Analysis of Arterial Blood Gas Values Based on Storage Time Since Sampling: An Observational Study

[Abstract] Aim: To evaluate the influence of time on arterial blood gas values after artery puncture is performed. Method: Prospective longitudinal observational study carried out with gasometric samples from 86 patients, taken at different time intervals (0 (T0), 15 (T15), 30 (T30) and 60 (T60) min), from 21 October 2019 to 21 October 2020. The study variables were: partial pressure of carbon dioxide, bicarbonate, hematocrit, hemoglobin, potassium, lactic acid, pH, partial pressure of oxygen, saturation of oxygen, sodium and glucose. Results: The initial sample consisted of a total of 90 patients. Out of all the participants, four were discarded as they did not understand the purpose of the study; therefore, the total number of participants was 86, 51% of whom were men aged 72.59 on average (SD: 16.23). In the intra-group analysis, differences in PCO2, HCO3, hematocrit, Hb, K+ and and lactic acid were observed between the initial time of the test and the 15, 30 and 60 min intervals. In addition, changes in pH, pO2, SO2, Na and glucose were noted 30 min after the initial sample had been taken. Conclusions: The variation in the values, despite being significant, has no clinical relevance. Consequently, the recommendation continues to be the analysis of the GSA at the earliest point to ensure the highest reliability of the data and to provide the patient with the most appropriate treatment based on those results

Incidence of COVID-19 in Children and Young People Who Play Federated Football

[Abstract] Aim: To determine the incidence of SARS-CoV-2 (severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2) infection in children and young people who play federated football. Methods: Prospective study, from October 2020 to January 2021, in players aged 4 to 19 years from federated football clubs in Galicia, Spain (N = 23,845). Outbreaks and cases of SARS-CoV-2 infection were recorded. The cumulative incidence was compared with the incidence registered in Galicia in the same age range. Results: The cumulative incidence was 29.8 cases per 10,000 licenses in 4 months, lower than the incidence registered in the general population for all ages and both sexes (283.7 per 10,000 inhabitants; rate ratio = 9.5). It was higher in January (40.7 per 10,000), coinciding with the population peak. More cases were registered in futsal (42.9 vs 27.5 per 10,000) and competitions with periodic screenings (127.4 vs 9.1 per 10,000). There were 2 outbreaks in 2389 teams (0.08%). Conclusion: The results support the safety of football practice in children and young people with prevention protocols

¿Cuántos niños hay con exceso de peso en Galicia? ¿Qué información debemos comunicar?

ABSTRACT Background: In epidemiological studies, there is no consensus on which references should be used to characterize the weight status of schoolchildren after estimating their body mass index. The aim of this study is to evaluate the influence that different criteria have on the characterization of the weight status of Galician schoolchildren from 6 to 15 years old and to identify the criterion that best characterizes central obesity. Methods: Cross-sectional study on a sample of 7.438 schoolchildren representative by sex and age of the Galician population of 6 to 15 year olds. The prevalence of central obesity and underweight, normal weight, overweight and obesity was estimated using the reference standards of the World Health Organization (WHO), Cole, Orbegozo-2011 and the Enkid study. In order to identify the criterion that best characterizes central obesity, the positive predictive values of obesity and the negative ones of overweight and obesity were calculated. Results: The characterization of schoolchildren according to their weight status was different depending on the reference used with estimates that vary by 20.4 percentage points being prevalence of excess weight using WHO references 41.5% while with Enkid it is 21.1%. The reference with the best predictive capacity of central obesity was those proposed by Cole. Conclusions: The variability observed in the characterization of the weight status of schoolchildren associated with the use of different reference criteria is very important. If central obesity is a good indicator of excess of weight, the reference proposed by Cole would be the one with the best capacity to characterize the child and youth population, related to the best predictive capacity.RESUMEN Fundamentos: En los estudios epidemiológicos, no hay consenso sobre cuáles son las referencias que se deben emplear para caracterizar el estado ponderal de los escolares después de estimar su índice de masa corporal. El objetivo de este trabajo fue valorar como influyen diferentes criterios en la caracterización del estado ponderal de escolares gallegos de 6 a 15 años e identificar el criterio que mejor caracteriza la obesidad central. Métodos: Estudio transversal en una muestra de 7.438 escolares de 6 a 15 años representativa por sexo y edad. Se estimó la prevalencia de obesidad central y de bajo peso, normopeso, sobrepeso y obesidad utilizando los criterios de referencia de la Organización Mundial de la Salud (OMS), Cole, Orbegozo-2011 y del estudio Enkid. Para identificar el criterio que mejor caracteriza la obesidad central se calcularon valores predictivos positivos de obesidad y negativos de sobrepeso y obesidad. Resultados: La caracterización de los escolares en función de su estado ponderal varió en función de la referencia empleada con estimaciones que oscilaban en 20,4 puntos porcentuales cuando se comparaba el exceso de peso según criterios de la OMS, 41,5%, y Enkid, 21,1%. El criterio que presentó mejor capacidad predictiva de obesidad central fue el propuesto por Cole. Conclusiones: La variabilidad que se observa en la caracterización del estado ponderal de los escolares asociada al uso de distintos criterios de referencia es muy importante. Si se considera a la obesidad central como indicador de exceso de peso, la referencia de Cole es la que mejor caracteriza a los escolares, ya que es la que tiene mejor capacidad predictiva

Impacto de las leyes de control del tabaquismo en la exposicion al humo ambiental de tabaco en Galicia (2005-2011)

ResumenObjetivoLa estimación de la prevalencia de exposición al humo ambiental de tabaco (HAT) permite aproximar el impacto de las leyes orientadas al control del tabaquismo. El objetivo de este trabajo fue conocer cómo varió la prevalencia de exposición autodeclarada al HAT en Galicia entre los años 2005 (previo a la Ley 28/2005) y 2011 (posterior a la Ley 42/2010).MétodosInformación aportada por cinco estudios transversales telefónicos independientes de base poblacional entre los años 2005 y 2011 en población de 16 a 74 años de edad (n=34.419). Se estimaron prevalencias de exposición acompañadas de intervalos de confianza del 95% en función del ámbito de exposición autodeclarada y del consumo de tabaco.ResultadosEn 2005, antes de la implementación de la Ley 28/2005, un 95% de la población declaró estar expuesta al HAT; en 2011, después de la implementación de la Ley 42/2010, esta prevalencia fue del 28%. En función del ámbito donde se produce la exposición al HAT, el descenso más importante en 2006, tras la implantación de la Ley 28/2005, fue en el trabajo, y en 2011 en los lugares de ocio. La prevalencia de exposición en el hogar disminuyó al inicio del periodo a estudio y después se mantuvo sin cambios.ConclusionesEn Galicia, en el periodo 2005-2011 disminuyó de forma importante la prevalencia autodeclarada de exposición al HAT, en especial después de la implantación de las Leyes 28/2005 y 42/2010. No obstante, uno de cada cuatro gallegos de 16 a 74 años de edad declararon estar expuestos en 2011.AbstractObjectivePrevalence of exposure to environmental tobacco smoke is a valuable index to assess the impact of the laws for tobacco control. The objective of this work is to analyse variations in the prevalence of exposure to environmental tobacco smoke in Galicia (Spain) between 2005, before the Law 28/2005, and 2011, after the law 42/2010.MethodsData were obtained from five population-based independent cross-sectional studies, telephone surveys, developed in Galicia between 2005 and 2011 among population aged 16 to 74 (n=34.419). Self-reported exposure among population aged between 16 and 74 was analysed by setting and tobacco consumption by prevalence with 95% confidence intervals.ResultsEnvironmental tobacco smoke exposure decreased dramatically in Galicia between 2005 and 2011. In 2005, before the Law 28/2005, 95% of the population reported exposure to environmental tobacco smoke compared to 28% in 2011, after the Law 42/2010. Decrease was greater in workplaces in 2006 and in leisure time venues in 2011. After an initial decrease in 2006, exposure at home remains unchanged.ConclusionsAn important reduction in self-reported exposure to environmental tobacco smoke occurred in Galicia in the period 2005-2011, specially after the introduction of Laws 28/2005 and 42/2010. Nevertheless, one in four of the population aged 16 to 74 remained exposed in 2011

Discovering HIV related information by means of association rules and machine learning

Acquired immunodeficiency syndrome (AIDS) is still one of the main health problems worldwide. It is therefore essential to keep making progress in improving the prognosis and quality of life of affected patients. One way to advance along this pathway is to uncover connections between other disorders associated with HIV/AIDS-so that they can be anticipated and possibly mitigated. We propose to achieve this by using Association Rules (ARs). They allow us to represent the dependencies between a number of diseases and other specific diseases. However, classical techniques systematically generate every AR meeting some minimal conditions on data frequency, hence generating a vast amount of uninteresting ARs, which need to be filtered out. The lack of manually annotated ARs has favored unsupervised filtering, even though they produce limited results. In this paper, we propose a semi-supervised system, able to identify relevant ARs among HIV-related diseases with a minimal amount of annotated training data. Our system has been able to extract a good number of relationships between HIV-related diseases that have been previously detected in the literature but are scattered and are often little known. Furthermore, a number of plausible new relationships have shown up which deserve further investigation by qualified medical experts