Here are 23 COVID-19-related research findings covered by Becker's Hospital Review since Feb. 2:
Note: Findings are listed from most to least recent.
1. COVID-19 hospitalization rates among children and adolescents were almost four times higher during omicron's peak than during delta's peak, according to a CDC report.
2. The omicron subvariant BA.2 has many genetic differences from its parent strain that would warrant it being labeled as a separate variant of concern with its own Greek letter, Japanese researchers said in a study posted Feb. 15 on the medical preprint server BioRxiv.
3. People who had COVID-19 were 39 percent more likely to be diagnosed with depression in the months after their infection compared to those without COVID-19, according to a study of nearly 154,000 COVID-19 patients at the Veterans Health Administration.
4. Delayed screenings as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic have led to later-stage cancer diagnoses, a small study published Feb. 15 in JAMA Network Open suggests.
5. Patients with COVID-19 vaccine-associated heart inflammation had less functional impairment and less extensive myocardial abnormalities than people infected with the virus, a study published Feb. 15 in Radiology found.
6. Nearly 10 million cancer screenings were delayed in the U.S. from January to July 2020 as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic, an American Association of Cancer Research report published Feb. 9 found.
7. Heart disease, including heart failure and death, occured 4 percent more in COVID-19 patients than in other people, a study published Feb. 7 in Nature Medicine found.
8. COVID-19's effect on complications among stroke patients and on stroke risk was the focus of three recent studies.
9. Infants born to mothers vaccinated for COVID-19 while pregnant were less likely to be hospitalized for the virus within the first six months of life, a new CDC study found. A separate report found vaccination lowers the risk of becoming a COVID-19 long-hauler.
10. Recent studies have identified changes to a nerve that may explain why some people suffer from long COVID-19, while separate findings may point to a potential treatment option.
11. People who receive a COVID-19 booster that's a different brand than their primary vaccine series may be better protected against COVID-19, according to a study from Singapore published Feb. 11 in the Journal of the American Medical Association.
12. Since the COVID-19 pandemic began, metrics tracking healthcare-associated infections and other complications of care indicate significant deterioration of multiple patient safety measures, according to an analysis published Feb. 12 by The New England Journal of Medicine.
13. The effectiveness of mRNA COVID-19 boosters drops after about four months, though they still offer significant protection against hospitalization, according to a CDC study conducted during the omicron surge.
14. Nearly a third — 32 percent — of adults 65 and older infected with COVID-19 in 2020 developed at least one new condition that required medical attention in the months after initial infection, finds a study published Feb. 9 by The British Medical Journal.
15. Among pregnant women, the coronavirus can severely damage the placenta, leading to fetal asphyxiation and stillbirth, according to research published Feb. 10 in the Archives of Pathology & Laboratory Medicine.
16. A previous COVID-19 infection may offer less protection against future symptomatic infections from omicron compared to other variants, according to research published Feb. 9 in The New England Journal of Medicine.
17. Researchers have linked certain risk factors to severe COVID-19 for kids, along with multisystem inflammatory syndrome in children, according to a study published Feb. 8 by JAMA Network Open.
18. During the first three waves of the pandemic, there were no significant differences in clinical outcomes between racial or ethnic groups hospitalized for COVID-19 at Cleveland Clinic intensive care units, researchers found.
19. A study of more than 13,000 pregnant women from 17 U.S. hospitals found those with moderate to severe COVID-19 are more likely to experience pregnancy complications, according to findings published Feb. 7 in JAMA.
20. The first 30 consecutive patients who underwent a lung transplant due to COVID-19 complications at Chicago-based Northwestern Medicine had positive outcomes, according to findings recently published in JAMA.
21. A mechanism has been identified that may explain why some people with COVID-19 lose their sense of smell, according to research published Feb. 1 in Cell.
22. Thirty-one percent of parents who have children younger than 5 said they plan to get their children vaccinated against COVID-19 as soon as possible, according to a Kaiser Family Foundation survey published Feb. 2.
23. COVID-19 infection and hospitalization rates have been significantly higher among unvaccinated people during the recent omicron wave compared to rates among those who are fully vaccinated or boosted, a Feb. 1 CDC report found.