Digital repository of Slovenian research organisations

Search the repository
A+ | A- | Help | SLO | ENG

Query: search in
search in
search in
search in

Options:
  Reset


Query: "keywords" (coronavirus) .

1 - 10 / 16
First pagePrevious page12Next pageLast page
1.
Functional characteristics and subjective disease perception in patients with COVID-19 two months after hospital discharge
Kaja Teraž, Boštjan Šimunič, Manca Peskar, Uroš Marušič, Saša Pišot, Luka Šlosar, Mladen Gasparini, Rado Pišot, 2023, original scientific article

Abstract: Introduction: Although early inpatient and post-hospital rehabilitation is recognized as necessary, not all COVID-19 patients have access to rehabilitation. There are no published reports in the literature that investigate the outcomes of patients who do not receive rehabilitation after COVID-19. Our aim was to evaluate possible improvements in determinate functional and psychological parameters in COVID19 patients two months after their hospital discharge. Methods: On both time points various motor, cognitive, and clinical measurements such as body composition, tensiomyography, blood pressure, spirometry, grip strength test, Timed Up and Go test, gait speed, 30-second chair-stand test, and Montreal Cognitive Assessment, were performed. Additionally, questionnaires such as the SARC-CalF test, Edmonton frail scale, International Physical Activity questionnaire andThe Mediterranean Lifestyle index were conducted to assess lifestyle characteristics. Results: A total of 39 patients (87.2% male; mean age of 59.1 ± 10.3 years), who were hospitalized due to COVID-19 at the Izola General Hospital (IGH), Slovenia between December 2020 and April 2021, were included. Patients were assessed at two time points (T1 and T2): T1 was taken after receiving a negative COVID-19 test and T2 was taken two months after T1. After two months of self-rehabilitation, we have detected a BMI increase (p < .001), fat free mass increase (p < .001), better Edmonton frail scale (p < .001), SARC-CalF score (p = .014) and MoCA score (p = .014). There were no detected changes in lifestyle habits nor in physical performance tests. Discussion: It is already known that COVID-19 has long-term negative consequences regardless of the stage of the disease. Our findings support the notion that patients cannot fully regain all their functions within a two-month period without receiving structured or supervised rehabilitation. Therefore, it is crucial to offer patients comprehensive and structured rehabilitation that incorporates clinical, cognitive, and motor exercises.
Keywords: pandemics, coronavirus, functional improvement, hospital stay, health perception
Published in DiRROS: 26.07.2023; Views: 298; Downloads: 147
.pdf Full text (892,24 KB)
This document has many files! More...

2.
Effects of COVID-19 on cognition and mood after hospitalization and at 2-month follow-up
Manca Peskar, Boštjan Šimunič, Luka Šlosar, Saša Pišot, Kaja Teraž, Mladen Gasparini, Rado Pišot, Uroš Marušič, 2023, original scientific article

Abstract: A plethora of evidence links SARS-CoV-2 infection with concomitant cognitive dysfunction, which often persists weeks to months after the acute stages of illness and affects executive function, attention, memory, orientation, and movement control. It remains largely unclear which conditions or factors exacerbate the recovery. In a cohort of N=37 Slovenian patients (5 females, aged M = 58, SD = 10.7 years) that were hospitalized because of COVID-19, the cognitive function and mood states were assessed immediately after discharge and 2-months later to investigate the early post-COVID recovery changes. We assessed the global Montreal Cognitive Assessment (MoCA), Simple and Choice Reaction Times, executive functions (Trail-Making Test – TMT-A and TMT-B), short-term memory (Auditory Verbal Learning Test – AVLT), and visuospatial memory. We monitored depressive and anxiety symptoms and applied general self-efficacy and cognitive complaints questionnaires. Our results showed a global cognitive impairment (MoCA, Z = 332.5; p = 0.012), poorer performance on executive functions (TMT-A, Z = 188; p = 0.014; and TMT-B, Z = 185; p = 0.012), verbal memory (AVLT, F = 33.4; p < 0.001), and delayed recall (AVLT7, F = 17.1; p < 0.001), and higher depressive (Z = 145; p = 0.015) and anxiety (Z = 141; p = 0.003) symptoms after hospital discharge compared to 2-month follow-up, indicating that SARS-CoV-2 may transiently impair cognitive function and adversely affect the mood. No improvement in MoCA was observed in 40.5% of the patients at follow-up, indicating possible long-term effects of COVID-19 on global cognitive performance. Medical comorbidities (p = 0.035) significantly predicted the change in MoCA score over time, while fat mass (FM, p = 0.518), Mediterranean diet index (p = .0.944), and Florida Cognitive Activities Score (p = 0.927) did not. These results suggest that the patients’ medical comorbidities at the time of SARS-CoV-2 infection could importantly contribute to the acute impairment of cognitive function and stress the importance of systemic implementation of countermeasures to limit the negative consequences on public health.
Keywords: Coronavirus, recovery, acute respiratory sindrom, cognitive functions, cognitive impairment, MOCA, trail-making test
Published in DiRROS: 01.06.2023; Views: 406; Downloads: 184
.pdf Full text (643,65 KB)
This document has many files! More...

3.
Editorial
Saša Pišot, 2021, preface, editorial, afterword

Keywords: sport, kinesiology, pandemics, coronavirus, Covid-19, restricitive measures, research
Published in DiRROS: 02.03.2023; Views: 356; Downloads: 157
.pdf Full text (134,61 KB)
This document has many files! More...

4.
The differences of Slovenian and Italian daily practices experienced in the first wave of covid-19 pandemic
Saša Pišot, Boštjan Šimunič, Ambra Gentile, Antonino Bianco, Gianluca Lo Coco, Rado Pišot, Patrik Drid, Ivana Milovanović, 2022, original scientific article

Abstract: Background: The COVID-19 pandemic situation with the lockdown of public life caused serious changes in people’s everyday practices. The study evaluates the diferences between Slovenia and Italy in health-related everyday practices induced by the restrictive measures during frst wave of the COVID-19 pandemic. Methods: The cross-sectional cohort study examined changes through an online survey conducted in nine European countries from April 15–28, 2020. The survey included questions from a simple activity inventory questionnaire (SIMPAQ), the European Health Interview Survey, and some other questions. To compare diference in changes between European countries we examined Italy with severe and its neighbour country Slovenia with low incidence and victims of COVID-19 epidemic. 956 valid responses from Italy (N=511; 50% males) and Slovenia (N=445; 26% males) were investigated. Results: During the survey, there was a 4.7-fold higher incidence and 12.1-fold more deaths (per 100,000) in Italy than in Slovenia. Barring periods and measures were similar, the latter more stringent in Italy. We found more changes in Italy than in Slovenia: physical inactivity increased (Italy:+65% vs. Slovenia:+21%; p<0.001), walking time decreased (Italy: -68% vs. Slovenia: -4.4%; p<0.001); physical work increased by 38% in Slovenia (p<0.001), and recreation time decreased by 37% in Italy (p<0.001). Italians reported a decrease in quality of general health, ftness level, psychological well-being, quality of life and care for own health (p<0.001); Slovenians showed a decline in psychological well-being and quality of life (p<0.001) but generally had a higher concern for their own health (p=0.005). In pooled participants, changes in eating habits (meal size and consumption of unhealthy food), age and physical inactivity were positively correlated with increases in body mass, while changes in general well-being and concern for health were negatively correlated. Conclusion: The study shows that the negative impact of COVID -19 measures is greater in Italy where the pandemic COVID -19 was more prevalent than in Slovenia with low prevalence. Additional consideration should be given to the negative impact of COVID-19 measures on some health-related lifestyle variables when implementing further measures to mitigate the COVID-19 pandemic.
Keywords: coronavirus pandemic, pandemic measures, home confinement, public health, physical activity, physical inactivity, dietary habits, eating habits, well-being
Published in DiRROS: 18.02.2022; Views: 649; Downloads: 496
.pdf Full text (1,19 MB)
This document has many files! More...

5.
Lower-limb muscle contractile properties, explosive power and the subjective response of elite soccer players to the Covid-19 lockdown
Armin Paravlić, Boštjan Šimunič, Saša Pišot, Matej Kleva, Kaja Teraž, Matjaž Vogrin, Uroš Marušič, Rado Pišot, 2022, original scientific article

Abstract: The present study examined the effects of the lockdown period on basic anthropometric measures, countermovement jumping performance, skeletal muscle contractile properties derived from tensiomyography (TMG), injury incidence, and self-assessed general well-being in elite soccer players. A total of 266 players were assessed before (PRE) and 32 players were reassessed 11 days after (POST) the COVID-19 period. Significant changes in the TMG parameters were observed POST compared to PRE: contraction time (Tc) increased from 6% to 50% in vastus lateralis [VL] (p = 0.009) and biceps femoris [BF] (p < 0.001), respectively; whereas radial displacement (Dm) increased for 19% in BF (p = 0.036) and 17% in VL (p < 0.001), respectively. Jumping performance remained unchanged from PRE to POST In addition, athletes rated the lockdown period as a positive event and felt psychologically better during the lockdown, primarily because they spent more time with family members and friends. Although there were no differences in any of the variables describing lower limb muscle power following the two-month lockdown, the altered contractile properties of the assessed muscles suggest suboptimal conditioning of the football players.
Keywords: football, male football, power, explosive power, tensiomyography, coronavirus, covid-19, pandemics, lockdown
Published in DiRROS: 06.01.2022; Views: 739; Downloads: 470
.pdf Full text (672,26 KB)
This document has many files! More...

6.
Effect of a warm-up protocol with and without facemask-use against COVID-19 on cognitive function : ǂa ǂpilot, randomized counterbalanced, cross-sectional study
Maamer Slimani, Bianca Miarka, Hela Znazen, Wassim Moalla, Amri Hammami, Armin Paravlić, Nicola Luigi Bragazzi, 2021, original scientific article

Abstract: The present study aimed to verify the effect of a warm-up protocol with and without facemask-use on cognitive function. The sample was composed of 17 healthy, non-smoking physical education students (age = 17.6 years, height = 1.71 m, and body mass = 69.7 kg). They were randomized to perform 15 min of warm-up exercises, while wearing a cloth facemask (EXP) or no mask (CON) on two separate occasions, with at least 48-h separating conditions. Rate of perceived exertion (RPE) and d2 Attention assessment were used to verify cognitive function, using a repeated measures general linear model. The warm-up improved cognitive abilities and the results demonstrated significant differences between the EXP vs. CON groups in post-concentration performance (186.06 % 15.47 EXP-score vs. 178.12 % 13.66 CON-score), post the total number of errors (23.47 % 14.50 EXP-frequency < 29.06 % 13.74 CON-frequency), and in the post RPE (6.0 % 1.37 EXP-index > 4.7 % 0.85 CON-index). Wearing a cloth facemask caused positive effects on cognitive function. This data suggests that wearing a cloth facemask during warm-up may stimulate/improve the cognitive function.
Keywords: pandemic, coronavirus, COVID-19, physical activities, exercises, facemasks, warm-up protocol, cognitive functions, neuropsychological tests
Published in DiRROS: 11.06.2021; Views: 886; Downloads: 1463
.pdf Full text (320,39 KB)
This document has many files! More...

7.
Children's daily routine response to COVID-19 emergency measures in Serbia
Jovan Vuković, Radenko Matić, Ivana Milovanović, Nebojša Maksimović, Dragan Krivokapić, Saša Pišot, 2021, short scientific article

Abstract: Objective: The emergence of coronavirus in Serbia as well as in other European countries led to the declaration of a state of emergency, which, among other measures, included a switch to online education, the lockdown of public life and organized sports, and a curfew from 5 pm to 5 am. This study aimed to investigate the extent to which these measures affected children's daily routines. More specifically, it aimed to determine how children maintained their learning, physical activity, and screen time routines from the period before the state of emergency was declared. Methods: Response to an online parent-reported questionnaire was conducted (N = 450). The factorial validity of the scales was prepared using confirmatory factor analysis, with acceptable fit indices. Based on that, the authors tested the interrelations between dimensions using structural equation modeling in SPSS, AMOS 24.0. Results: The study results indicate a positive relationship between school achievement and study time (% = 0.25). They also indicate that children who were physically active before the pandemic continued their activities during the emergency state (% = 0.53). Physical activity impact during the COVID-19 emergency measures reduces children%s behavior changes (% = 0.55). Finally, they highlight that children who spent more time with multimedia content had greater changes in anxiety, sensitivity, nervousness, and worry due to COVID-19 emergency measures (% = %0.38). Conclusions: Healthy lifestyle habits formed in childhood are suggested to be responsible for the greater %resistance to change% shown by the children from this study.
Keywords: children, daily routine, school achievement, physical activity, coronavirus, COVID-19, pandemic, restrictions, emergency measures, Serbia
Published in DiRROS: 22.04.2021; Views: 1150; Downloads: 938
.pdf Full text (1,30 MB)
This document has many files! More...

8.
Globally altered sleep patterns and physical activity levels by confinement in 5056 individuals : ECLB COVID-19 international online survey
Khaled Trabelsi, Achraf Ammar, Liwa Masmoudi, Omar Boukhris, Hamdi Chtourou, Bassem Bouaziz, Michael Brach, Boštjan Šimunič, Rado Pišot, Saša Pišot, 2021, original scientific article

Abstract: Symptoms of psychological distress and disorder have been widely reported in people under quarantine during the COVID-19 pandemic; in addition to severe disruption of peoples% daily activity and sleep patterns. This study investigates the association between physical-activity levels and sleep patterns in quarantined individuals. An international Google online survey was launched in April 6th, 2020 for 12-weeks. Forty-one research organizations from Europe, North-Africa, Western-Asia, and the Americas promoted the survey through their networks to the general society, which was made available in 14 languages. The survey was presented in a differential format with questions related to responses %before% and %during% the confinement period. Participants responded to the Pittsburgh Sleep Quality Index (PSQI) questionnaire and the short form of the International Physical Activity Questionnaire. 5056 replies (59.4% female), from Europe (46.4%), Western-Asia (25.4%), America (14.8%) and North-Africa (13.3%) were analysed. The COVID-19 home confinement led to impaired sleep quality, as evidenced by the increase in the global PSQI score (4.37 % 2.71 before home confinement vs. 5.32 % 3.23 during home confinement) (p < 0.001). The frequency of individuals experiencing a good sleep decreased from 61% (n = 3063) before home confinement to 48% (n = 2405) during home confinement with highly active individuals experienced better sleep quality (p < 0.001) in both conditions. Time spent engaged in all physical-activity and the metabolic equivalent of task in each physical-activity category (i.e., vigorous, moderate, walking) decreased significantly during COVID-19 home confinement (p < 0.001). The number of hours of daily-sitting increased by ~2 hours/days during home confinement (p < 0.001). COVID-19 home confinement resulted in significantly negative alterations in sleep patterns and physical-activity levels. To maintain health during home confinement, physical-activity promotion and sleep hygiene education and support are strongly warranted.
Keywords: coronavirus, COVID-19, pandemic, public health, restrictions, isolation, home confinement, psychosocial health, sleep, sedentary lifestyle, physical activities, lifestyle, behaviours
Published in DiRROS: 24.03.2021; Views: 10012; Downloads: 770
.pdf Full text (408,87 KB)
This document has many files! More...

9.
A cross-country examination on the fear of COVID-19 and the sense of loneliness during the first wave of COVID-19 outbreak
Gianluca Lo Coco, Ambra Gentile, Ksenja Bosnar, Ivana Milovanović, Antonino Bianco, Patrik Drid, Saša Pišot, 2021, original scientific article

Abstract: The aim of the current study is to examine gender, age. and cross-country differences in fear of COVID-19 and sense of loneliness during the lockdown, by comparing people from those countries with a high rate of infections and deaths (e.g., Spain and Italy) and from countries with a mild spread of infection (e.g., Croatia, Serbia, Slovakia, Slovenia, and Bosnia and Herzegovina). A total of 3876 participants (63% female) completed an online survey on %Everyday life practices in COVID-19 time% in April 2020, including measures of fear of COVID-19 and loneliness. Males and females of all age groups in countries suffering from the powerful impact of the COVID-19 pandemic reported greater fear of COVID-19 and sense of loneliness. In less endangered countries, females and the elderly reported more symptoms than males and the young; in Spanish and Italian samples, the pattern of differences is considerably more complex. Future research should thoroughly examine different age and gender groups. The analysis of emotional well-being in groups at risk of mental health issues may help to lessen the long term social and economic costs due to the COVID-19 outbreak.
Keywords: coronavirus, COVID-19, pandemic, public health, restrictions, isolation, loneliness, fear, psychosocial distress
Published in DiRROS: 15.03.2021; Views: 1083; Downloads: 891
.pdf Full text (606,81 KB)
This document has many files! More...

10.
Effects of home confinement on mental health and lifestyle behaviours during the COVID-19 outbreak : insights from the ECLB-COVID19 multicentre study
Achraf Ammar, Khaled Trabelsi, Michael Brach, Hamdi Chtourou, Omar Boukhris, Liwa Masmoudi, Bassem Bouaziz, Boštjan Šimunič, Rado Pišot, Saša Pišot, 2021, original scientific article

Abstract: Although recognised as effective measures to curb the spread of the COVID-19 outbreak, social distancing and self-isolation have been suggested to generate a burden throughout the population. To provide scientific data to help identify risk factors for the psychosocial strain during the COVID-19 outbreak, an international cross-disciplinary online survey was circulated in April 2020. This report outlines the mental, emotional and behavioural consequences of COVID-19 home confinement. The ECLB-COVID19 electronic survey was designed by a steering group of multidisciplinary scientists, following a structured review of the literature. The survey was uploaded and shared on the Google online survey platform and was promoted by thirty-five research organizations from Europe, North Africa, Western Asia and the Americas. Questions were presented in a differential format with questions related to responses %before% and %during% the confinement period. 1047 replies (54% women) from Western Asia (36%), North Africa (40%), Europe (21%) and other continents (3%) were analysed. The COVID-19 home confinement evoked a negative effect on mental wellbeing and emotional status (P < 0.001; 0.43 % d % 0.65) with a greater proportion of individuals experiencing psychosocial and emotional disorders (+10% to +16.5%). These psychosocial tolls were associated with unhealthy lifestyle behaviours with a greater proportion of individuals experiencing (i) physical (+15.2%) and social (+71.2%) inactivity, (ii) poor sleep quality (+12.8%), (iii) unhealthy diet behaviours (+10%), and (iv) unemployment (6%). Conversely, participants demonstrated a greater use (+15%) of technology during the confinement period. These findings elucidate the risk of psychosocial strain during the COVID-19 home confinement period and provide a clear remit for the urgent implementation of technology-based intervention to foster an Active and Healthy Confinement Lifestyle AHCL).
Keywords: coronavirus, COVID-19, pandemic, public health, restrictions, isolation, home confinement, psychosocial health, mental wellbeing, depression, satisfaction, lifestyle, behaviours
Published in DiRROS: 18.12.2020; Views: 1314; Downloads: 711
.pdf Full text (732,17 KB)
This document has many files! More...

Search done in 0.38 sec.
Back to top