scholarly journals Impact of an Intermediate Respiratory Care Unit on Clinical Outcomes of COVID-19 Patients

Author(s):  
Guillermo Suarez-Cuartin ◽  
Merce Gasa ◽  
Guadalupe Bermudo ◽  
Yolanda Ruiz-Albert ◽  
Marta Hernandez-Argudo ◽  
...  

Abstract Background: Many severe COVID-19 patients require respiratory support and monitoring. An intermediate respiratory care unit (IMCU) may be a valuable element for optimizing patient care and limited health-care resources management. We aim to assess the impact of an IMCU in the management of severe COVID-19.Methods: Observational, retrospective study including patients admitted to the IMCU due to COVID-19 pneumonia during the months of March and April 2020. Patients were stratified based on their requirement of transfer to the intensive care unit (ICU) and on survival status at the end of follow-up. A multivariable Cox proportional hazards method was used to assess risk factors associated with mortality.Results: A total of 253 patients were included. Of them, 68% were male and median age was 65 years (IQR 18 years). Ninety-two patients (36.4%) required ICU transfer. Patients transferred to the ICU had a higher mortality rate (44.6% Vs 24.2%; p<0.001). Multivariable proportional hazards model showed that age ³65 years (HR 4.14; 95%CI 2.31-7.42; p<0.001); chronic respiratory conditions (HR 2.34; 95%CI 1.38-3.99; p=0.002) and chronic kidney disease (HR 2.96; 95%CI 1.61-5.43; p<0.001) were independently associated with mortality. High-dose systemic corticosteroids followed by progressive dose tapering showed a lower risk of death (HR 0.15; 95%CI 0.06-0.40; p<0.001). Conclusions: IMCU allow to safely and effectively manage severe COVID-19 patients requiring respiratory support and non-invasive monitoring, therefore reducing ICU burden. Older age and chronic respiratory or renal conditions are associated with worse clinical outcomes, while treatment with systemic corticosteroids may have a protective effect on mortality.


2021 ◽  
Vol 8 ◽  
Author(s):  
Guillermo Suarez-Cuartin ◽  
Merce Gasa ◽  
Guadalupe Bermudo ◽  
Yolanda Ruiz ◽  
Marta Hernandez-Argudo ◽  
...  

Introduction: Many severe COVID-19 patients require respiratory support and monitoring. An intermediate respiratory care unit (IMCU) may be a valuable element for optimizing patient care and limited health-care resources management. We aim to assess the clinical outcomes of severe COVID-19 patients admitted to an IMCU.Methods: Observational, retrospective study including patients admitted to the IMCU due to COVID-19 pneumonia during the months of March and April 2020. Patients were stratified based on their requirement of transfer to the intensive care unit (ICU) and on survival status at the end of follow-up. A multivariable Cox proportional hazards method was used to assess risk factors associated with mortality.Results: A total of 253 patients were included. Of them, 68% were male and median age was 65 years (IQR 18 years). Ninety-two patients (36.4%) required ICU transfer. Patients transferred to the ICU had a higher mortality rate (44.6 vs. 24.2%; p &lt; 0.001). Multivariable proportional hazards model showed that age ≥65 years (HR 4.14; 95%CI 2.31–7.42; p &lt; 0.001); chronic respiratory conditions (HR 2.34; 95%CI 1.38–3.99; p = 0.002) and chronic kidney disease (HR 2.96; 95%CI 1.61–5.43; p &lt; 0.001) were independently associated with mortality. High-dose systemic corticosteroids followed by progressive dose tapering showed a lower risk of death (HR 0.15; 95%CI 0.06–0.40; p &lt; 0.001).Conclusions: IMCU may be a useful tool for the multidisciplinary management of severe COVID-19 patients requiring respiratory support and non-invasive monitoring, therefore reducing ICU burden. Older age and chronic respiratory or renal conditions are associated with worse clinical outcomes, while treatment with systemic corticosteroids may have a protective effect on mortality.



2015 ◽  
Vol 33 (3_suppl) ◽  
pp. 119-119
Author(s):  
Christopher Leigh Hallemeier ◽  
Jennifer Moughan ◽  
Michael G. Haddock ◽  
Arnold M. Herskovic ◽  
Bruce D. Minsky ◽  
...  

119 Background: Radiotherapy (RT) interruptions have a negative impact on outcomes in many epithelial malignancies treated with definitive RT. The purpose of this study was to analyze the impact of RT duration on outcomes in patients (pts) with esophageal cancer treated with definitive chemoradiotherapy (CRT). Methods: Pts treated with definitive CRT on RTOG trials 8501 and 9405 were included. Separate analyses were performed in pts receiving standard dose (SD-CRT; 50 Gy + 5FU + cisplatin) and high dose (HD-CRT; 64.8 Gy + 5FU + cisplatin) CRT. Local (LF) and regional (RF) failure were estimated by the cumulative incidence method. Disease-free (DFS) and overall (OS) survival were estimated by the Kaplan-Meier method. Univariate (UVA) and multivariate (MVA) Cox proportional hazards models were utilized to examine for correlation between RT duration (< vs. ≥ median) with LF, RF, DFS and OS. Results: In the SD-CRT cohort (n=235), 96 pts (41%) had ≥ 1 RT interruption for a median of 3 (IQR 1-6) days. The median RT duration was 39 (IQR 37-43) days. In UVA and MVA, RT duration was not associated with LF, RF, DFS, or OS. Estimated outcome rates are in the table. In the HD-CRT cohort (n=107), 64 pts (60%) had ≥ 1 RT interruption for a median of 3.5 (IQR 2-7.5) days. The median RT duration was 52 (IQR 50-57) days. In UVA, RT duration ≥ 52 days was associated with a 33% reduction in risk of DFS failure (HR=0.66, 95% CI [0.44-0.98], p=0.039) and a 29% reduction in risk of death (HR=0.71, 95% CI [0.48-1.06], p=0.09). When excluding the 25 pts with RT dose < 64.8 Gy, RT duration was not associated with DFS or OS. Conclusions: In pts with esophageal cancer receiving definitive SD-CRT, an association between RT duration and outcomes was not observed. In pts receiving HD-CRT, longer RT duration was associated with improved DFS, which may have been due to a significant number of deaths at RT dose < 64.8 Gy. Supported by NCI U10 grants CA21661, CA180868, CA180822, CA37422. Clinical trial information: NCT00002631. [Table: see text]



Crisis ◽  
2018 ◽  
Vol 39 (1) ◽  
pp. 27-36 ◽  
Author(s):  
Kuan-Ying Lee ◽  
Chung-Yi Li ◽  
Kun-Chia Chang ◽  
Tsung-Hsueh Lu ◽  
Ying-Yeh Chen

Abstract. Background: We investigated the age at exposure to parental suicide and the risk of subsequent suicide completion in young people. The impact of parental and offspring sex was also examined. Method: Using a cohort study design, we linked Taiwan's Birth Registry (1978–1997) with Taiwan's Death Registry (1985–2009) and identified 40,249 children who had experienced maternal suicide (n = 14,431), paternal suicide (n = 26,887), or the suicide of both parents (n = 281). Each exposed child was matched to 10 children of the same sex and birth year whose parents were still alive. This yielded a total of 398,081 children for our non-exposed cohort. A Cox proportional hazards model was used to compare the suicide risk of the exposed and non-exposed groups. Results: Compared with the non-exposed group, offspring who were exposed to parental suicide were 3.91 times (95% confidence interval [CI] = 3.10–4.92 more likely to die by suicide after adjusting for baseline characteristics. The risk of suicide seemed to be lower in older male offspring (HR = 3.94, 95% CI = 2.57–6.06), but higher in older female offspring (HR = 5.30, 95% CI = 3.05–9.22). Stratified analyses based on parental sex revealed similar patterns as the combined analysis. Limitations: As only register-­based data were used, we were not able to explore the impact of variables not contained in the data set, such as the role of mental illness. Conclusion: Our findings suggest a prominent elevation in the risk of suicide among offspring who lost their parents to suicide. The risk elevation differed according to the sex of the afflicted offspring as well as to their age at exposure.



2020 ◽  
Vol 4 (Supplement_1) ◽  
pp. 161-161
Author(s):  
Jane Banaszak-Holl ◽  
Xiaoping Lin ◽  
Jing Xie ◽  
Stephanie Ward ◽  
Henry Brodaty ◽  
...  

Abstract Research Aims: This study seeks to understand whether those with dementia experience higher risk of death, using data from the ASPREE (ASPirin in Reducing Events in the Elderly) clinical trial study. Methods: ASPREE was a primary intervention trial of low-dose aspirin among healthy older people. The Australian cohort included 16,703 dementia-free participants aged 70 years and over at enrolment. Participants were triggered for dementia adjudication if cognitive test results were poorer than expected, self-reporting dementia diagnosis or memory problems, or dementia medications were detected. Incidental dementia was adjudicated by an international adjudication committee using the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual for Mental Disorders (DSM-IV) criteria and results of a neuropsychological battery and functional measures with medical record substantiation. Statistical analyses used a cox proportional hazards model. Results: As previously reported, 1052 participants (5.5%) died during a median of 4.7 years of follow-up and 964 participants had a dementia trigger, of whom, 575 (60%) were adjucated as having dementia. Preliminary analyses has shown that the mortality rate was higher among participants with a dementia trigger, regardless of dementia adjudication outcome, than those without (15% vs 5%, Χ2 = 205, p &lt;.001). Conclusion: This study will provide important analyses of differences in the hazard ratio for mortality and causes of death among people with and without cognitive impairment and has important implications on service planning.



Cancers ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 13 (6) ◽  
pp. 1453
Author(s):  
Chiara Fabbroni ◽  
Giovanni Fucà ◽  
Francesca Ligorio ◽  
Elena Fumagalli ◽  
Marta Barisella ◽  
...  

Background. We previously showed that grading can prognosticate the outcome of retroperitoneal liposarcoma (LPS). In the present study, we aimed to explore the impact of pathological stratification using grading on the clinical outcomes of patients with advanced well-differentiated LPS (WDLPS) and dedifferentiated LPS (DDLPS) treated with trabectedin. Patients: We included patients with advanced WDLPS and DDLPS treated with trabectedin at the Fondazione IRCCS Istituto Nazionale dei Tumori between April 2003 and November 2019. Tumors were categorized in WDLPS, low-grade DDLPS, and high-grade DDLPS according to the 2020 WHO classification. Patients were divided in two cohorts: Low-grade (WDLPS/low-grade DDLPS) and high-grade (high-grade DDLPS). Results: A total of 49 patients were included: 17 (35%) in the low-grade cohort and 32 (65%) in the high-grade cohort. Response rate was 47% in the low-grade cohort versus 9.4% in the high-grade cohort (logistic regression p = 0.006). Median progression-free survival (PFS) was 13.7 months in the low-grade cohort and 3.2 months in the high-grade cohort. Grading was confirmed as an independent predictor of PFS in the Cox proportional-hazards regression multivariable model (adjusted hazard ratio low-grade vs. high-grade: 0.45, 95% confidence interval: 0.22–0.94; adjusted p = 0.035). Conclusions: In this retrospective case series, sensitivity to trabectedin was higher in WDLPS/low-grade DDLPS than in high-grade DDLPS. If confirmed in larger series, grading could represent an effective tool to personalize the treatment with trabectedin in patients with advanced LPS.



2019 ◽  
Vol 50 (2) ◽  
pp. 237-255 ◽  
Author(s):  
Joshua Meyer-Gutbrod

Abstract The U.S. Supreme Court’s decision to grant states the authority to reject Medicaid expansion under the Affordable Care Act without penalty threatened the implementation of this polarized health policy. While many Republican-controlled states followed their national allies and rejected Medicaid expansion, others engaged in bipartisan implementation. Why were some Republican states willing to reject the national partisan agenda and cooperate with Democrats in Washington? I focus on the role of electoral competition within states. I conclude that although electoral competition has been shown to encourage partisan polarization within the states, the combination of intergovernmental implementation and Medicaid expansion’s association with public welfare reverses this dynamic. I employ a Cox proportional-hazards model to examine the impact of state partisan ideology and competition on the likelihood of state Medicaid expansion. I find that strong inter-party competition mitigates the impact of more extreme partisan ideologies, encouraging potentially bipartisan negotiation with the federal administration.



2020 ◽  
Vol 90 (7) ◽  
pp. 1057-1086 ◽  
Author(s):  
Marcelo Cajias ◽  
Philipp Freudenreich ◽  
Anna Freudenreich

Abstract In this paper, the liquidity (inverse of time on market) of rental dwellings and its determinants for different liquidity quantiles are examined for the seven largest German cities. The determinants are estimated using censored quantile regressions in order to investigate the impact on very liquid to very illiquid dwellings. As market heterogeneity is not only observed between cities but also within a city, each of the seven cities is considered individually. Micro data for almost 500,000 observations from 2013 to 2017 is used to examine the time on market. Substantial differences in the magnitude and direction of the regression coefficients for the different liquidity quantiles are found. Furthermore, both the magnitude and direction of the impact of an explanatory variable on the liquidity, differ between the cities. To the best of the authors’ knowledge this is the first paper, to apply censored quantile regressions to liquidity analysis of the real estate rental market. The model reveals that the proportionality assumption underlying the Cox proportional hazards model cannot be confirmed for all variables across all cities, but for most of them.



2014 ◽  
Vol 34 (3) ◽  
pp. 289-298 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jernej Pajek ◽  
Alastair J. Hutchison ◽  
Shiv Bhutani ◽  
Paul E.C. Brenchley ◽  
Helen Hurst ◽  
...  

BackgroundWe performed a review of a large incident peritoneal dialysis cohort to establish the impact of current practice and that of switching to hemodialysis.MethodsPatients starting peritoneal dialysis between 2004 and 2010 were included and clinical data at start of dialysis recorded. Competing risk analysis and Cox proportional hazards model with time-varying covariate (technique failure) were used.ResultsOf 286 patients (median age 57 years) followed for a median of 24.2 months, 76 were transplanted and 102 died. Outcome probabilities at 3 and 5 years respectively were 0.69 and 0.53 for patient survival (or transplantation) and 0.33 and 0.42 for technique failure. Peritonitis caused technique failure in 42%, but ultrafiltration failure accounted only for 6.3%. Davies comorbidity grade, creatinine and obesity (but not residual renal function or age) predicted technique failure. Due to peritonitis deaths, technique failure was an independent predictor of death hazard. When successful switch to hemodialysis (surviving more than 60 days after technique failure) and its timing were analyzed, no adverse impact on survival in adjusted analysis was found. However, hemodialysis via central venous line was associated with an elevated death hazard as compared to staying on peritoneal dialysis, or hemodialysis through a fistula (adjusted analysis hazard ratio 1.97 (1.02 – 3.80)).ConclusionsOnce the patients survive the first 60 days after technique failure, the switch to hemodialysis does not adversely affect patient outcomes. The nature of vascular access has a significant impact on outcome after peritoneal dialysis failure.



2019 ◽  
Vol 47 (1-2) ◽  
pp. 40-47 ◽  
Author(s):  
Adnan I. Qureshi ◽  
Mushtaq H. Qureshi ◽  
Li-Ming Lien ◽  
Jiunn-Tay Lee ◽  
Jiann-Shing Jeng ◽  
...  

Background: The natural history of vertebrobasilar artery (VBA) stenosis or occlusion remains understudied. Methods: Patients with diagnosis of ischemic stroke or transient ischemic attack (TIA) who were noted to have VBA stenosis based on computed tomography or magnetic resonance imaging or catheter-based angiogram were selected from Taiwan Stroke Registry. Cox proportional hazards model was used to determine the hazards ratio (HR) of recurrent stroke and death within 1 year of index event in various groups based on severity of VBA stenosis (none to mild: 0–49%; moderate to severe: 50–99%: occlusion: 100%) after adjusting for differences in demographic and clinical characteristics between groups at baseline evaluation. Results: None to mild or moderate to severe VBA stenosis was diagnosed in 6972 (66%) and 3,137 (29.8%) among 10,515 patients, respectively, and occlusion was identified in 406 (3.8%) patients. Comparing with patients who showed none to mild stenosis of VBA, there was a significantly higher risk of recurrent stroke (HR 1.21, 95% CI 1.01–1.45) among patients with moderate to severe VBA stenosis. There was a nonsignificantly higher risk of recurrent stroke (HR 1.49, 95% CI 0.99–2.22) and significantly higher risk of death (HR 2.21, 95% CI 1.72–2.83), among patients with VBA occlusion after adjustment of potential confounders. Conclusions: VBA stenosis or occlusion was relatively prevalent among patients with TIA or ischemic stroke and associated with higher risk of recurrent stroke and death in patients with ischemic stroke or TIA who had large artery atherosclerosis.



1998 ◽  
Vol 9 (7) ◽  
pp. 394-399 ◽  
Author(s):  
Philip Keiser ◽  
Steven Rademacher ◽  
James Smith ◽  
Daniel Skiest

Summary: Clarithromycin can ameliorate symptoms and improve survival in disseminated Mycobacterium avium complex DMAC infection. Optimal combina tions of this drug with other agents remain unknown. Granulocyte colony stimulating factor G CSF is a cytokine that can improve phagocytosis of M. avium complex in vitro . We aim to determine if G CSF administration is associated with improved survival in patients with DMAC in a retrospective, cohort study. Case records from 1991 to 1995 of 91 patients with DMAC at Parkland Memorial Hospital were reviewed for date of initial DMAC diagnosis, baseline CD4 count, race, sex, antiretroviral use, G CSF use, therapy for DMAC clarithromycin, ethambutol, ciprofloxacin and rifabutin and date of death. Of 91 cases identified, 25 were treated with G CSF and 66 never received this drug. Baseline characteristics were similar in each group including CD4 count 40 cells mm 3 vs 33 cells mm 3, P =0.68 , clarithromycin use 18 patients vs 52 patients, P =0.90 , and antiretroviral use 20 patients vs 42 patients, P =0.21 . Subjects treated with G CSF lived longer than those who did not receive this drug 355 days vs 211 days, P 0.01 . In the subgroup treated with clarithromycin, G CSF was also associated with increased survival 377 days vs 252 days, P 0.01 . Cox proportional hazards model showed a decreased risk of death in patients treated with G CSF RH=0.22, P 0.01 , clarithromycin RH=0.13, P 0.01 and ethambutol RH=0.51, P =0.02 . Ciprofloxacin and rifabutin use did not influence survival. These data support the use of clarithromycin and ethambutol in the treatment of DMAC. Addition of G CSF to a regimen of clarithromycin and ethambutol may increase survival in DMAC and should be studied prospectively.



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