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Coronavirus research highlights

A novel coronavirus, 2019-nCoV, has been identified as the cause of an outbreak of respiratory illness that originated in Wuhan, China, and which has spread to several other countries around the world.  Recent content from BMC and SpringerOpen journals relevant to coronavirus research, as well as additional commentary on this topic, is included below. 

BMC, as part of Springer Nature, encourages early sharing of research submitted to all our journals through preprints, and our In Review preprint service is available for many journals. We strongly urge authors submitting articles related to this emergency to BMC journals to share underlying interim and final research datasets relating to the outbreak as rapidly and widely as possible, including with public health and research communities and the WHO.

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  1. Although the positive effects of good clinical quality standards in perinatal care and breastfeeding support for women, newborns and families have been already demonstrated, many of these practices were disrup...

    Authors: Barbara Muñoz-Amat, Carmen Rosa Pallás-Alonso and María-Teresa Hernández-Aguilar
    Citation: International Breastfeeding Journal 2021 16:66
    Content type: Research Published on:

  2. The majority of stroke survivors experience motor impairment which benefits from rehabilitation treatment. Telerehabilitation, remote delivery of rehabilitation services, is a possible solution providing acces...

    Authors: Sue Peters, Marcela Botero, Allison Evers, Brianna Fong, Botond Jakab, Emily Petter and Janice J. Eng
    Citation: Pilot and Feasibility Studies 2021 7:121
    Content type: Research Published on:

  3. In hospitalized patients with SARS-CoV-2 infection, outcomes markedly differ between locations, regions and countries. One possible cause for these variations in outcomes could be differences in patient treatm...

    Authors: Stephan Budweiser, Şevki Baş, Rudolf A. Jörres, Sebastian Engelhardt, Stefan von Delius, Katharina Lenherr, Jens Deerberg-Wittram and Andreas Bauer
    Citation: Respiratory Research 2021 22:168
    Content type: Research Published on:

  4. Women are at a higher risk for depression progression, especially during pregnancy. The current study purposed to investigate depression, anxiety, and stress levels of pregnant mothers in the initial stage of ...

    Authors: Najmeh Maharlouei, Pedram Keshavarz, Niloufar Salemi and Kamran B. Lankarani
    Citation: Reproductive Health 2021 18:111
    Content type: Research Published on:

  6. The outbreak of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) caused by the novel severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) was declared a public health emergency by the World Health Organization on J...

    Authors: Somayeh Moeindarbary, Azam Pourhoseini, Parvaneh Layegh, Zahra Shahriari, Faezeh Fayyaz, Milad Bahrami and Mahdi Rafiee
    Citation: Journal of Medical Case Reports 2021 15:310
    Content type: Case report Published on:

  7. Serological testing based on different antibody types are an alternative method being used to diagnose SARS-CoV-2 and has the potential of having higher diagnostic accuracy compared to the current gold standar...

    Authors: Arthur Vengesai, Herald Midzi, Maritha Kasambala, Hamlet Mutandadzi, Tariro L. Mduluza-Jokonya, Simbarashe Rusakaniko, Francisca Mutapi, Thajasvarie Naicker and Takafira Mduluza
    Citation: Systematic Reviews 2021 10:155
    Content type: Research Published on:

  8. Coronavirus 2019 disease (COVID-19) is a highly infectious disease prompting extreme containment measures, including lockdown, travel restrictions, social distancing, and stringent personal hygiene. This study...

    Authors: Anne Yee, Nur ‘Aqilah Mohd Hodori, Yu-Zhen Tung, Po-Lin Ooi, Saiful Adni B. Abdul Latif, Husna Md Isa, Diana-Leh-Ching Ng, Chee-Shee Chai and Seng-Beng Tan
    Citation: Annals of General Psychiatry 2021 20:31
    Content type: Primary research Published on:

  9. The ongoing COVID-19 pandemic has highlighted the vast differences in approaches to the control and containment of coronavirus across the world and has demonstrated the varied success of such approaches in min...

    Authors: Steve J. Bickley, Ho Fai Chan, Ahmed Skali, David Stadelmann and Benno Torgler
    Citation: Globalization and Health 2021 17:57
    Content type: Research Published on:

  10. COVID-19 is an emergent infectious disease that has spread geographically to become a global pandemic. While much research focuses on the epidemiological and virological aspects of COVID-19 transmission, there...

    Authors: Thomas Sigler, Sirat Mahmuda, Anthony Kimpton, Julia Loginova, Pia Wohland, Elin Charles-Edwards and Jonathan Corcoran
    Citation: Globalization and Health 2021 17:56
    Content type: Research Published on:

  11. The electronic cigarette (e-cigarette), for many considered as a safe alternative to conventional cigarettes, has revolutionised the tobacco industry in the last decades. In e-cigarettes, tobacco combustion is re...

    Authors: Patrice Marques, Laura Piqueras and Maria-Jesus Sanz
    Citation: Respiratory Research 2021 22:151
    Content type: Review Published on:

  12. Since the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic in December 2019, many countries around the world have imposed lockdown measures in order to reduce virus spread. Social isolation is known to have a significant psycho...

    Authors: Julius Steffen, Jenny Schlichtiger, Bruno C. Huber and Stefan Brunner
    Citation: Nutrition Journal 2021 20:44
    Content type: Short report Published on:

  13. The coronavirus disease (Covid-19) crisis presents as human, social and economic challenges. The advent of Covid-19, unfortunate as it is, has highlighted the need for close medical cooperation between states....

    Authors: Dabor Resiere, Hossein Mehdaoui, Hedda Dyer, Cyrille Chabartier, André Cabié, Jocelyn Inamo, Keats Compton, Rémi Neviere, Bruno Megarbane and Hatem Kallel
    Citation: Globalization and Health 2021 17:55
    Content type: Commentary Published on:

  14. Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) has no confirmed specific treatments. However, there might be in vitro and early clinical data as well as evidence from severe acute respiratory syndrome and Middle Eastern ...

    Authors: Benjamin P. Geisler, Lara Zahabi, Adam Edward Lang, Naomi Eastwood, Elaine Tennant, Ljiljana Lukic, Elad Sharon, Hai-Hua Chuang, Chang-Berm Kang, Knakita Clayton-Johnson, Ahmed Aljaberi, Haining Yu, Chinh Bui, Tuan Le Mau, Wen-Cheng Li, Debbie Teodorescu…
    Citation: Systematic Reviews 2021 10:143
    Content type: Protocol Published on:

  15. The SARS-CoV-2 outbreak has resulted in a tremendous increase in hospital and intensive care unit (ICU) admissions all over the world. Patients with severe coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) warranting ICU tr...

    Authors: Johan H. Vlake, Jasper Van Bommel, Evert-Jan Wils, Tim I. M. Korevaar, Merel E. Hellemons, Anna F. C. Schut, Joost A. M. Labout, Lois L. H. Schreuder, Diederik Gommers and Michel E. Van Genderen
    Citation: Trials 2021 22:328
    Content type: Study protocol Published on:

  16. Neuropsychological assessment provides crucial information about cognitive, behavioral, and socioemotional functioning in medical, educational, legal, and social contexts. During the 2020 COVID-19 pandemic, th...

    Authors: Ayala Bloch, Sari Maril and Gitit Kavé
    Citation: Israel Journal of Health Policy Research 2021 10:31
    Content type: Original research article Published on:

  17. In the absence of PCR detection of SARS-CoV-2 RNA, accurate diagnosis of COVID-19 is challenging. Low-dose computed tomography (CT) detects pulmonary infiltrates with high sensitivity, but findings may be non-...

    Authors: Jochen Schneider, Hrvoje Mijočević, Kurt Ulm, Bernhard Ulm, Simon Weidlich, Silvia Würstle, Kathrin Rothe, Matthias Treiber, Roman Iakoubov, Ulrich Mayr, Tobias Lahmer, Sebastian Rasch, Alexander Herner, Egon Burian, Fabian Lohöfer, Rickmer Braren…
    Citation: Respiratory Research 2021 22:119
    Content type: Research Published on:

  18. The COVID-19 pandemic has affected how clinical trials are managed, both within existing portfolios and for the rapidly developed COVID-19 trials. Sponsors or delegated organisations responsible for monitoring...

    Authors: Sharon B. Love, Emma Armstrong, Carrie Bayliss, Melanie Boulter, Lisa Fox, Joanne Grumett, Patricia Rafferty, Barbara Temesi, Krista Wills and Andrea Corkhill
    Citation: Trials 2021 22:279
    Content type: Research Published on:

  19. Health innovations are generally oriented on a techno-economic vision. In this perspective, technologies are seen as an end in themselves, and there is no arrangement between the technical and the social value...

    Authors: Marietou Niang, Sophie Dupéré, Hassane Alami and Marie-Pierre Gagnon
    Citation: Globalization and Health 2021 17:46
    Content type: Debate Published on:

  20. The aim of our study was to determine through a systematic review and meta-analysis the incubation period of COVID-19. It was conducted based on the preferred reporting items for systematic reviews and meta-an...

    Authors: Wafa Dhouib, Jihen Maatoug, Imen Ayouni, Nawel Zammit, Rim Ghammem, Sihem Ben Fredj and Hassen Ghannem
    Citation: Systematic Reviews 2021 10:101
    Content type: Systematic review update Published on:

  21. The ongoing pandemic of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) has the potential to reverse progress towards global targets. This study examines the risks that the COVID-19 pandemic poses to equitable access to e...

    Authors: Floriano Amimo, Ben Lambert, Anthony Magit and Masahiro Hashizume
    Citation: Globalization and Health 2021 17:42
    Content type: Review Published on:

  22. Medicinal plants are the fundamental unit of traditional medicine system in Nepal. Nepalese people are rich in traditional medicine especially in folk medicine (ethnomedicine), and this system is gaining much ...

    Authors: Dipak Khadka, Man Kumar Dhamala, Feifei Li, Prakash Chandra Aryal, Pappu Rana Magar, Sijar Bhatta, Manju Shree Thakur, Anup Basnet, Dafang Cui and Shi Shi
    Citation: Journal of Ethnobiology and Ethnomedicine 2021 17:26
    Content type: Research Published on:

  23. COVID-19 pneumonia has been associated with severe acute hypoxia, sepsis-like states, thrombosis and chronic sequelae including persisting hypoxia and fibrosis. The molecular hypoxia response pathway has been ...

    Authors: Atish Gheware, Dhwani Dholakia, Sadasivam Kannan, Lipsa Panda, Ritu Rani, Bijay Ranjan Pattnaik, Vaibhav Jain, Yash Parekh, M. Ghalib Enayathullah, Kiran Kumar Bokara, Venkatesan Subramanian, Mitali Mukerji, Anurag Agrawal and Bhavana Prasher
    Citation: Respiratory Research 2021 22:99
    Content type: Research Published on:

  24. Very few studies have been concerned with assessing the prevalence of burnout and depressive symptoms, especially during an infectious outbreak on non-frontline health care workers, such as a psychiatrist. In ...

    Authors: Abdulmajeed A. Alkhamees, Hatem Assiri, Hatim Yousef Alharbi, Abdullah Nasser and Mohammad A. Alkhamees
    Citation: Human Resources for Health 2021 19:46
    Content type: Research Published on:

  25. Italy was the first European country to implement a national lockdown because of the COVID-19 pandemic. Worldwide, this pandemic had a huge impact on the mental health of people in many countries causing simil...

    Authors: Leonardo Villani, Roberta Pastorino, Enrico Molinari, Franco Anelli, Walter Ricciardi, Guendalina Graffigna and Stefania Boccia
    Citation: Globalization and Health 2021 17:39
    Content type: Research Published on:

  26. At the height of the COVID-19 pandemic, Thailand had almost depleted its critical care resources, particularly intensive care unit (ICU) beds and ventilators. This prompted the necessity to develop a national ...

    Authors: Aniqa Islam Marshall, Rachel Archer, Woranan Witthayapipopsakul, Kanchanok Sirison, Somtanuek Chotchoungchatchai, Pisit Sriakkpokin, Orapan Srisookwatana, Yot Teerawattananon and Viroj Tangcharoensathien
    Citation: Health Research Policy and Systems 2021 19:47
    Content type: Research Published on:

  27. The global health agenda is ill-defined as an analytical construct, complicating attempts by scholars and proponents to make claims about the agenda status of issues. We draw on Kingdon’s definition of the age...

    Authors: Stephanie L. Smith, Jeremy Shiffman, Yusra Ribhi Shawar and Zubin Cyrus Shroff
    Citation: Globalization and Health 2021 17:33
    Content type: Research Published on:

  28. The pandemic of this century has overwhelmed the healthcare systems of affected countries, and all resources have been diverted to coronavirus disease 2019. At the onset, coronavirus disease 2019 can present a...

    Authors: Abdullah Isneen Hilmy, Rajib Kumar Dey, Hisham Ahmed Imad, Abdul Azeez Yoosuf, Ali Nazeem and Ali Abdulla Latheef
    Citation: Journal of Medical Case Reports 2021 15:171
    Content type: Case report Published on:

  29. Increased anxiety was frequently reported during the 2020 global COVID-19 pandemic. An association between anxiety and increased body weight has been documented. Identifying associations between diet quality a...

    Authors: Vered Kaufman-Shriqui, Daniela Abigail Navarro, Olga Raz and Mona Boaz
    Citation: Israel Journal of Health Policy Research 2021 10:28
    Content type: Original research article Published on:

  30. Post-exposure prophylaxis (PEP) is a well-established strategy for the prevention of infectious diseases, in which recently exposed people take a short course of medication to prevent infection. The primary ob...

    Authors: Darrell H. S. Tan, Adrienne K. Chan, Peter Jüni, George Tomlinson, Nick Daneman, Sharon Walmsley, Matthew Muller, Rob Fowler, Srinivas Murthy, Natasha Press, Curtis Cooper, Todd Lee, Tony Mazzulli and Allison McGeer
    Citation: Trials 2021 22:224
    Content type: Study protocol Published on:

  31. A significant portion of critically ill patients with coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) are at high risk of developing intensive care unit (ICU)-acquired swallowing dysfunction (neurogenic dysphagia) as a co...

    Authors: Marianna Traugott, Wolfgang Hoepler, Reinhard Kitzberger, Sophie Pavlata, Tamara Seitz, Sebastian Baumgartner, Gudrun Placher-Sorko, Daniela Pirker-Krassnig, Urs Ehehalt, Andreas Grasnek, Michaela Beham-Kacerovsky, Emanuela Friese, Christoph Wenisch and Stephanie Neuhold
    Citation: Journal of Medical Case Reports 2021 15:148
    Content type: Case report Published on:

  32. More than 210,000 medical workers have fought against the outbreak of Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19) in Hubei in China since December 2019. However, the prevalence of mental health problems in frontline m...

    Authors: Wen-Ping Guo, Qing Min, Wei-Wei Gu, Liang Yu, Xiao Xiao, Wei-Bing Yi, Hong-Liang Li, Bei Huang, Jun-Li Li, Ya-Jun Dai, Jian Xia, Jie Liu, Bei Li, Ben-Hong Zhou, Minglun Li, Hong-Xi Xu…
    Citation: Health and Quality of Life Outcomes 2021 19:103
    Content type: Research Published on:

  34. The impact of general population lockdown implemented in the face of the COVID-19 epidemic needs to be evaluated. We describe here a longitudinal study on the mental health of adults in France.

    Authors: Leila Ramiz, Benjamin Contrand, Madelyn Yiseth Rojas Castro, Marion Dupuy, Li Lu, Catherine Sztal-Kutas and Emmanuel Lagarde
    Citation: Globalization and Health 2021 17:29
    Content type: Research Published on:

  35. There are limited data on cardiovascular complications of coronavirus disease 2019 in pregnancy, and there are only a few case reports on coronavirus disease 2019 related cardiomyopathy in pregnancy. Different...

    Authors: Rahim Nejadrahim, Sara Khademolhosseini, Hadiseh Kavandi and Reza Hajizadeh
    Citation: Journal of Medical Case Reports 2021 15:143
    Content type: Case report Published on:

  36. COVID-19 lockdowns may lead to physical inactivity, a major risk factor for non-communicable diseases. This study aims to determine: 1) the trajectory in daily step counts before, during and after the lockdown...

    Authors: Ding Ding, Minna Cheng, Borja del Pozo Cruz, Tao Lin, Shuangyuan Sun, Li Zhang, Qinping Yang, Zhicong Ma, Jing Wang, Yingnan Jia and Yan Shi
    Citation: International Journal of Behavioral Nutrition and Physical Activity 2021 18:40
    Content type: Research Published on:

  37. Three months after the first reported cases, COVID-19 had spread to nearly 90% of World Health Organization (WHO) member states and only 24 countries had not reported cases as of 30 March 2020. This analysis a...

    Authors: Zheng Li, Cynthia Jones, Girum S. Ejigu, Nisha George, Amanda L. Geller, Gregory C. Chang, Alys Adamski, Ledor S. Igboh, Rebecca D. Merrill, Philip Ricks, Sara A. Mirza and Michael Lynch
    Citation: Globalization and Health 2021 17:28
    Content type: Research Published on:

  39. Even when resting pulse oximetry is normal in the patient with acute Covid-19, hypoxia can manifest on exertion. We summarise the literature on the performance of different rapid tests for exertional desaturat...

    Authors: Asli Kalin, Babak Javid, Matthew Knight, Matt Inada-Kim and Trisha Greenhalgh
    Citation: Systematic Reviews 2021 10:77
    Content type: Research Published on:

  40. The coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic has caused recurring and major outbreaks in multiple human populations around the world. The plethora of clinical presentations of severe acute respiratory synd...

    Authors: Rosemond Qian-Xiu Tan, Wai Tak Victor Li, Wing-Zi Shum, Sheung Chit Chu, Hang-Long Li, Yat-Fung Shea and Tom Wai-Hin Chung
    Citation: Systematic Reviews 2021 10:73
    Content type: Protocol Published on:

  41. The COVID-19 pandemic has remarkably altered community mental health service delivery through the rapid implementation of telehealth. This study reports provider perspectives on the impact that COVID-19 and th...

    Authors: Marisa Sklar, Kendal Reeder, Kristine Carandang, Mark G. Ehrhart and Gregory A. Aarons
    Citation: Implementation Science Communications 2021 2:29
    Content type: Short report Published on:

  42. Early inhibition of entry and replication of the severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) is a very promising therapeutic approach. Polyclonal neutralizing antibodies offers many advantages...

    Authors: Benjamin Gaborit, Bernard Vanhove, Marie-Anne Vibet, Aurélie Le Thuaut, Karine Lacombe, Vincent Dubee, Florence Ader, Virginie Ferre, Eric Vicaut, Jéremie Orain, Morgane Le Bras, Anne Omnes, Laetitia Berly, Alexandra Jobert, Pascale Morineau-Le Houssine, Karine Botturi…
    Citation: Trials 2021 22:199
    Content type: Study protocol Published on:

  43. Patient and Public Involvement (PPI) describes the active involvement of patients and the public in the research process. Through PPI, patients and members of the public are increasingly involved in the design...

    Authors: Zahra Jamal, Alexander Perkins, Christopher Allen, Richard Evans, Joanna Sturgess, Claire Snowdon, Tim Clayton and Diana Elbourne
    Citation: Research Involvement and Engagement 2021 7:13
    Content type: Research article Published on:

  44. Emerging literature on the current COVID-19 crisis suggests that children may experience increased anxiety and depression as a result of the pandemic. To prevent such school and mental health-related problems,...

    Authors: Catherine Malboeuf-Hurtubise, Terra Léger-Goodes, Geneviève A. Mageau, Geneviève Taylor, Catherine M. Herba, Nicholas Chadi and David Lefrançois
    Citation: Child and Adolescent Psychiatry and Mental Health 2021 15:15
    Content type: Research article Published on:

  45. To assess the registration quality of traditional Chinese medicine (TCM) clinical trials for COVID-19, H1N1, and SARS.

    Authors: Zhuoran Kuang, Xiaoyan Li, Jianxiong Cai, Yaolong Chen, Xiaoyuan Qiu and Xiaojia Ni
    Citation: Trials 2021 22:188
    Content type: Research Published on:

    The Correction to this article has been published in Trials 2021 22:259

  46. The outbreak of SARS-CoV-2 (coronavirus, COVID-19), declared a pandemic by the World Health Organization (WHO), is a global health problem with ever-increasing attributed deaths. Vital sign trends are routinel...

    Authors: Fahad Mujtaba Iqbal, Meera Joshi, Gary Davies, Sadia Khan, Hutan Ashrafian and Ara Darzi
    Citation: Pilot and Feasibility Studies 2021 7:62
    Content type: Study Protocol Published on:

  47. Several immune mechanisms activate in COVID-19 pathogenesis. Usually, coronavirus infection is characterized by dysregulated host immune responses, interleukine-6 increase, hyper-activation of cytotoxic CD8 T ...

    Authors: Alberto Ricci, Alessandra Pagliuca, Michela D’Ascanio, Marta Innammorato, Claudia De Vitis, Rita Mancini, Simonetta Giovagnoli, Francesco Facchiano, Bruno Sposato, Paolo Anibaldi, Adriano Marcolongo, Chiara De Dominicis, Andrea Laghi, Emanuele Muscogiuri and Salvatore Sciacchitano
    Citation: Respiratory Research 2021 22:76
    Content type: Research Published on:

  48. The COVID-19 pandemic has necessitated unprecedented changes in the way that services are delivered to individuals experiencing homelessness and problem substance use. Protecting those at high risk of infectio...

    Authors: Tessa Parkes, Hannah Carver, Wendy Masterton, Danilo Falzon, Josh Dumbrell, Susan Grant and Iain Wilson
    Citation: Harm Reduction Journal 2021 18:26
    Content type: Research Published on:

  49. The COVID-19 pandemic is a biosecurity threat, and many resource-rich countries are stockpiling and/or making plans to secure supplies of vaccine, therapeutics, and diagnostics for their citizens. We review th...

    Authors: Bisi Bright, Chinedum Peace Babalola, Nadia Adjoa Sam-Agudu, Augustine Anayochukwu Onyeaghala, Adebola Olatunji, Ufuoma Aduh, Patrick O. Sobande, Trevor A. Crowell, Yenew Kebede Tebeje, Sunny Phillip, Nicaise Ndembi and Morenike Oluwatoyin Folayan
    Citation: Globalization and Health 2021 17:24
    Content type: Review Published on:

  50. Severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 infection can lead to a constellation of viral and immune symptoms called coronavirus disease 2019. Emerging literature increasingly supports the premise that se...

    Authors: Artem Minalyan, Franklin L. Thelmo, Vincent Chan, Stephanie Tzarnas and Faizan Ahmed
    Citation: Journal of Medical Case Reports 2021 15:112
    Content type: Case report Published on: