Road traffic pollution and childhood leukemia: a nationwide case-control study in Italy

Background The association of childhood leukemia with traffic pollution was considered in a number of studies from 1989 onwards, with results not entirely consistent and little information regarding subtypes. Aim of the study We used the data of the Italian SETIL case-control on childhood leukemia to explore the risk by leukemia subtypes associated to exposure to vehicular traffic. Methods We included in the analyses 648 cases of childhood leukemia (565 Acute lymphoblastic–ALL and 80 Acute non lymphoblastic-AnLL) and 980 controls. Information on traffic exposure was collected from questionnaire interviews and from the geocoding of house addresses, for all periods of life of the children. Results We observed an increase in risk for AnLL, and at a lower extent for ALL, with indicators of exposure to traffic pollutants. In particular, the risk was associated to the report of closeness of the house to traffic lights and to the passage of trucks (OR: 1.76; 95% CI 1.03–3.01 for ALL and 6.35; 95% CI 2.59–15.6 for AnLL). The association was shown also in the analyses limited to AML and in the stratified analyses and in respect to the house in different period of life. Conclusions Results from the SETIL study provide some support to the association of traffic related exposure and risk for AnLL, but at a lesser extent for ALL. Our conclusion highlights the need for leukemia type specific analyses in future studies. Results support the need of controlling exposure from traffic pollution, even if knowledge is not complete

An Observational Study to Develop a Predictive Model for Bacterial Pneumonia Diagnosis in Severe COVID-19 Patients-C19-PNEUMOSCORE

In COVID-19 patients, antibiotics overuse is still an issue. A predictive scoring model for the diagnosis of bacterial pneumonia at intensive care unit (ICU) admission would be a useful stewardship tool. We performed a multicenter observational study including 331 COVID-19 patients requiring invasive mechanical ventilation at ICU admission; 179 patients with bacterial pneumonia; and 152 displaying negative lower-respiratory samplings. A multivariable logistic regression model was built to identify predictors of pulmonary co-infections, and a composite risk score was developed using β-coefficients. We identified seven variables as predictors of bacterial pneumonia: vaccination status (OR 7.01; 95% CI, 1.73-28.39); chronic kidney disease (OR 3.16; 95% CI, 1.15-8.71); pre-ICU hospital length of stay ≥ 5 days (OR 1.94; 95% CI, 1.11-3.4); neutrophils ≥ 9.41 × 1

Invitation strategies for colorectal cancer screening programmes: The impact of an advance notification letter

AIM: To estimate the impact of an advance notification letter on participation in sigmoidoscopy (FS) and fecal immunochemical test (FIT) screening. METHODS: Eligible subjects, invited in 3 Italian population based programmes using FS and in 5 using FIT, were randomised (1:1:1), within GP, to: A) standard invitation letter; B) advance notification followed after 1month by the standard invitation; and C) B+indication to contact the general practitioner (GP) to get advice about the decision to be screened. We calculated the 9-month attendance and the incremental cost of each strategy. We conducted a phone survey to assess GP's utilization and predictors of participation. RESULTS: The advance notification was associated with a 20% increase in the attendance among 15,655 people invited for FS (B vs A - RR: 1.17, 95% CI: 1.10-1.25; C vs A - RR: 1.19, 95% CI: 1.12-1.27); the incremental cost ranged between 10 and 9 Euros. Participation in FIT screening (N=23,543) was increased only with simple pre-notification (B vs A - RR: 1.06, 95% CI: 1.02-1.10); the incremental cost was 22.5 Euros. GP consultation rate was not increased in group C. CONCLUSIONS: An advance notification represents a cost-effective strategy to increase participation in FS screening; its impact on the response to FIT screening was limited

Microbiologic surveillance through subglottic secretion cultures during invasive mechanical ventilation: a prospective observational study

Purpose: Whether subglottic secretions (SS) culture during invasive mechanical ventilation may aid microbiological surveillance is unknown. We conducted a prospective study to assess SS cultures predictivity of endotracheal aspirate (ETA) and bronchoalveolar lavage (BAL) isolates. Materials and methods: 109 patients receiving mechanical ventilation for 6548 hours underwent SS and ETA surveillance cultures twice weekly; blind BAL was performed in case of clinically suspected pneumonia. Results: SS and ETA cultures were fully concordant in 170 (81%-overall accuracy) of 211 sample pairs. As compared to ETA, SS culture global sensitivity and specificity were 84% [95%CI: 77 to 91] and 74% [95%CI: 66 to 82]; negative and positive predictive values were 82% and 77%. Forty-four episodes of clinically suspected pneumonia were observed. Compared to BAL, SS culture global sensitivity and specificity were 68% [95%CI: 45 to 81] and 63% [95%CI: 44 to 82]; negative and positive predictive values were both 65%. SS sensitivity, specificity, positive and negative predictive values in anticipating BAL isolates were comparable to ETA (all p > 0.20). Conclusions: SS cultures show worthy accuracy in identifying ETA isolates, with excellent sensitivity and good negative predictivity. SS cultures may be not inferior to ETA in predicting BAL results in case of ventilator-associated pneumonia

Road Traffic Pollution and Childhood Leukemia: A Nationwide Case-control Study in Italy

The association of childhood leukemia with traffic pollution was considered in a number of studies from 1989 onwards, with results not entirely consistent and little information regarding subtypes

Usefulness of differential time to positivity between catheter and peripheral blood cultures for diagnosing catheter-related bloodstream infection: Data analysis from routine clinical practice in the intensive care unit

Purpose: To assess the accuracy of differential time to positivity (DTP) method for the diagnosis of catheter-related bloodstream infections (CRBSI) in the routine practice of our intensive care unit (ICU). Materials and methods: Over a five-year study period, ICU patients with a central venous catheter in place for ≥48 h and undergoing DTP test with catheter tip culture were analyzed. We investigated: the accuracy of DTP test with the usual threshold of 120 min in confirming the clinical suspicion of CRBSI; the most accurate threshold value of DTP to detect CRBSI; the diagnostic accuracy of the ratio (rather than the difference) between times to positivity. Results: Among 278 episodes of paired blood cultures, 13% were CRBSIs. DTP value ≥120 min used for the diagnosis of CRBSI yielded 41% sensitivity and 74% specificity. Performance of DTP values in predicting CRBSI was low (AUC = 0.60 [95%CI: 0.48-0.72]). Cutoff value of the ratio between times to positivity was 0.80, with 46% sensitivity and 79% specificity. Conclusions: The routine use of the DTP method at any cutoff point has inadequate accuracy in detecting CRBSI in the real every day clinical practice. Not even the ratio between times to positivity seems to be clinically useful