Reaching the millennium development goal for child mortality : improving equity and efficiency in Ecuador's health budget

health care; infant mortality; health policy;

Infección por SARS-CoV-2 y obesidad

La pandemia por coronavirus 2019 (COVID-19) ha tenido diferentes efectos. Uno de ellos fue concentrar la atención de múltiples investigadores y clínicos para dedicarse a estudiar y tratar de entender los retos de esta infección en diferentes poblaciones, que se han determinado en riesgo de presentar una manifestación más grave de la infección. La obesidad ha sido recientemente identificada como una de las comorbilidades de mayor riesgo junto con la insuficiencia cardíaca, con una probabilidad siete veces mayor para el requerimiento de ventilación mecánica invasiva. La obesidad es un factor en la gravedad de la enfermedad del SARS-CoV-2, que tiene un mayor impacto en pacientes con un índice de masa corporal (IMC) ?35 kg/m2 . Los pacientes con obesidad, especialmente aquellos con grado severo, deben tomar medidas adicionales para evitar el contagio con SARS-CoV-2, mediante el cumplimiento de las medidas de prevención durante la pandemia actual, si se quiere, de forma más rigurosa

Tasa metabólica basal ¿una medición sin fundamento adecuado?

La energía necesaria para la regulación de las funciones fisiológicas depende del equilibrio entre el aporte y el gasto energético. Un disbalance entre estas condiciones, donde se vea favorecido el consumo sobre el gasto, lleva a un incremento de la reserva, el cual, a su vez, favorece la hipertrofia e hiperplasia del tejido adiposo; en condiciones crónicas, este reservorio energético lleva a la obesidad. A través del uso de fórmulas, se ha tratado calcular la tasa metabólica basal para considerar el aporte óptimo energético y, por ende, la individualización en la prescripción de estrategias nutricionales en el paciente sano y con enfermedades crónicas no transmisibles (ECNT). Sin embargo, estas fórmulas no han sido evaluadas ni validadas para todas las poblaciones y menos en obesidad, que es, de forma coincidente, la población donde más se usan en la práctica clínica, además del poco conocimiento en medicina y la mayor aplicación por nutrición. El propósito de este artículo es revisar los elementos que constituyen las fórmulas de cálculo de la tasa metabólica basal (TMB) y la población de estudio para evidenciar la usabilidad de estas fórmulas en la práctica clínica en pacientes sanos y con ECNT, como la obesidad y diabetes mellitus, dada la importancia que esto representa en el contexto del balance energético

Malnutrición en los tiempos del COVID-19

La infección por el nuevo coronavirus SARS-CoV-2 ha puesto en jaque a la humanidad desde el punto de vista económico, político, cultural y sanitario. Su alta tasa de transmisibilidad y mortalidad nos ha hecho aprender y adaptarnos, de una forma rápida, a las nuevas condiciones que se presentan en el día a día. Con la experiencia actual y de pandemias previas, se han detectado múltiples factores asociados a peores desenlaces, entre los cuales se encuentra la hipertensión, la diabetes, la obesidad y la desnutrición. Esta no solo debe ser considerada como una baja masa corporal, sino también como la incapacidad para preservar una composición corporal saludable y una masa muscular esquelética adecuada. De igual forma, los niveles bajos de marcadores de estado nutricional son predictores de progresión a falla respiratoria y requerimiento de ventilación mecánica. Por tanto, en los pacientes infectados por SARS-CoV-2, la evaluación nutricional debe ser abordada como una prioridad, para evitar desenlaces deletéreos

Accuracy and utility of three-dimensional contrast-enhanced magnetic resonance angiography in planning carotid stenting

BackgroundContrast-enhanced magnetic resonance angiography (CE-MRA) is a proven diagnostic tool for the evaluation of carotid stenosis; however, its utility in planning carotid artery stenting (CAS) has not been addressed. This study assessed the accuracy of three-dimensional CE-MRA as a noninvasive screening tool, compared with digital subtraction angiography (DSA), for evaluating carotid and arch morphology before CAS.MethodsIn a series of 96 CAS procedures during a 2-year period, CE-MRAs and DSAs with complete visualization from the aortic arch to the intracranial circulation were obtained before CAS in 60 patients. Four additional patients, initially considered potential candidates for CAS, were also evaluated with CE-MRA and DSA. The two-by-two table method, receiver operating characteristic curve, and Bland-Altman analyses were used to characterize the ability of CE-MRA to discriminate carotid and arch anatomy, suitability for CAS, and degree of carotid stenosis.ResultsThe sensitivity and specificity of CE-MRA were, respectively, 100% and 100% to determine CAS suitability, 87% and 100% to define aortic arch type, 93% and 100% to determine severe carotid tortuosity, and 75% and 98% to detect ulcerated plaques. CE-MRA had 87% sensitivity and 100% specificity for the detection of carotid stenosis ≥80%. The accuracy of CE MRA to determine optimal imaging angles and stent and embolic protection device sizes was >90%. The operative technique for CAS was altered because of the findings of preoperative CE-MRA in 22 procedures (38%). The most frequent change in the operative plan was the use of the telescoping technique in 11 cases (18%). CAS was aborted in four patients (5%) due to unfavorable anatomy identified on CE-MRA, including prohibitive internal carotid artery tortuosity (n = 1), long string sign of the internal carotid artery (n = 2), and concomitant intracranial disease (n = 1). Among patients considered suitable for CAS by CE-MRA, technical success was 100%, and the 30-day stroke/death rate was 1.6%.ConclusionsContrast-enhanced magnetic resonance angiography of the arch and carotid arteries is accurate in determining suitability for CAS and may alter the operative technique. Certain anatomic contraindications for CAS may be detected without DSA. Although CE-MRA is less accurate to estimate the degree of stenosis, it can accurately predict imaging angles, and stent and embolic protection device size, which may facilitate safe and expeditious CAS

Defining the type of surgeon volume that influences the outcomes for open abdominal aortic aneurysm repair

ObjectivePrior studies have reported improved clinical outcomes with higher surgeon volume, which is assumed to be a product of the surgeon's experience with the index operation. We hypothesized that composite surgeon volume is an important determinant of outcome. We tested this hypothesis by comparing the impact of operation-specific surgeon volume versus composite surgeon volume on surgical outcomes, using open abdominal aortic aneurysm (AAA) repair as the index operation.MethodsThe Nationwide Inpatient Sample was analyzed to identify patients undergoing open AAA repairs for 2000 to 2008. Surgeons were stratified into deciles based on annual volume of open AAA repairs (“operation-specific volume”) and overall volume of open vascular operations (“composite volume”). Composite volume was defined by the sum of several open vascular operations: carotid endarterectomy, aortobifemoral bypass, femoral-popliteal bypass, and femoral-tibial bypass. Multiple logistic regression analyses were used to examine the relationship between surgeon volume and in-hospital mortality for open AAA repair, adjusting for both patient and hospital characteristics.ResultsBetween 2000 and 2008, an estimated 111,533 (95% confidence interval [CI], 102,296-121,232) elective open AAA repairs were performed nationwide by 6,857 surgeons. The crude in-hospital mortality rate over the study period was 6.1% (95% CI, 5.6%-6.5%). The mean number of open AAA repairs performed annually was 2.4 operations per surgeon. The mean composite volume was 5.3 operations annually. As expected, in-hospital mortality for open AAA repair decreased with increasing volume of open AAA repairs performed by a surgeon. Mortality rates for the lowest and highest deciles of surgeon volume were 10.2% and 4.5%, respectively (P < .0001). A similar pattern was observed for composite surgeon volume, as the mortality rates for the lowest and highest deciles of composite volume were 9.8% and 4.8%, respectively (P < .0001). After adjusting for patient and hospital characteristics, increasing composite surgeon volume remained a significant predictor of lower in-hospital mortality for open AAA repair (odds ratio, 0.994; 95% CI, .992-.996; P < .0001), whereas increasing volume of AAA repairs per surgeon did not predict in-hospital deaths.ConclusionsThe current study suggests that composite surgeon volume—not operation-specific volume—is a key determinant of in-hospital mortality for open AAA repair. This finding needs to be considered for future credentialing of surgeons