scholarly journals Treatment response and its predictors among epilepsy patients: a retrospective cohort study

2019 ◽  
Author(s):  
Kidu Gidey ◽  
Legesse Chelkeba ◽  
Tadesse Dukessa ◽  
Fekede Bekele

Abstract Background Epilepsy is a chronic neurologic disease with variable treatment responses. To design effective epilepsy treatment strategies, it is important to understand treatment responses and predictive factors. However, there are fewer data available in limited resource settings including Ethiopia. Objectives To assess treatment response and its predictors among adult epilepsy patients in Jimma university medical center, Ethiopia. Method and Materials A retrospective cohort study was conducted among 404 adult patients newly diagnosed with epilepsy and receiving antiepileptic medication between May 2010 to May 2015. Demographic, clinical, and outcome data of epilepsy patients with a follow-up of at least two years were collected. Data was entered into Epidata software and imported into the statistical package for the social sciences (IBM SPSS Statistics for Windows, Version 21.0. Armonk, NY: IBM Corp) for analysis. Cox regression was used to identify independent predictors of seizure remission. Result A total of 404 study participants were followed for 1579.25-person years (median 44.0 months). Of them, 64.6% remained seizure-free for at least one year. High frequency of pre-treatment seizure (adjusted hazard ratio [AHR]= 0.716, 95% CI: 0.558–0.919), poor early response (AHR= 0.339, 95% CI: 0.256–0.449), poor adherence (AHR= 0.719, 95% CI 0.546–0.942) and being on polytherapy (AHR= 0.563, 95% CI: 0.420–0.756) were significant predictors of poor seizure remission. Conclusion Only about two third of the patients achieved a one-year seizure remission period. High pre-treatment seizure frequency, poor early response, being on polytherapy and nonadherence to antiepileptic drugs were the independent predictors of poor seizure remission. Early identification and prediction of patients likely to be unresponsive based on the present findings need to be considered.

2019 ◽  
Vol 9 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Kidu Gidey ◽  
Legese Chelkeba ◽  
Tadesse Dukessa Gemechu ◽  
Fekede Bekele Daba

Abstract Epilepsy is a chronic neurological disease with a variable therapeutic response. To design effective treatment strategies for epilepsy, it is important to understand treatment responses and predictive factors. However, limited data are available in Africa, including Ethiopia. The aim of this study was therefore to assess treatment response and identify prognostic predictors among patients with epilepsy at Jimma university medical center, Ethiopia. We conducted a retrospective cohort study of 404 newly diagnosed adult epilepsy patients receiving antiepileptic treatment between May 2010 and May 2015. Demographic, clinical, and outcome data were collected for all patients with a minimum follow-up of two years. Cox proportional hazards model was used to identify predictors of poor seizure remission. Overall, 261 (64.6%) of the patients achieved seizure remission for at least one year. High number of pre-treatment seizures (adjusted hazard ratios (AHR) = 0.64, 95% CI: 0.49–0.83) and poor adherence (AHR = 0.57, 95% CI: 0.44–0.75) were significant predictors of poor seizure remission. In conclusion, our study showed that only about two-thirds of patients had achieved seizure remission. The high number of pre-treatment seizures and non-adherence to antiepileptic medications were predictors of poor seizure remission. Patients with these characteristics should be given special attention.


2013 ◽  
Vol 2013 ◽  
pp. 1-4 ◽  
Author(s):  
Christopher Vinnard ◽  
Anand Gopal ◽  
Darren R. Linkin ◽  
Joel Maslow

Background: our objective was to determine the incidence of toxicity among veterans initiating isoniazid therapy for latent tuberculosis infection (LTBI) and determine whether advancing age was a risk factor for toxicity.Methods: we performed a retrospective cohort study among all adults initiating isoniazid treatment for LTBI at a Veterans Medical Center from 1999 to 2005. We collected data on patient demographics, co-morbidities, site of initiation, and treatment outcome.Results: 219 patients initiated isoniazid therapy for LTBI during the period of observation, and the completion of therapy was confirmed in 100 patients (46%). Among 18/219 patients (8%) that discontinued therapy due to a documented suspected toxicity, the median time to onset was 3 months (IQR 1–5 months). In an adjusted Cox regression model, there was no association between discontinuation due to suspected toxicity and advancing age (HR 1.03, 95% CI 0.99, 1.07). In contrast, hepatitis C infection was a significant predictor of cessation due to toxicity in the adjusted analysis (HR 3.03, 95% CI 1.08, 8.52).Conclusions: cessation of isoniazid therapy due to suspected toxicity was infrequently observed among a veteran population and was not associated with advancing age. Alternative LTBI treatment approaches should be further examined in the veteran population.


2021 ◽  
Vol 21 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Xunliang Tong ◽  
Xiaomao Xu ◽  
Guoyue Lv ◽  
He Wang ◽  
Anqi Cheng ◽  
...  

Abstract Background Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) is an emerging infectious disease that rapidly spreads worldwide and co-infection of COVID-19 and influenza may occur in some cases. We aimed to describe clinical features and outcomes of severe COVID-19 patients with co-infection of influenza virus. Methods Retrospective cohort study was performed and a total of 140 patients with severe COVID-19 were enrolled in designated wards of Sino-French New City Branch of Tongji Hospital between Feb 8th and March 15th in Wuhan city, Hubei province, China. The demographic, clinical features, laboratory indices, treatment and outcomes of these patients were collected. Results Of 140 severe COVID-19 hospitalized patients, including 73 patients (52.14%) with median age 62 years were influenza virus IgM-positive and 67 patients (47.86%) with median age 66 years were influenza virus IgM-negative. 76 (54.4%) of severe COVID-19 patients were males. Chronic comorbidities consisting mainly of hypertension (45.3%), diabetes (15.8%), chronic respiratory disease (7.2%), cardiovascular disease (5.8%), malignancy (4.3%) and chronic kidney disease (2.2%). Clinical features, including fever (≥38 °C), chill, cough, chest pain, dyspnea, diarrhea and fatigue or myalgia were collected. Fatigue or myalgia was less found in COVID-19 patients with IgM-positive (33.3% vs 50/7%, P = 0.0375). Higher proportion of prolonged activated partial thromboplastin time (APTT) > 42 s was observed in COVID-19 patients with influenza virus IgM-negative (43.8% vs 23.6%, P = 0.0127). Severe COVID-19 Patients with influenza virus IgM positive have a higher cumulative survivor rate than that of patients with influenza virus IgM negative (Log-rank P = 0.0308). Considering age is a potential confounding variable, difference in age was adjusted between different influenza virus IgM status groups, the HR was 0.29 (95% CI, 0.081–1.100). Similarly, difference in gender was adjusted as above, the HR was 0.262 (95% CI, 0.072–0.952) in the COX regression model. Conclusions Influenza virus IgM positive may be associated with decreasing in-hospital death.


2021 ◽  
Vol 63 ◽  
pp. 102144
Author(s):  
Sumadi Lukman Anwar ◽  
Roby Cahyono ◽  
Widya Surya Avanti ◽  
Heru Yudhanto Budiman ◽  
Wirsma Arif Harahap ◽  
...  

2021 ◽  

Background: Emergency department (ED) overcrowding and overuse are global healthcare problems. Despite that substantial pieces of literature have explored quality parameters to monitor the patients’ safety and quality of care in the ED, to the best of our knowledge, no reasonable patient-to-ED staff ratios were established. Objectives: This study aimed to find the association between unexpected emergency department cardiac arrest (EDCA) and the patient-to-ED staff ratio. Methods: A retrospective cohort study was conducted in a medical center in Taiwan. Non-trauma patients (age > 18) who visited the ED from January 1, 2016 to November 30, 2018 were included. The total number of patients in ED, number of patients waiting for boarding, length of stay over 48 hours, and physician/nurse number in ED were collected and analyzed. The primary outcome was the association of each parameter with the incidence of EDCA. Results: A total of 508 patients were included. The total number of patients in ED ( > 361, RR: 1.54; 95% CI {1.239-1.917}), ED occupancy rate (> 280, RR: 1.54; 95% CI {1.245-1.898}), ED bed occupancy rate (> 184, RR: 1.63; 95% CI {1.308-2.034}), number of patients waiting for boarding (> 134, RR: 1.45; 95% CI {1.164-1.805}), number of patients in ED with length of stay over 48 hours (> 36, RR: 1.27; 95% CI {1.029-1.558}) and patient-to-nurse ratio (> 8.5, adjusted RR: 1.33; 95% CI {1.054-1.672}) had significant associations with higher incidence of EDCA. However, the patient-to-physician ratio was not associated with EDCA incidence. Discussions: Regarding loading parameters, the patient-to-nurse ratio is more representative than the patient-to-physician ratio as regards association with higher EDCA incidence. Conclusions: A higher patient-to-nurse ratio (> 8.5) was associated with an increment in the incidence of EDCA. Our findings provide a basis for setting different thresholds for different ED settings to adjust ED staff and develop individually tailored approaches corresponding to the level of ED overcrowding.


2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Yantao Jin ◽  
Miao Zhang ◽  
Yan-min Ma ◽  
Hui-jun Guo ◽  
Peng-yu Li ◽  
...  

Abstract Background: To estimate the survival and effectors of mortality among HIV/AIDS patients switch to second-line highly active antiretroviral therapy (ART) in rural China.Methods: A three years’ retrospective cohort study was conducted and HIV/AIDS patients switched to the second-line ART between January 2009 to December 2014 enrollment. The data collected from medical records and analysis using Kaplan-Meier statistics and COX regression models.Findings: A total of 2883 HIV/AIDS participants followed up for 8445 person-years, 183 (6.5%) died, 14(0.5%) lost follow-up and the mortality rate 2.17/100 person-years. After adjusting other confounding factors by multivariable COX regression, age older than 50 years (HR,3.37; 95%CI, 1.92-5.92), Traditional Chinese medicine therapy (HR,0.48; 95%CI, 0.33-0.71), CD4 cell count littler than 200 cells/μl (HR,2.97; 95%CI, 1.90-4.64), AST or ALT higher than 50 u/L (HR,1.55; 95%CI, 1.15-2.11) were each independently associated with mortality among HIV/AIDS patients switch to second-line ART.Conclusions: Our retrospective cohort study indicates that mortality among HIV/AIDS patients switch to second-line ART lower than most other studies. However, the limitations of a retrospective cohort could have biased the study, so prospective studies should be carried out to confirm our primary results. The result of our study suggest that Chinese therapy was potential treatment for HIV/AIDS patients.


F1000Research ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 10 ◽  
pp. 224
Author(s):  
Cristian Díaz-Vélez ◽  
Diego Urrunaga-Pastor ◽  
Anthony Romero-Cerdán ◽  
Eric Ricardo Peña-Sánchez ◽  
Jorge Luis Fernández Mogollon ◽  
...  

Background: Peru was one of the countries with the highest COVID-19 mortality worldwide during the first stage of the pandemic. It is then relevant to evaluate the risk factors for mortality in patients hospitalized for COVID-19 in three hospitals in Peru in 2020, from March to May, 2020.  Methods: We carried out a retrospective cohort study. The population consisted of patients from three Peruvian hospitals hospitalized for a diagnosis of COVID-19 during the March-May 2020 period. Independent sociodemographic variables, medical history, symptoms, vital functions, laboratory parameters and medical treatment were evaluated. In-hospital mortality was assessed as the outcome. We performed Cox regression models (crude and adjusted) to evaluate risk factors for in-hospital mortality. Hazard ratios (HR) with their respective 95% confidence intervals (95% CI) were calculated.  Results: We analyzed 493 hospitalized adults; 72.8% (n=359) were male and the mean age was 63.3 ± 14.4 years. COVID-19 symptoms appeared on average 7.9 ± 4.0 days before admission to the hospital, and the mean oxygen saturation on admission was 82.6 ± 13.8. While 67.6% (n=333) required intensive care unit admission, only 3.3% (n=16) were admitted to this unit, and 60.2% (n=297) of the sample died. In the adjusted regression analysis, it was found that being 60 years old or older (HR=1.57; 95% CI: 1.14-2.15), having two or more comorbidities (HR=1.53; 95% CI: 1.10-2.14), oxygen saturation between 85-80% (HR=2.52; 95% CI: 1.58-4.02), less than 80% (HR=4.59; 95% CI: 3.01-7.00), and being in the middle (HR=1.65; 95% CI: 1.15-2.39) and higher tertile (HR=2.18; 95% CI: 1.51-3.15) of the neutrophil-to-lymphocyte ratio, increased the risk of mortality.  Conclusions: The risk factors found agree with what has been described in the literature and allow the identification of vulnerable groups in whom monitoring and early identification of symptoms should be prioritized in order to reduce mortality.


2021 ◽  
Vol 21 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Pascale Bemer ◽  
Olivia Peuchant ◽  
Hélène Guet-Revillet ◽  
Julien Bador ◽  
Charlotte Balavoine ◽  
...  

Abstract Background Recent studies report very low adherence of practitioners to ATS/IDSA recommendations for the treatment of nontuberculous mycobacteria pulmonary disease (NTM-PD), as well as a great variability of practices. Type of management could impact prognosis. Methods To evaluate management and prognosis of patients with NTM-PD cases with respect to ATS recommendations, we conducted a multicenter retrospective cohort study (18 sentinel sites distributed throughout France), over a period of six years. We collected clinical, radiological, microbiological characteristics, management and outcome of the patients (especially death or not). Results 477 patients with NTM-PD were included. Respiratory comorbidities were found in 68% of cases, tuberculosis sequelae in 31.4% of patients, and immunosuppression in 16.8% of cases. The three most common NTM species were Mycobacterium avium complex (60%), M. xenopi (20%) and M. kansasii (5.7%). Smear-positive was found in one third of NTM-PD. Nodulobronchiectatic forms were observed in 54.3% of cases, and cavitary forms in 19.1% of patients. Sixty-three percent of patients were treated, 72.4% of patients with smear-positive samples, and 57.5% of patients with smear-negative samples. Treatment was in adequacy with ATS guidelines in 73.5%. The 2-year mortality was 14.4%. In the Cox regression, treatment (HR = 0.51), age (HR = 1.02), and M. abscessus (3.19) appeared as the 3 significant independent prognostic factors. Conclusion These findings highlight the adequacy between French practices and the ATS/IDSA guidelines. Treatment was associated with a better survival.


2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jennifer P Stevens ◽  
Oren Mechanic ◽  
Lawrence Markson ◽  
Ashley O'Donoghue ◽  
Alexa B Kimball

BACKGROUND During the COVID-19 pandemic, many ambulatory clinics transitioned to telehealth, but it remains unknown how this may have exacerbated inequitable access to care. OBJECTIVE Given the potential barriers faced by different populations, we investigated whether telehealth use is consistent and equitable across age, race, and gender. METHODS Our retrospective cohort study of outpatient visits was conducted between March 2 and June 10, 2020, compared with the same time period in 2019, at a single academic health center in Boston, Massachusetts. Visits were divided into in-person visits and telehealth visits and then compared by racial designation, gender, and age. RESULTS At our academic medical center, using a retrospective cohort analysis of ambulatory care delivered between March 2 and June 10, 2020, we found that over half (57.6%) of all visits were telehealth visits, and both Black and White patients accessed telehealth more than Asian patients. CONCLUSIONS Our findings indicate that the rapid implementation of telehealth does not follow prior patterns of health care disparities.


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