more prevalent in Black and South Asian women, who also appear to have an increased risk for severe COVID-19 vs their White counterparts.
However, women and younger people in general have a lower overall risk for severe COVID-19 and mortality compared with older people and men.
Women with PCOS may therefore “represent a distinct subgroup of women at higher than average [on the basis of their sex and age] risk of adverse COVID-19-related outcomes,” the researchers note.
To investigate further, they collated data from The Health Improvement Network primary care database, which includes information from 365 active general practices in the UK for the period January 31, 2020, to July 22, 2020.
They identified women with PCOS or a coded diagnosis of polycystic ovaries (PCO), and then for each woman randomly selected four unaffected controls matched for age and general practice location.
They included 21,292 women with PCOS/PCO and 78,310 controls, who had a mean age at study entry of 39.3 years and 39.5 years, respectively. The mean age at diagnosis of PCOS was 27 years, and the mean duration of the condition was 12.4 years.
The crude incidence of COVID-19 was 18.1 per 1000 person-years among women with PCOS vs 11.9 per 1000 person-years in those without.
Cox regression analysis adjusted for age indicated that women with PCOS faced a significantly increased risk for COVID-19 than those without, at a hazard ratio of 1.51 ( P < .001).
Further adjustment for body mass index (BMI) and age reduced the hazard ratio to 1.36 ( P = .001).
In the fully adjusted model, which also took into account impaired glucose regulation, androgen excess, anovulation, hypertension, and other PCOS-related factors, the hazard ratio remained significant, at 1.28 ( P = .015).
For Shielding, Balance Benefits With Impact on Mental Health
Joint senior author Krishnarajah Nirantharakumar, MD, PhD, also of the University of Birmingham, commented that, despite the increased risks, shielding strategies for COVID-19 need to take into account the impact of PCOS on women’s mental health.
“The risk of mental health problems, including low self-esteem, anxiety, and depression, is significantly higher in women with PCOS,” he said, “and advice on strict adherence to social distancing needs to be tempered by the associated risk of exacerbating these underlying problems.”
Arlt also pointed out that the study only looked at the incidence of COVID-19 infection, rather than outcomes.
“Our study does not provide information on the risk of a severe course of the COVID-19 infection or on the risk of COVID-19–related long-term complications [in women with PCOS] and further research is required,” she concluded.
The study was funded by Health Data Research UK and supported by the Wellcome Trust, the Health Research Board, and the National Institute for Health Research Birmingham Biomedical Research Centre based at the University of Birmingham and University Hospitals Birmingham NHS Foundation Trust. The study authors have disclosed no relevant financial relationships.
Eur J Endocrinol. Published online March 9, 2021. Full text
2 Likes
I got my dad an appointment for a shot on Tuesday!!! It’s for the J&J one too, which I think is good because then we only have to convince him to leave the house and go through with it once. He’s 83, has congestive heart failure, and stage 5 kidney disease. So it would be REALLY bad for him to get covid.
27 Likes
Another Emily Oster article, arguing that unvaccinated kids are equivalent in risk to vaccinated adults.
4 Likes
Moderna #1 is in the books! Husband and I had appointments for a later date. The place we were going to indicated that their walk-in clinic today had no wait. We stopped by since we were right in the area, and they were happy to take us today.
22 Likes
Even better, we informed neighbors and they got shots, too! So much about this pandemic is beyond my span of control, (aside from personal decision making to try to stay safe). It feels good to help other people obtain vaccines.
17 Likes
Very, very good breakdown of what the efficacy rates mean, and why the J&J numbers are probably MUCH better than people realize- https://youtu.be/K3odScka55A
6 Likes
Oooh thanks for this. Also, what happened with the AstraZeneca vaccine? I’m concerned because it seems to be the one my government has picked.
1 Like
Europe got extremely gun shy about AstraZeneca because it seemed like it may be causing blood clots in people. An extensive data review both by the company and one of Europe’s health councils though has found that it’s not occurring it any higher rate then would be normal within a large population sample. However, I’ve seen some big concerns about its efficacy against the South African variant. That seems to be a valid criticism of it.
5 Likes
Mums booked in for her first covid vaccine on Thursday. She will be the first person I will know to have it.
She is getting the astrazeneca vaccine. Hopefully she doesn’t have a reaction
10 Likes
Thank you for sharing this. My sister was hesitant about having my dad get the J&J shot instead of Pfizer or Moderna but finally agreed after I shared more data (and kind of text-screamed) at her.
4 Likes
It’s understandable when you just see the numbers and don’t know the context! Good job educating. I think this all is gonna take a big push of grassroots/family outreach and pushing people to get this all done.
4 Likes
I got my first Pfizer shot today. I got it at CVS, and it was interesting that while I am in a group eligible right now (for a volunteer job) they did not ask for any proof or ID from me when I checked in. In AZ we are still in 55+ or job related eligibility, so that was really surprising because it seemed VERY strict when reading the county website. Anyway, 3 hours in and zero effects, not even arm soreness.
27 Likes
Congrats!
I got mine at CVS too, but I did have to show my ID, and they also took my insurance card info. It’s very interesting how things are being handled so differently everywhere.
3 Likes
I wonder if some of this is, what do they do if it turns out you are ineligible? They can’t fill the appt. Does the vaccine go to waste?
I think that many places are going on the honor system for signing up for the appt, trying to stop ineligible people from taking them.
My pharmacy did require my insurance (it was on file with their system), as apparently insurance pays for it if you have insurance.
3 Likes
Yes, just got the EOB from ours for our second shots. Insurance does pay if you have it.
3 Likes
My parents - who are quite young, in their 50s, got their vaccine appts for THIS WEEK. Eligibility just opened for underlying conditions in their age group (45-64) today in Oregon.
The websites have not been updated yet but they were able to schedule vaccines by calling 211.
21 Likes
I’m enjoying seeing my coworkers talk about getting appointments this week on Slack since the age limit just went down to 50 today in FL. Casually watching the Publix website this morning, appointment spots weren’t filling up noticeably faster than they did last week or the week before. (Publix opens appointments at 7am MWF, other chains open new spots at midnight when I’m asleep so I’m not watching them, lol.)
6 Likes