A study in the journal Obesity found that patients with COVID-19 admitted to the intensive care unit, as well as those treated with mechanical ventilation, had a greater visceral fat area value, compared with patients hospitalized with COVID-19 not taken to the ICU or treated with ventilation. The findings were based on data from an analysis of six studies encompassing 560 COVID-19 patients.

A study conducted by Mayo Clinic researchers found that antibody-rich convalescent plasma administered to hospitalized adult COVID-19 patients who did not need mechanical ventilation was associated with a lower mortality risk, compared with plasma transfusion with lower antibody concentrations. The findings, published in the New England Journal of Medicine, also showed that convalescent plasma did not alter mortality risk for patients with COVID-19 who were receiving mechanical ventilation.

COVID-19 case data from May 31 through Dec. 12 showed pediatric incidence generally tracked adult rates in the US, according to CDC researchers writing in the Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report. Overall, 2.5% of all children and adolescents with COVID-19 were hospitalized, 0.8% were admitted to the ICU and less than 0.1% died, researchers reported, while 16.6% of adults were hospitalized, 8.6% had ICU care and 5% died.

Clinical leaders at five Arizona health systems want a meeting with Gov. Doug Ducey because the COVID-19 pandemic has strained their resources almost to the point of rationing. Ducey has said he is happy with current COVID-19 mitigation efforts, but the executives called for additional measures and said if triage is needed they will adopt those standards of care at the same time.

An updated report by the CDC indicates that the total number of COVID-19 vaccines distributed as of Jan. 14 has reached 30,628,175 doses, while the number of first doses administered now stands at 11,148,991.

A survey of parents with infants in a neonatal intensive care units found those with higher incomes and infants with more serious conditions were more likely to enroll in clinical trials, according to a study in JAMA Network Open. Parents who did not participate had less trust in medical research, but parental understanding of the study was not associated with differences in rates of enrollment.