Effect of a rehabilitation-based chronic disease management program targeting severe COPD exacerbations on readmission patterns

Pulmonary rehabilitation (PR) is recommended after a severe COPD exacerbation, but its short- and long-term effects on health care utilization have not been fully established. The aims of this study were to evaluate patient compliance with a chronic disease management (CDM) program incorporating home-based exercise training as the main component after a severe COPD exacerbation and to determine its effects on health care utilization in the following year. COPD patients with a severe exacerbation were included in a case-cohort study at admission. An intervention group participated in a nurse-supervised CDM program during the 2 months after discharge, comprising of home-based PR with exercise components directly supervised by a physiotherapist, while the remaining patients followed usual care. Nineteen of the twenty-one participants (90.5%) were compliant with the CDM program and were compared with 29 usual-care patients. Compliance with the program was associated with statistically significant reductions in admissions due to respiratory disease in the following year (median [interquartile range]: 0 [0-1] vs 1 [0-2.5]; P =0.022) and in days of admission (0 [0-7] vs 7 [0-12]; P =0.034), and multiple linear regression analysis confirmed the protective effect of the CDM program (β coefficient −0.785, P =0.014, and R 2 =0.219). A CDM program incorporating exercise training for COPD patients without limiting comorbidities after a severe exacerbation achieves high compliance and reduces admissions in the year following after the intervention

Multimorbidity patterns in COVID-19 patients and their relationship with infection severity : MRisk-COVID study

Several chronic conditions have been identified as risk factors for severe COVID-19 infection, yet the implications of multimorbidity need to be explored. The objective of this study was to establish multimorbidity clusters from a cohort of COVID-19 patients and assess their relationship with infection severity/mortality. The MRisk-COVID Big Data study included 14 286 COVID-19 patients of the first wave in a Spanish region. The cohort was stratified by age and sex. Multimorbid individuals were subjected to a fuzzy c-means cluster analysis in order to identify multimorbidity clusters within each stratum. Bivariate analyses were performed to assess the relationship between severity/mortality and age, sex, and multimorbidity clusters. Severe infection was reported in 9.5% (95% CI: 9.0-9.9) of the patients, and death occurred in 3.9% (95% CI: 3.6-4.2). We identified multimorbidity clusters related to severity/mortality in most age groups from 21 to 65 years. In males, the cluster with highest percentage of severity/mortality was Heart-liver-gastrointestinal (81-90 years, 34.1% severity, 29.5% mortality). In females, the clusters with the highest percentage of severity/mortality were Diabetes-cardiovascular (81-95 years, 22.5% severity) and Psychogeriatric (81-95 years, 16.0% mortality). This study characterized several multimorbidity clusters in COVID-19 patients based on sex and age, some of which were found to be associated with higher rates of infection severity/mortality, particularly in younger individuals. Further research is encouraged to ascertain the role of specific multimorbidity patterns on infection prognosis and identify the most vulnerable morbidity profiles in the community. Registered 4 August 2021 (retrospectively registered)

COPD is a clear risk factor for increased use of resources and adverse outcomes in patients undergoing intervention for colorectal cancer : a nationwide study in Spain

We hypothesized that patients undergoing surgery for colorectal cancer (CRC) with COPD as a comorbidity would consume more resources and have worse in-hospital outcomes than similar patients without COPD. Therefore, we compared different aspects of the care process and short-term outcomes in patients undergoing surgery for CRC, with and without COPD. This was a prospective study and it included patients from 22 hospitals located in Spain - 472 patients with COPD and 2,276 patients without COPD undergoing surgery for CRC. Clinical variables, postintervention intensive care unit (ICU) admission, use of invasive mechanical ventilation, and postintervention antibiotic treatment or blood transfusion were compared between the two groups. The reintervention rate, presence and type of complications, length of stay, and in-hospital mortality were also estimated. Hazard ratio (HR) for hospital mortality was estimated by Cox regression models. COPD was associated with higher rates of in-hospital complications, ICU admission, antibiotic treatment, reinterventions, and mortality. Moreover, after adjusting for other factors, COPD remained clearly associated with higher and earlier in-hospital mortality. To reduce in-hospital morbidity and mortality in patients undergoing surgery for CRC and with COPD as a comorbidity, several aspects of perioperative management should be optimized and attention should be given to the usual comorbidities in these patients

Sex Differences in Multimorbidity, Inappropriate Medication and Adverse Outcomes of Inpatient Care : MoPIM Cohort Study

There is no published evidence on the possible differences in multimorbidity, inappropriate prescribing, and adverse outcomes of care, simultaneously, from a sex perspective in older patients. We aimed to identify those possible differences in patients hospitalized because of a chronic disease exacerbation. A multicenter, prospective cohort study of 740 older hospitalized patients (≥65 years) was designed, registering sociodemographic variables, frailty, Barthel index, chronic conditions (CCs), geriatric syndromes (GSs), polypharmacy, potentially inappropriate prescribing (PIP) according to STOPP/START criteria, and adverse drug reactions (ADRs). Outcomes were length of stay (LOS), discharge to nursing home, in-hospital mortality, cause of mortality, and existence of any ADR and its worst consequence. Bivariate analyses between sex and all variables were performed, and a network graph was created for each sex using CC and GS. A total of 740 patients were included (53.2% females, 53.5% ≥85 years old). Women presented higher prevalence of frailty, and more were living in a nursing home or alone, and had a higher percentage of PIP related to anxiolytics or pain management drugs. Moreover, they presented significant pairwise associations between CC, such as asthma, vertigo, thyroid diseases, osteoarticular diseases, and sleep disorders, and with GS, such as chronic pain, constipation, and anxiety/depression. No significant differences in immediate adverse outcomes of care were observed between men and women in the exacerbation episode

Developing and validating an individualized breast cancer risk prediction model for women attending breast cancer screening

Several studies have proposed personalized strategies based on women's individual breast cancer risk to improve the effectiveness of breast cancer screening. We designed and internally validated an individualized risk prediction model for women eligible for mammography screening. Retrospective cohort study of 121,969 women aged 50 to 69 years, screened at the long-standing population-based screening program in Spain between 1995 and 2015 and followed up until 2017. We used partly conditional Cox proportional hazards regression to estimate the adjusted hazard ratios (aHR) and individual risks for age, family history of breast cancer, previous benign breast disease, and previous mammographic features. We internally validated our model with the expected-to-observed ratio and the area under the receiver operating characteristic curve. During a mean follow-up of 7.5 years, 2,058 women were diagnosed with breast cancer. All three risk factors were strongly associated with breast cancer risk, with the highest risk being found among women with family history of breast cancer (aHR: 1.67), a proliferative benign breast disease (aHR: 3.02) and previous calcifications (aHR: 2.52). The model was well calibrated overall (expected-to-observed ratio ranging from 0.99 at 2 years to 1.02 at 20 years) but slightly overestimated the risk in women with proliferative benign breast disease. The area under the receiver operating characteristic curve ranged from 58.7% to 64.7%, depending of the time horizon selected. We developed a risk prediction model to estimate the short- and long-term risk of breast cancer in women eligible for mammography screening using information routinely reported at screening participation. The model could help to guiding individualized screening strategies aimed at improving the risk-benefit balance of mammography screening programs

Subtypes of patients experiencing exacerbations of COPD and associations with outcomes

Altres ajuts: Universidad del País Vasco UPV/EHU (GIU10/21, UFI11/52), Departamento de Educación, Política Lingüística y Cultura del Gobierno Vasco (IT620-13), Departamento de Sanidad del Gobierno Vasco (2012111008)Chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) is a complex and heterogeneous condition characterized by occasional exacerbations. Identifying clinical subtypes among patients experiencing COPD exacerbations (ECOPD) could help better understand the pathophysiologic mechanisms involved in exacerbations, establish different strategies of treatment, and improve the process of care and patient prognosis. The objective of this study was to identify subtypes of ECOPD patients attending emergency departments using clinical variables and to validate the results using several outcomes. We evaluated data collected as part of the IRYSS-COPD prospective cohort study conducted in 16 hospitals in Spain. Variables collected from ECOPD patients attending one of the emergency departments included arterial blood gases, presence of comorbidities, previous COPD treatment, baseline severity of COPD, and previous hospitalizations for ECOPD. Patient subtypes were identified by combining results from multiple correspondence analysis and cluster analysis. Results were validated using key outcomes of ECOPD evolution. Four ECOPD subtypes were identified based on the severity of the current exacerbation and general health status (largely a function of comorbidities): subtype A (n = 934), neither high comorbidity nor severe exacerbation; subtype B (n = 682), moderate comorbidities; subtype C (n = 562), severe comorbidities related to mortality; and subtype D (n = 309), very severe process of exacerbation, significantly related to mortality and admission to an intensive care unit. Subtype D experienced the highest rate of mortality, admission to an intensive care unit and need for noninvasive mechanical ventilation, followed by subtype C. Subtypes A and B were primarily related to other serious complications. Hospitalization rate was more than 50% for all the subtypes, although significantly higher for subtypes C and D than for subtypes A and B. These results could help identify characteristics to categorize ECOPD patients for more appropriate care, and help test interventions and treatments in subgroups with poor evolution and outcomes

Trends in detection of invasive cancer and ductal carcinoma in situ at biennial screening mammography in spain : A retrospective cohort study

Background: Breast cancer incidence has decreased in the last decade, while the incidence of ductal carcinoma in situ (DCIS) has increased substantially in the western world. The phenomenon has been attributed to the widespread adaption of screening mammography. The aim of the study was to evaluate the temporal trends in the rates of screen detected invasive cancers and DCIS, and to compare the observed trends with respect to hormone replacement therapy (HRT) use along the same study period. Methods: Retrospective cohort study of 1,564,080 women aged 45-69 years who underwent 4,705,681 screening mammograms from 1992 to 2006. Age-adjusted rates of screen detected invasive cancer, DCIS, and HRT use were calculated for first and subsequent screenings. Poisson regression was used to evaluate the existence of a change-point in trend, and to estimate the adjusted trends in screen detected invasive breast cancer and DCIS over the study period. Results: The rates of screen detected invasive cancer per 100.000 screened women were 394.0 at first screening, and 229.9 at subsequent screen. The rates of screen detected DCIS per 100.000 screened women were 66.8 at first screen and 43.9 at subsequent screens. No evidence of a change point in trend in the rates of DCIS and invasive cancers over the study period were found. Screen detected DCIS increased at a steady 2.5% per year (95% CI: 1.3; 3.8), while invasive cancers were stable. Conclusion: Despite the observed decrease in breast cancer incidence in the population, the rates of screen detected invasive cancer remained stable during the study period. The proportion of DCIS among screen detected breast malignancies increased from 13% to 17% throughout the study period. The rates of screen detected invasive cancer and DCIS were independent of the decreasing trend in HRT use observed among screened women after 2002

L'Anàlisi dels factors pronòstic del càncer de mama en un programa de cribatge poblacional

Consultable des del TDXTítol obtingut de la portada digitalitzadaANTECEDENTS I OBJECTIUS: L'anàlisi dels factors pronòstic de tots els càncers de mama diagnosticats en les dones de la població diana i l'avaluació dels tumors d'interval com a mesures de resultat intermedi és la millor aproximació per valorar els beneficis d'un programa de detecció precoç. Els objectius principals van ser descriure i comparar els factors pronòstic i els tractaments de les neoplàsies de mama, i avaluar els tumors d'interval. Els objectius secundaris van ser comparar els factors pronòstic i el tractament les neoplàsies diagnosticades en cribratge inicial i successiu i identificar la possible associació de l'edat amb els factors pronòstic en aquestes neoplàsies. METODOLOGIA: Es tracta d'un estudi observacional descriptiu, desenvolupat en l'àmbit del Programa poblacional de detecció precoç del càncer de mama de Sabadell-Cerdanyola (PCCM), de les neoplàsies de mama de les dones de 50 a 69 anys, classificades en funció de l'origen diagnòstic: cribratge (diagnosticada a partir de la participació en el PCCM); assistencial (diagnosticada per la via assistencial habitual); d'interval (diagnosticada al marge del PCCM i després d'un resultat normal a la mamografia del PCCM). RESULTATS: De les 605 neoplàsies incloses, 59 (9,7%) van ser d'interval, 321 (53,1%) assistencials, i 225 (37,2%) del PCCM. El grup de cribratge presentà percentatges superiors de tumors in situ (19%) i de tumors invasius menors de 10 mm (24%) i de 10-14 mm (27%). El percentatge de tumors invasius del PCCM sense afecció ganglionar va ser del 68%, i del 52,5% a les assistencials. Un 1,3% de les neoplàsies del PCCM tenien metàstasi, i aquest percentatge va ser del 10,2% a les d'interval i del 5,6% a les assistencials. Un 57% de les neoplàsies del Programa i un 32-35% de la resta de neoplàsies es van diagnosticar en estadi I. Es va observar un predomini (al voltant del 60%) de tumors en estadi 0 ò I en relació als diagnosticats en estadis II-IV a partir de l'any 1999. Els tumors d'interval i els assistencials van presentar un major percentatge d' Índex Pronòstic de Nottingham (IPN) >5,4 (28,6% i 22,1% respectivament) en relació als tumors del PCCM (10,9%). El percentatge de tumorectomies va ser superior en els tumors del PCCM (71,1%) respecte dels d'origen assistencial (47%) i els d'interval (37,3%). Es van identificar 31 (75,6%) neoplàsies d'interval pròpiament dites i 10 (24,4%) amb resultat fals negatiu. Les primeres es van diagnosticar amb més afecció ganglionar i més metàstasi a distància. El cribratge successiu va diagnosticar tumors més petits, amb menys afecció ganglionar, amb menys invasió vascular, amb una lleugera major positivitat a receptors hormonals i amb major grau nuclear. Un 80% i un 57,8% de les neoplàsies de cribratge successiu i inicial respectivament es van tractar amb tumorectomia. El percentatge de neoplàsies amb un IPN = 60 anys respecte de les de 50-59 anys. CONCLUSIONS: Les neoplàsies del PCCM han presentat uns factors pronòstic més favorables que la resta de neoplàsies. El PCCM ha suposat una reducció del risc de rebre un tractament més agressiu per a les dones. Les neoplàsies d'interval han presentat uns factors pronòstic més desfavorables que les neoplàsies assistencials i encara més que les diagnosticades pel PCCM. En cribratge inicial es va observar una major proporció de neoplàsies amb invasió de ganglis, amb invasió vascular i de diàmetre tumoral més gran, així com una proporció significativament superior de neoplàsies tractades amb mastectomia. Les dones més joves del Programa han presentat unes neoplàsies de mama amb uns factors pronòstic més desfavorables respecte de les dones de 60-69 anys.BACKGROUND AND OBJECTIVES: The analysis of prognostic factors in all breast cancers diagnosed in the target population and the evaluation of interval tumors as an intermediate outcome measurement is the best approach to assess the benefits of an early detection program. The main aims were to describe and compare the prognostic factors and treatments for breast neoplasms and to evaluate interval cancer. The secondary objectives were to compare the prognostic factors and the treatment of the neoplasms detected in the prevalent and incident screenings and to identify a possible association of age with prognostic factors in these neoplasms. METHODOLOGY: This is a descriptive observational study carried out within the framework of the Early Detection Breast Cancer Screening Program for Sabadell and Cerdanyola (BCSP) of breast cancers in women aged 50-69 of age, classified according to diagnostic setting: screening (diagnosed within the BCSP); healthcare system (diagnosed through ordinary healthcare pathways); or interval (diagnosed outside the BCSP, after a normal mammogram in the BCSP). RESULTS: Of the total 605 neoplasms included, 59 (9.7%) were interval cancer, 321 (53.1%) were diagnosed through ordinary pathways, and 225 (37.2%) though the BCSP. The screening group had higher percentages of in situ tumors, of invasive tumors 3.4 was nearly the double in women > 60 years of age than in those between 50 and 59 years old. CONCLUSIONS: The neoplasms detected at screening had more favorable prognostic factors than those detected in the other settings. Screening reduced the risk of receiving more aggressive treatment. Interval cancers had worse prognostic factors than those detected through the normal healthcare process, and this difference was even greater with respect to those detected at screening. A higher proportion of neoplasms with lymph-node involvement was observed in the prevalent screening, with greater vascular invasion and tumor size, as well as a significantly higher proportion of neoplasms treated with mastectomy. The prognostic factors of the neoplasms found in the youngest women in the BCSP were less favorable than in the group aged 60-69 years

Effect of a rehabilitation-based chronic disease management program targeting severe COPD exacerbations on readmission patterns

Pulmonary rehabilitation (PR) is recommended after a severe COPD exacerbation, but its short- and long-term effects on health care utilization have not been fully established. The aims of this study were to evaluate patient compliance with a chronic disease management (CDM) program incorporating home-based exercise training as the main component after a severe COPD exacerbation and to determine its effects on health care utilization in the following year. COPD patients with a severe exacerbation were included in a case-cohort study at admission. An intervention group participated in a nurse-supervised CDM program during the 2 months after discharge, comprising of home-based PR with exercise components directly supervised by a physiotherapist, while the remaining patients followed usual care. Nineteen of the twenty-one participants (90.5%) were compliant with the CDM program and were compared with 29 usual-care patients. Compliance with the program was associated with statistically significant reductions in admissions due to respiratory disease in the following year (median [interquartile range]: 0 [0-1] vs 1 [0-2.5]; P =0.022) and in days of admission (0 [0-7] vs 7 [0-12]; P =0.034), and multiple linear regression analysis confirmed the protective effect of the CDM program (β coefficient −0.785, P =0.014, and R 2 =0.219). A CDM program incorporating exercise training for COPD patients without limiting comorbidities after a severe exacerbation achieves high compliance and reduces admissions in the year following after the intervention

Subtypes of patients experiencing exacerbations of COPD and associations with outcomes

Altres ajuts: Universidad del País Vasco UPV/EHU (GIU10/21, UFI11/52), Departamento de Educación, Política Lingüística y Cultura del Gobierno Vasco (IT620-13), Departamento de Sanidad del Gobierno Vasco (2012111008)Chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) is a complex and heterogeneous condition characterized by occasional exacerbations. Identifying clinical subtypes among patients experiencing COPD exacerbations (ECOPD) could help better understand the pathophysiologic mechanisms involved in exacerbations, establish different strategies of treatment, and improve the process of care and patient prognosis. The objective of this study was to identify subtypes of ECOPD patients attending emergency departments using clinical variables and to validate the results using several outcomes. We evaluated data collected as part of the IRYSS-COPD prospective cohort study conducted in 16 hospitals in Spain. Variables collected from ECOPD patients attending one of the emergency departments included arterial blood gases, presence of comorbidities, previous COPD treatment, baseline severity of COPD, and previous hospitalizations for ECOPD. Patient subtypes were identified by combining results from multiple correspondence analysis and cluster analysis. Results were validated using key outcomes of ECOPD evolution. Four ECOPD subtypes were identified based on the severity of the current exacerbation and general health status (largely a function of comorbidities): subtype A (n = 934), neither high comorbidity nor severe exacerbation; subtype B (n = 682), moderate comorbidities; subtype C (n = 562), severe comorbidities related to mortality; and subtype D (n = 309), very severe process of exacerbation, significantly related to mortality and admission to an intensive care unit. Subtype D experienced the highest rate of mortality, admission to an intensive care unit and need for noninvasive mechanical ventilation, followed by subtype C. Subtypes A and B were primarily related to other serious complications. Hospitalization rate was more than 50% for all the subtypes, although significantly higher for subtypes C and D than for subtypes A and B. These results could help identify characteristics to categorize ECOPD patients for more appropriate care, and help test interventions and treatments in subgroups with poor evolution and outcomes