Validación del cuestionario Caregivers (impaCt of pediAtric Rheumatic disEases on careGIVERs multiaSsessment questionnaire) en cuidadores de pacientes pediátricos con enfermedades reumáticas

Introducción:En la clínica de Reumatología Pediátrica del Hospital Universitario “Dr. J. E. González” se desarrolló la herramienta CAREGIVERS (impaCt of pediAtric Rheumatic disEases on careGIVERs multiaSsessment questionnaire) para medir el impacto de la enfermedad en el cuidador de pacientes pediátricos con Artritis Idiopática Juvenil (AIJ). La construcción y validación interna del cuestionario CAREGIVERS, se desarrolló en 2 fases: Fase 1. Construcción del Cuestionario y Fase 2. Validación interna del mismo. Con lo cual se obtuvo el cuestionario CAREGIVERS, conformado por 8 dominios: I. Impacto emocional; II. Impacto Social; III. Impacto Económico y Laboral, el cual a su vez se subdivide en Impacto Financiero e Impacto Laboral; IV. Impacto Familiar; V. Impacto en la Relación Cuidador-paciente; VI. Impacto en la Relación de Pareja; VII. Impacto en la Espiritualidad/Religión/Creencias Personales y VIII. Impacto en las Redes Sociales. Este cuestionario está conformado por 28 preguntas con un tiempo de aplicación aproximado de 12 minutos. Objetivo: Validación externa del cuestionario CAREGIVERS en las 3 principales enfermedades reumáticas: Artritis Idiopática Juvenil, Lupus Eritematoso Sistémico y Dermatomiositis Juvenil. Material y Métodos: Fue un estudio trasversal;la fase de validación externa del cuestionario construido se llevó a cabo siguiendo la metodología de clinimetría y psicometría de Feinstein (8), para medir el impacto de la enfermedad en el cuidador y crear un perfil de riesgo para el desapego al tratamiento. Los tamaños de muestra fueron basados en los criterios de calidad propuestos por Terwee et al., (9) que sugiere 200 pacientes para la validación externa del constructo. Resultados: Se aplicaron un total de 200 cuestionarios a cuidadores de pacientes pediátricos con enfermedades reumáticas: 109 cuidadores de pacientes con AIJ, 28 cuidadores de pacientes con DMJ y 63 cuidadores de pacientes con LES. El cuestionario CAREGIVERS presentó validez externa con un alfa de Cronbach total de 0.6751. Sin ameritar eliminación de preguntas o cambios en las opciones de salida. Así mismo, se encontró impacto en el cuidador en todos los dominios evaluados. Conclusión:Esta herramienta representa el inicio de una línea de investigación relacionada con cuidadores de pacientes con enfermedades reumáticas en la infancia

Global burden of 288 causes of death and life expectancy decomposition in 204 countries and territories and 811 subnational locations, 1990–2021: a systematic analysis for the Global Burden of Disease Study 2021

BACKGROUND Regular, detailed reporting on population health by underlying cause of death is fundamental for public health decision making. Cause-specific estimates of mortality and the subsequent effects on life expectancy worldwide are valuable metrics to gauge progress in reducing mortality rates. These estimates are particularly important following large-scale mortality spikes, such as the COVID-19 pandemic. When systematically analysed, mortality rates and life expectancy allow comparisons of the consequences of causes of death globally and over time, providing a nuanced understanding of the effect of these causes on global populations. METHODS The Global Burden of Diseases, Injuries, and Risk Factors Study (GBD) 2021 cause-of-death analysis estimated mortality and years of life lost (YLLs) from 288 causes of death by age-sex-location-year in 204 countries and territories and 811 subnational locations for each year from 1990 until 2021. The analysis used 56 604 data sources, including data from vital registration and verbal autopsy as well as surveys, censuses, surveillance systems, and cancer registries, among others. As with previous GBD rounds, cause-specific death rates for most causes were estimated using the Cause of Death Ensemble model-a modelling tool developed for GBD to assess the out-of-sample predictive validity of different statistical models and covariate permutations and combine those results to produce cause-specific mortality estimates-with alternative strategies adapted to model causes with insufficient data, substantial changes in reporting over the study period, or unusual epidemiology. YLLs were computed as the product of the number of deaths for each cause-age-sex-location-year and the standard life expectancy at each age. As part of the modelling process, uncertainty intervals (UIs) were generated using the 2·5th and 97·5th percentiles from a 1000-draw distribution for each metric. We decomposed life expectancy by cause of death, location, and year to show cause-specific effects on life expectancy from 1990 to 2021. We also used the coefficient of variation and the fraction of population affected by 90% of deaths to highlight concentrations of mortality. Findings are reported in counts and age-standardised rates. Methodological improvements for cause-of-death estimates in GBD 2021 include the expansion of under-5-years age group to include four new age groups, enhanced methods to account for stochastic variation of sparse data, and the inclusion of COVID-19 and other pandemic-related mortality-which includes excess mortality associated with the pandemic, excluding COVID-19, lower respiratory infections, measles, malaria, and pertussis. For this analysis, 199 new country-years of vital registration cause-of-death data, 5 country-years of surveillance data, 21 country-years of verbal autopsy data, and 94 country-years of other data types were added to those used in previous GBD rounds. FINDINGS The leading causes of age-standardised deaths globally were the same in 2019 as they were in 1990; in descending order, these were, ischaemic heart disease, stroke, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, and lower respiratory infections. In 2021, however, COVID-19 replaced stroke as the second-leading age-standardised cause of death, with 94·0 deaths (95% UI 89·2-100·0) per 100 000 population. The COVID-19 pandemic shifted the rankings of the leading five causes, lowering stroke to the third-leading and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease to the fourth-leading position. In 2021, the highest age-standardised death rates from COVID-19 occurred in sub-Saharan Africa (271·0 deaths [250·1-290·7] per 100 000 population) and Latin America and the Caribbean (195·4 deaths [182·1-211·4] per 100 000 population). The lowest age-standardised death rates from COVID-19 were in the high-income super-region (48·1 deaths [47·4-48·8] per 100 000 population) and southeast Asia, east Asia, and Oceania (23·2 deaths [16·3-37·2] per 100 000 population). Globally, life expectancy steadily improved between 1990 and 2019 for 18 of the 22 investigated causes. Decomposition of global and regional life expectancy showed the positive effect that reductions in deaths from enteric infections, lower respiratory infections, stroke, and neonatal deaths, among others have contributed to improved survival over the study period. However, a net reduction of 1·6 years occurred in global life expectancy between 2019 and 2021, primarily due to increased death rates from COVID-19 and other pandemic-related mortality. Life expectancy was highly variable between super-regions over the study period, with southeast Asia, east Asia, and Oceania gaining 8·3 years (6·7-9·9) overall, while having the smallest reduction in life expectancy due to COVID-19 (0·4 years). The largest reduction in life expectancy due to COVID-19 occurred in Latin America and the Caribbean (3·6 years). Additionally, 53 of the 288 causes of death were highly concentrated in locations with less than 50% of the global population as of 2021, and these causes of death became progressively more concentrated since 1990, when only 44 causes showed this pattern. The concentration phenomenon is discussed heuristically with respect to enteric and lower respiratory infections, malaria, HIV/AIDS, neonatal disorders, tuberculosis, and measles. INTERPRETATION Long-standing gains in life expectancy and reductions in many of the leading causes of death have been disrupted by the COVID-19 pandemic, the adverse effects of which were spread unevenly among populations. Despite the pandemic, there has been continued progress in combatting several notable causes of death, leading to improved global life expectancy over the study period. Each of the seven GBD super-regions showed an overall improvement from 1990 and 2021, obscuring the negative effect in the years of the pandemic. Additionally, our findings regarding regional variation in causes of death driving increases in life expectancy hold clear policy utility. Analyses of shifting mortality trends reveal that several causes, once widespread globally, are now increasingly concentrated geographically. These changes in mortality concentration, alongside further investigation of changing risks, interventions, and relevant policy, present an important opportunity to deepen our understanding of mortality-reduction strategies. Examining patterns in mortality concentration might reveal areas where successful public health interventions have been implemented. Translating these successes to locations where certain causes of death remain entrenched can inform policies that work to improve life expectancy for people everywhere. FUNDING Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation

Procalcitonina de cordón umbilical como predictor de sepsis temprana en recién nacidos prematuros “en Tamaulipas, México 2016”. Resultado preliminar

Introduction: sepsis is a cause of high mortality in the premature, it affects up to 19 of 1000 in children under 1000 g and its manifestation may be nonspecific. Decision-making on the use of antibiotics is not always easy, so it is worth having an fast, cheap and effective predictor of early onset sepsis. Objective: to determine the use of serum procalcitonin umbilical cord as a predictor of early onset sepsis in preterm infants. Materials and methods: longitudinal descriptive study from june to november 2016 was made. 22 preterm infants (<37 weeks of gestation) were included, with or without risk factors for infection. Neonates with malformations or suspicion of metabolic disease were excluded. A blood sample was taken from the umbilical artery for procalcitonin and blood culture at birth, subsequently they were assessed from birth to 72 hours of life for sepsis data. Results: twelve developed early onset sepsis and ten did not. The mean procalcitoninof umbilical cord in the sepsis group was 0.68 ng/ml versus 0.13 ng/ml in the group without sepsis, p=0.025. In the analysis under the ROC curve area for procalcitonin was 0.75. The cut value of umbilical cord procalciton was 0.14 ng/ml as a predictor of early sepsis (sensitivity 75%, specificity 70%, positive predictive value 75%, negative predictive value 70%). Conclusions: procalcitonin of umbilical cord at birth may be a useful parameter as a marker of early onset sepsis in the premature, however these results must be validated with a larger sample size. MÉD.UIS. 2018;31(1):23-30.Introducción: la sepsis causa alta mortalidad en el prematuro, afecta hasta 19 de 1000 en los menores de 1000 g y su manifestación puede ser inespecífica. La toma de decisión del uso de antibióticos es difícil, siendo necesario un predictor rápido, barato y efectivo para sepsis temprana. Objetivo: determinar la utilidad de la procalcitonina de cordón umbilical como predictor de sepsis temprana en el recién nacido prematuro. Materiales y métodos: estudio descriptivo, longitudinal, de junio a noviembre del 2016. Se incluyeron 22 recién nacidos < 37 semanas de gestación, con o sin factores de riesgo para infección. Los neonatos con malformaciones o sospecha de enfermedad metabólica fueron excluidos. Procalcitonina y hemocultivo de cordón fueron tomados al nacimiento, posteriormente fueron valorados desde el nacimiento hasta las 72 horas de vida para datos de sepsis. Resultados: doce desarrollaron sepsis temprana y diez no. La media de procalcitonina de cordón en el grupo de sepsis fue de 0,68 ng/ml versus de 0,13 ng/ml en el grupo sin sepsis, p=0.025. En el análisis bajo el área de la curva ROC para la procalcitonina fue de 0,75. El valor de corte de procalcitonina de cordón fue de 0,14 ng/ml como predictor de sepsis temprana (sensibilidad 75%, especificidad 70%, valor predictivo positivo 75%, valor predictivo negativo 70%). Conclusiones: la procalcitonina de cordón umbilical al nacimiento puede ser un parámetro útil como marcador de sepsis neonatal temprana en el prematuro, sin embargo, estos resultados deben ser validados con un tamaño de muestra más grande. MÉD.UIS. 2018;31(1):23-30

Use of Adjunctive Therapy in Acute Kawasaki Disease in Latin America.

Objective: To characterize the use of adjunctive therapy in Kawasaki disease (KD) in Latin America. Methods: The study included 1,418 patients from the Latin American KD Network (REKAMLATINA) treated for KD between January 1, 2009, and May 31, 2017. Results: Of these patients, 1,152 received only a single dose of IVIG, and 266 received additional treatment. Age at onset was similar in both groups (median 2 vs. 2.2 years, respectively). The majority of patients were male (58 vs. 63.9%) and were hospitalized with the first 10 days of fever (85.1 vs. 84.2%). The most common adjunctive therapy administered was steroids for IVIG-resistance, followed by additional doses of IVIG. The use of biologics such as infliximab was limited. KD patients who received adjunctive therapy were more likely to have a lower platelet count and albumin level as well as a higher Z score of the coronary arteries. Conclusion: This is the first report of adjunctive therapies for KD across Latin America. IVIG continues to be the initial and resistance treatment, however, steroids are also used and to a lesser extent, biological therapy such as infliximab. Future studies should address the barriers to therapy in children with acute KD throughout Latin America

Global burden of 288 causes of death and life expectancy decomposition in 204 countries and territories and 811 subnational locations, 1990–2021: a systematic analysis for the Global Burden of Disease Study 2021

BackgroundRegular, detailed reporting on population health by underlying cause of death is fundamental for public health decision making. Cause-specific estimates of mortality and the subsequent effects on life expectancy worldwide are valuable metrics to gauge progress in reducing mortality rates. These estimates are particularly important following large-scale mortality spikes, such as the COVID-19 pandemic. When systematically analysed, mortality rates and life expectancy allow comparisons of the consequences of causes of death globally and over time, providing a nuanced understanding of the effect of these causes on global populations.MethodsThe Global Burden of Diseases, Injuries, and Risk Factors Study (GBD) 2021 cause-of-death analysis estimated mortality and years of life lost (YLLs) from 288 causes of death by age-sex-location-year in 204 countries and territories and 811 subnational locations for each year from 1990 until 2021. The analysis used 56 604 data sources, including data from vital registration and verbal autopsy as well as surveys, censuses, surveillance systems, and cancer registries, among others. As with previous GBD rounds, cause-specific death rates for most causes were estimated using the Cause of Death Ensemble model—a modelling tool developed for GBD to assess the out-of-sample predictive validity of different statistical models and covariate permutations and combine those results to produce cause-specific mortality estimates—with alternative strategies adapted to model causes with insufficient data, substantial changes in reporting over the study period, or unusual epidemiology. YLLs were computed as the product of the number of deaths for each cause-age-sex-location-year and the standard life expectancy at each age. As part of the modelling process, uncertainty intervals (UIs) were generated using the 2·5th and 97·5th percentiles from a 1000-draw distribution for each metric. We decomposed life expectancy by cause of death, location, and year to show cause-specific effects on life expectancy from 1990 to 2021. We also used the coefficient of variation and the fraction of population affected by 90% of deaths to highlight concentrations of mortality. Findings are reported in counts and age-standardised rates. Methodological improvements for cause-of-death estimates in GBD 2021 include the expansion of under-5-years age group to include four new age groups, enhanced methods to account for stochastic variation of sparse data, and the inclusion of COVID-19 and other pandemic-related mortality—which includes excess mortality associated with the pandemic, excluding COVID-19, lower respiratory infections, measles, malaria, and pertussis. For this analysis, 199 new country-years of vital registration cause-of-death data, 5 country-years of surveillance data, 21 country-years of verbal autopsy data, and 94 country-years of other data types were added to those used in previous GBD rounds.FindingsThe leading causes of age-standardised deaths globally were the same in 2019 as they were in 1990; in descending order, these were, ischaemic heart disease, stroke, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, and lower respiratory infections. In 2021, however, COVID-19 replaced stroke as the second-leading age-standardised cause of death, with 94·0 deaths (95% UI 89·2–100·0) per 100 000 population. The COVID-19 pandemic shifted the rankings of the leading five causes, lowering stroke to the third-leading and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease to the fourth-leading position. In 2021, the highest age-standardised death rates from COVID-19 occurred in sub-Saharan Africa (271·0 deaths [250·1–290·7] per 100 000 population) and Latin America and the Caribbean (195·4 deaths [182·1–211·4] per 100 000 population). The lowest age-standardised death rates from COVID-19 were in the high-income super-region (48·1 deaths [47·4–48·8] per 100 000 population) and southeast Asia, east Asia, and Oceania (23·2 deaths [16·3–37·2] per 100 000 population). Globally, life expectancy steadily improved between 1990 and 2019 for 18 of the 22 investigated causes. Decomposition of global and regional life expectancy showed the positive effect that reductions in deaths from enteric infections, lower respiratory infections, stroke, and neonatal deaths, among others have contributed to improved survival over the study period. However, a net reduction of 1·6 years occurred in global life expectancy between 2019 and 2021, primarily due to increased death rates from COVID-19 and other pandemic-related mortality. Life expectancy was highly variable between super-regions over the study period, with southeast Asia, east Asia, and Oceania gaining 8·3 years (6·7–9·9) overall, while having the smallest reduction in life expectancy due to COVID-19 (0·4 years). The largest reduction in life expectancy due to COVID-19 occurred in Latin America and the Caribbean (3·6 years). Additionally, 53 of the 288 causes of death were highly concentrated in locations with less than 50% of the global population as of 2021, and these causes of death became progressively more concentrated since 1990, when only 44 causes showed this pattern. The concentration phenomenon is discussed heuristically with respect to enteric and lower respiratory infections, malaria, HIV/AIDS, neonatal disorders, tuberculosis, and measles.InterpretationLong-standing gains in life expectancy and reductions in many of the leading causes of death have been disrupted by the COVID-19 pandemic, the adverse effects of which were spread unevenly among populations. Despite the pandemic, there has been continued progress in combatting several notable causes of death, leading to improved global life expectancy over the study period. Each of the seven GBD super-regions showed an overall improvement from 1990 and 2021, obscuring the negative effect in the years of the pandemic. Additionally, our findings regarding regional variation in causes of death driving increases in life expectancy hold clear policy utility. Analyses of shifting mortality trends reveal that several causes, once widespread globally, are now increasingly concentrated geographically. These changes in mortality concentration, alongside further investigation of changing risks, interventions, and relevant policy, present an important opportunity to deepen our understanding of mortality-reduction strategies. Examining patterns in mortality concentration might reveal areas where successful public health interventions have been implemented. Translating these successes to locations where certain causes of death remain entrenched can inform policies that work to improve life expectancy for people everywhere