C-reactive protein cut-off for early tocilizumab and dexamethasone prescription in hospitalized patients with COVID-19

Dexamethasone and tocilizumab have been associated with reduction in mortality, however, the beneficial effect is not for all patients and the impact on viral replication is not well defined. We hypostatized that C-reactive protein (CRP) could help in the identification of patients requiring anti-inflammatory therapy. Patients admitted for > 48 h in our hospital for a confirmed or suspected infection by SARS-CoV-2 from February 2020 to February 2021 were retrospectively evaluated. The primary outcome was mortality at 30 days. Demographics and the most relevant variables related with the outcome were included. CRP was stratified by percentiles. Univariate and multivariate analysis were performed. A total of 3218 patients were included with a median (IQR) age of 66 (74-78) years and 58.9% were males. The rate of intensive care unit admission was 24.4% and the 30-day mortality rate was 11.8%. Within the first 5 days from admission, 1018 (31.7%) patients received dexamethasone and 549 tocilizumab (17.1%). The crude analysis showed a mortality reduction in patients receiving dexamethasone when CRP was > 13.75 mg/dL and > 3.5 mg/dL for those receiving tocilizumab. Multivariate analysis identified the interaction of CRP > 13.75 mg/dL with dexamethasone (OR 0.57; CI 95% 0.37-0.89, P = 0014) and CRP > 3.5 mg/dL with tocilizumab (0.65; CI95%:0.44-0.95, P = 0.029) as independent predictors of mortality. Our results suggest that dexamethasone and tocilizumab are associated with a reduction in mortality when prescribed to patients with a certain inflammatory activity assessed by C-reactive protein

Clinical Presentation and Outcome of COVID-19 in a Latin American Versus Spanish Population: Matched Case-Control Study

Introduction: Increased mortality has been reported in the Latin American population. The objective is to compare the clinical characteristics and outcome of Latin American and Spanish populations in a cohort of patients hospitalized with COVID-19 during the first year of the pandemic. Methods: We retrospectively analysed all the Latin American patients (born in South or Central America) hospitalized in our centre from February 2020 to February 2021 and compared them with an age- and gender-matched group of Spanish subjects. Variables included were demographics, co-morbidities, clinical and analytical parameters at admission and treatment received. The primary outcomes were ICU admission and mortality at 60 days. A conditional regression analysis was performed to evaluate the independent baseline predictors of both outcomes. Results: From the 3216 patients in the whole cohort, 216 pairs of case-controls (Latin American and Spanish patients, respectively) with same age and gender were analysed. COPD was more frequent in the Spanish group, while HIV was more prevalent in the Latin American group. Other co-morbidities showed no significant difference. Both groups presented with similar numbers of days from symptom onset, but the Latin American population had a higher respiratory rate (21 vs. 20 bpm, P = 0.041), CRP (9.13 vs. 6.22 mg/dl, P = 0.001), ferritin (571 vs. 383 ng/ml, P = 0.012) and procalcitonin (0.10 vs. 0.07 ng/ml, P = 0.020) at admission and lower cycle threshold of PCR (27 vs. 28.8, P = 0.045). While ICU admission and IVM were higher in the Latin American group (17.1% vs. 13% and 9.7% vs. 5.1%, respectively), this was not statistically significant. Latin American patients received remdesivir and anti-inflammatory therapies more often, and no difference in the 60-day mortality rate was found (3.2% for both groups). Conclusion: Latin American patients with COVID-19 have more severe disease than Spanish patients, requiring ICU admission, antiviral and anti-inflammatory therapies more frequently. However, the mortality rate was similar in both groups

COLOMBOS: Access Port for Cross-Platform Bacterial Expression Compendia

Background: Microarrays are the main technology for large-scale transcriptional gene expression profiling, but the large bodies of data available in public databases are not useful due to the large heterogeneity. There are several initiatives that attempt to bundle these data into expression compendia, but such resources for bacterial organisms are scarce and limited to integration of experiments from the same platform or to indirect integration of per experiment analysis results. Methodology/Principal Findings: We have constructed comprehensive organism-specific cross-platform expression compendia for three bacterial model organisms (Escherichia coli, Bacillus subtilis, and Salmonella enterica serovar Typhimurium) together with an access portal, dubbed COLOMBOS, that not only provides easy access to the compendia, but also includes a suite of tools for exploring, analyzing, and visualizing the data within these compendia. It is freely available at http://bioi.biw.kuleuven.be/colombos. The compendia are unique in directly combining expression information from different microarray platforms and experiments, and we illustrate the potential benefits of this direct integration with a case study: extending the known regulon of the Fur transcription factor of E. coli. The compendia also incorporate extensive annotations for both genes and experimental conditions; these heterogeneous data are functionally integrated in the COLOMBOS analysis tools to interactively browse and query the compendia not only for specific genes or experiments, but also metabolic pathways, transcriptional regulation mechanisms, experimental conditions, biological processes, etc. Conclusions/Significance: We have created cross-platform expression compendia for several bacterial organisms and developed a complementary access port COLOMBOS, that also serves as a convenient expression analysis tool to extract useful biological information. This work is relevant to a large community of microbiologists by facilitating the use of publicly available microarray experiments to support their research

Rate and duration of hospitalisation for acute pulmonary embolism in the real-world clinical practice of different countries : Analysis from the RIETE registry

publishersversionPeer reviewe

O psicólogo no hospital geral: estilos e coletivos de pensamento

O artigo busca refletir sobre alguns embasamentos acerca das diferentes configurações do psicólogo que atua na área da saúde, em especial no hospital geral, com o objetivo de ampliar o conhecimento sobre o que constitui este ajustamento profissional. Como resultado, indicamos quatro coletivos de pensamento que julgamos serem os mais comuns: Psicologia Hospitalar, Psicologia Médica, Saúde Mental e Psicologia da Saúde. Apontamos algumas das especificidades desses coletivos, destacando a necessidade da realização de pesquisas em que os psicólogos atuantes em instituições hospitalares possam narrar suas histórias de inserção e delimitação da práxis profissional

Risco de suicídio em jovens com transtornos de ansiedade: estudo de base populacional Riesgo de suicidio en jóvenes con trastornos de ansiedad: estudio de base poblacional Suicide risk in young adults with anxiety disorders: population-based study

Este estudo teve por objetivo verificar a relação entre a presença de transtornos de ansiedade e risco de suicídio em jovens. Em delineamento transversal de base populacional, os jovens respondiam a um questionário sobre questões sociodemográficas, comportamentais e de saúde. Avaliou-se o bem-estar psicológico através da Escala de Faces de Andrews e consumo de substâncias foi efetuado pelo Teste de Triagem do Envolvimento com Álcool, Cigarro e Outras Substâncias, (Alcohol, Smoking and Substance Involviment Screening Test - ASSIST). A Mini Internacional Neuropsychiatric Interview 5.0 avaliou transtornos de ansiedade e o risco de suicídio. Dos 1.621 jovens entrevistados, 20,9% apresentaram algum transtorno de ansiedade e 8,6% risco de suicídio. A presença de algum transtorno de ansiedade esteve significativamente associada ao risco de suicídio (RP 6,10 IC95% 3,95 a 9,43). Dessa forma, salienta-se a importância de maior atenção ao risco de suicídio também em pacientes com transtornos de ansiedade.<br>Este estudio tubo por objetivo verificar la relación entre la presencia de trastornos de ansiedad y riesgo de suicidio en jóvenes. En delineamiento transversal de base poblacional, los jóvenes respondían a un cuestionario sobre cuestiones sociodemográficas, comportamentales y de salud. Se evaluó el bienestar psicológico por medio de la escala de fases de Andrews y consumo de sustancias efectuada por la prueba de detección del envolvimiento con alcohol, cigarrillo y otras sustancias, (Alcohol, Smoking and Substance Involviment Screening Test - ASSIST). La Mini Internacional Neuropsychiatric Interview 5.0 evaluó trastornos de ansiedad y el riesgo de suicidio. De los 1.621 jóvenes entrevistados, 20,9% presentaron algún trastorno de ansiedad y 8,6% riesgo de suicidio. La presencia de algún trastorno de ansiedad estuvo significativamente asociada al riesgo de suicidio (RP 6,10 IC95% 3,95 a 9,43). De esa forma, se resalta la importancia de mayor atención al riesgo de suicidio también en pacientes con trastornos de ansiedad.<br>This study aimed at investigating the relationship between the presence of anxiety disorders and suicide risk in young adults. In a cross-sectional population-based design young adults answered a questionnaire about sociodemographic, behavioral and health characteristics. The measure of psychological well-being was made by Faces Scale of Andrews while the substances use evaluation was performed according to the Alcohol, Smoking and Substance Involvement Screening Test (ASSIST). The Mini International Neuropsychiatric Interview 5.0 evaluated anxiety disorders and suicide risk. Among the 1.621 young adults interviewed, 20.9% had some anxiety disorders and 8.6% suicide risk. After multivariate analysis, the presence of any anxiety disorder was significantly associated with suicide risk (PR 6.10 95% CI 3.95 to 9.43). Thus, it is highlighted the importance of greater attention to suicide risk in those patients with anxiety disorders