Recurrent use of the Emergency Department in patients with anxiety disorder

Panic disorder is characterized by the spontaneous and unexpected occurrence of panic attacks. During panic attacks, patients (pts) refer to the Emergency Department (ED). The diagnostic work-up for any panic attack is expensive since symptoms at presentation mimic other diseases such acute coronary syndrome or neurological emergencies. The aim of the present study was to describe a 10 years cohort of pts diagnosed with panic disorder in the ED in terms of ED visit recurrence

Assessment of baseline characteristics and risk factors among Emergency Department patients presenting with recent onset atrial fibrillation: a retrospective cohort study

The Cardioversion of Atrial Fibrillation in Emergency (CAFE) study was an observational, retrospective, multicenter study focusing on patients with recent onset atrial fibrillation (AF) seen in six different Emergency Departments (ED) of Rome, Italy

Predictors of length of hospital stay among older adults admitted to acute care wards: a multicentre observational study

Reduction in length of hospital stay (LOS) is considered as a potential strategy to optimize resource consumption and reduce health care costs. We analysed predictors of increased LOS among older patients admitted to acute care wards according to type of admission (through the Emergency Room [ER] or elective)

Recovery Time after Hemodialysis Is Inversely Associated with the Ultrafiltration Rate

Introduction: The present study aimed to determine the variables that are associated with a longer dialysis recovery time (DRT) and to define the relationship that exists between DRT and the ultrafiltration rate (UFR) in prevalent chronic hemodialysis (CHD) patients. Methods: We studied 210 prevalent CHD of 5 hemodialysis units in Central Italy. Patients were invited to answer to the question: \u201cHow long does it take you to recover from a dialysis session?\u201d Answers to this question were subsequently converted into minutes. Demographic, clinical and laboratory parameters were recorded for each patient as well as the UFR (mL/kg/h), the dialysate sodium concentration and temperature. Results: Median DRT was 180 min (60\u2013420). Ninety five (45%) patients had a DRT 65 the median value. Mean UFR was 9.2 \ub1 3.0 mL/kg/h. Patients with a lower DRT had a less prevalent disability in the instrumental activities daily living, had a higher UFR, and a lower dialysate temperature, as compared with subjects with higher DRT. According to the logistic regression model, UFR was associated with a DRT below the median (i.e., 180) in the unadjusted model (OR 1.12; 95% CI 1.02\u20131.23; p = 0.019), after adjusting for age and sex (OR 1.11; 95% CI 1.01\u2013 1.22; p = 0.025), and in the fully adjusted model (OR 1.11; 95% CI 1.04\u20131.22; p = 0.040). UFR increase was associated with increasing probability of DRT below the median (p for trend= 0.035). The highest tertile of DRT was associated with UFR below the mean value (i.e., 9.2 mL/kg/h) in multinomial logistic regression having the lowest DRT tertile as reference. DRT was significantly lower in patients with UFR >13 mL/ kg/h than in patients with UFR 10\u201313 or <10 mL/kg/h. Conclusion: DRT is inversely associated with UFR in CHD patients. Whether a high UFR should be recommended to reduce the DRT needs to be elucidated through an adequate prospective randomized study

Pain and Frailty in Hospitalized Older Adults

Introduction Pain and frailty are prevalent conditions in the older population. Many chronic diseases are likely involved in their origin, and both have a negative impact on quality of life. However, few studies have analysed their association. Methods In light of this knowledge gap, 3577 acutely hospitalized patients 65 years or older enrolled in the REPOSI register, an Italian network of internal medicine and geriatric hospital wards, were assessed to calculate the frailty index (FI). The impact of pain and some of its characteristics on the degree of frailty was evaluated using an ordinal logistic regression model after adjusting for age and gender. Results The prevalence of pain was 24.7%, and among patients with pain, 42.9% was regarded as chronic pain. Chronic pain was associated with severe frailty (OR = 1.69, 95% CI 1.38-2.07). Somatic pain (OR = 1.59, 95% CI 1.23-2.07) and widespread pain (OR = 1.60, 95% CI 0.93-2.78) were associated with frailty. Osteoarthritis was the most common cause of chronic pain, diagnosed in 157 patients (33.5%). Polymyalgia, rheumatoid arthritis and other musculoskeletal diseases causing chronic pain were associated with a lower degree of frailty than osteoarthritis (OR = 0.49, 95%CI 0.28-0.85). Conclusions Chronic and somatic pain negatively affect the degree of frailty. The duration and type of pain, as well as the underlying diseases associated with chronic pain, should be evaluated to improve the hospital management of frail older people

Disability, and not diabetes, is a strong predictor of mortality in oldest old patients hospitalized with pneumonia

Background: Pneumonia causes more deaths than any other infectious disease, especially in older patients with multiple chronic diseases. Recent studies identified a low functional status as prognostic factor for mortality in elderly patients with pneumonia while contrasting data are available about the role of diabetes. The aim of this study was to evaluate the in-hospital, 3-month and 1-year mortality in elderly subjects affected by pneumonia enrolled in the RePoSi register. Methods: We retrospectively analyzed the data collected on hospitalized elderly patients in the frame of the REPOSI project. We analyzed the socio-demographic, laboratory and clinical characteristics of subjects with pneumonia. Multivariate logistic analysis was used to explore the relationship between variables and mortality. Results: Among 4714 patients 284 had pneumonia. 52.8% were males and the mean age was 80 years old. 19.8% of these patients had a Barthel Index 6440 (p \u2c2 0.0001), as well as 43.2% had a short blessed test 6510 (p \u2c2 0.0117). In these subjects a significant CIRS for the evaluation of severity and comorbidity indexes (p \u2c2 0.0001) were present. Although a higher fasting glucose level was identified in people with pneumonia, in the multivariate logistic analysis diabetes was not independently associated with in-hospital, 3-month and 1-year mortality, whereas patients with lower Barthel Index had a higher mortality risk (odds ratio being 9.45, 6.84, 19.55 in hospital, at 3 and 12 months). Conclusion: Elderly hospitalized patients affected by pneumonia with a clinically significant disability had a higher mortality risk while diabetes does not represent an important determinant of short and long-term outcome