Project description:Objective: The clinical interpretation of lactate ? 2.00 mmol/L in emergency department (ED) patients is not well-characterized. This study aims to determine the optimal cutoff value for lactate within the reference range that predicts in-hospital mortality among ED patients. Methods: This was a retrospective study of adult patients presenting to a tertiary ED with an initial serum lactate level of <2.00 mmol/L. The primary outcome was in-hospital mortality. Youden's index was utilized to determine the optimal threshold that predicts mortality. Patients above the threshold were labeled as having relative hyperlactatemia. Results: During the study period, 1,638 patients were included. The mean age was 66.9 ± 18.6 years, 47.1% of the population were female, and the most prevalent comorbidity was hypertension (56.7%). The mean lactate level at presentation was 1.5 ± 0.3 mmol/L. In-hospital mortality was 3.8% in the overall population, and 16.2% were admitted to the ICU. A lactate level of 1.33 mmol/L was found to be the optimal cutoff that best discriminates between survivors and non-survivors. Relative hyperlactatemia was an independent predictor of in-hospital mortality (OR 1.78 C1.18-4.03; p = 0.02). Finally, relative hyperlactatemia was associated with increased mortality in patients without hypertension (4.7 vs. 1.1%; p = 0.008), as well as patients without diabetes or COPD. Conclusion: The optimal cutoff of initial serum lactate that discriminates between survivors and non-survivors in the ED is 1.33 mmol/L. Relative hyperlactatemia is associated with increased mortality in emergency department patients, and this interaction seems to be more important in healthy patients.
Project description:BackgroundData regarding very severe acute hypertension, a serious problem in emergency departments (EDs), are scarce. We investigated the clinical characteristics, practice patterns, and long-term prognoses of patients presenting to the ED with very severe acute hypertension.MethodsCross-sectional study data were obtained from a single regional emergency medical center, including patients aged ≥ 18 years who were admitted to the ED between January 2016 and December 2019 for very severe acute hypertension, which was defined as systolic blood pressure of > 220 mmHg and/or diastolic blood pressure of > 120 mmHg. The patients were classified into two groups based on the presence or absence of hypertension-mediated organ damage (HMOD).ResultsAmong 1,391 patients with very severe acute hypertension in the ED, half of the them (50.2%) had a previous medical history of hypertension, and 547 (39.3%) had acute HMOD. The overall 3-month, 1-year, and 3-year mortality rates were 5.2%, 11.9%, and 17.3%, respectively. In particular, patients with HMOD had a significantly higher mortality rate at each time point than those without HMOD. Among patients with HMOD, acute ischemic stroke was the most common (28.7%). Moreover, intravenous antihypertensive drugs were significantly more prescribed in patients with HMOD than in those without HMOD (79.0% vs. 22.2%, P < 0.001), but there were no differences in oral antihypertensive drugs between the two groups.ConclusionsPatients with very severe acute hypertension had poor long-term clinical prognoses. Clinicians should be continuously monitoring and providing appropriate treatment and close follow-up for patients with very severe acute hypertension.
Project description:IntroductionAcute circulatory dysfunction in patients with sepsis can evolve rapidly into a progressive stage associated with high mortality. Early recognition and adequate resuscitation could improve outcome. However, since the spectrum of clinical presentation is quite variable, signs of hypoperfusion are frequently unrecognized in patients just admitted to the emergency department (ED). Hyperlactatemia is considered a key parameter to disclose tissue hypoxia but it is not universally available and getting timely results can be challenging in low resource settings. In addition, non-hypoxic sources can be involved in hyperlactatemia, and a misinterpretation could lead to over-resuscitation in an unknown number of cases. Capillary refill time (CRT) is a marker of peripheral perfusion that worsens during circulatory failure. An abnormal CRT in septic shock patients after ICU-based resuscitation has been associated with poor outcome. The aim of this study was to determine the prevalence of abnormal CRT in patients with sepsis-related hyperlactatemia in the early phase after ED admission, and its relationship with outcome.MethodsWe performed a prospective observational study. Septic patients with hyperlactemia at ED admission subjected to an initial fluid resuscitation (FR) were included. CRT and other parameters were assessed before and after FR. CRT-normal or CRT-abnormal subgroups were defined according to the status of CRT following initial FR, and major outcomes were registered.ResultsNinety-five hyperlactatemic septic patients were included. Thirty-one percent had abnormal CRT at ED arrival. After FR, 87 patients exhibited normal CRT, and 8 an abnormal one. Patients with abnormal CRT had an increased risk of adverse outcomes (88% vs. 20% p<0.001; RR 4.4 [2.7-7.4]), and hospital mortality (63% vs. 9% p<0.001; RR 6.7 [2.9-16]) as compared to those with normal CRT after FR. Specifically, CRT-normal patients required less frequently mechanical ventilation, renal replacement therapy, and ICU admission, and exhibited a lower hospital mortality.ConclusionsHyperlactatemic sepsis patients with abnormal CRT after initial fluid resuscitation exhibit higher mortality and worse clinical outcomes than patients with normal CRT.
Project description:Hypertensive urgency is characterized by an acute increase in blood pressure without acute target organ damage, which is considered to be managed with close outpatient follow-up. However, limited data are available on the prognosis of these cases in emergency departments. We investigated the characteristics and predictors of all-cause mortality in Korean emergency patients with hypertensive urgency. This cross-sectional study included patients aged ≥18 years who visited an emergency tertiary referral center between January 2016 and December 2019 for hypertensive urgency, which was defined as a systolic blood pressure of ≥180 mmHg and a diastolic blood pressure of ≥110 mmHg, or both, without acute target organ damage. The 1 and 3 year all-cause mortality rates were 6.8% and 12.1%, respectively. The incidence of emergency department revisits and readmission after 3 months and 1 year was significantly higher in non-survivors than in survivors. In a multivariate analysis, age ≥ 60 years (hazard ratio (HR), 16.66; 95% CI, 6.20-44.80; p < 0.001), male sex (HR, 1.54; 95% CI, 1.22-1.94; p < 0.001), history of chronic kidney disease (HR, 2.18; 95% CI, 1.53-3.09; p < 0.001), and proteinuria (HR, 1.94; 95% CI, 1.53-2.48; p < 0.001) were independent predictors of 3 year all-cause mortality. The all-cause mortality rate of hypertensive urgency remains high despite the increased utilization of antihypertensive medications. Old age, male sex, history of chronic kidney disease, and proteinuria were poor prognostic factors for all-cause mortality in patients with hypertensive urgency.
Project description:The etiology, presentation and mortality of patients with primary adrenal insufficiency (PAI) in developing countries may differ from economically developed nations. However, information in this regard is scanty. The aim of this study was to determine the etiology and compare the clinical characteristics and mortality in infectious and autoimmune causes of PAI in Indian patients. All eligible (n = 89) patients (ages 15-83 years) diagnosed with PAI between 2006 and 2019 were studied. Patients were followed for a median duration of 5.9 (range 0.1-15.7) years. Eighty-six subjects underwent an abdominal computerized tomography scan or ultrasonography, and adrenal biopsy was performed in 60 patients. The most frequent etiologies of PAI were adrenal histoplasmosis (AH, 45%), adrenal tuberculosis (AT, 15%), autoimmunity (AI, 25%) and primary lymphoma (6%). Forty-two percent of patients presented with an acute adrenal crisis. AH and AT could not be differentiated on the basis of clinical features, except for a greater frequency of hepatomegaly-splenomegaly and type 2 diabetes mellitus (63% vs 15%, P < 0.01) in the former. Patients with an autoimmune etiology had a higher frequency of 21-hydroxylase antibodies (41% vs 3%) and autoimmune thyroid disease (46% vs 5%) vs those with infectious etiologies. Mortality was significantly higher in AH (45%) compared with AT (8%) or AI (5%) (P = 0.001). Causes of death included adrenal crises, progressive AH and unexplained acute events occurring at home. In conclusion, infections, especially AH, were the most frequent cause of PAI in north India. Despite appropriate therapy, AH had very high mortality as compared with AT and AI.
Project description:BackgroundAcute patients presenting with hypotension in the prehospital or emergency department (ED) setting are in need of focused management and knowledge of the epidemiology characteristics might help the clinician. The aim of this review was to address prevalence, etiology and mortality of nontraumatic hypotension (SBP ? 90 mmHg) with or without the presence of shock in the prehospital and ED setting.MethodsWe performed a systematic literature search up to August 2013, using Medline, Embase, Cinahl, Dare and The Cochrane Library. The analysis and eligibility criteria were documented according to the Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses (PRISMA-guidelines) and The Cochrane Collaboration. No restrictions on language, publication date, or status were imposed. We used the Newcastle-Ottawa quality assessment scale (NOS-scale) and the Strengthening the Reporting of Observational studies in Epidemiology (STROBE-statement) to assess the quality.ResultsSix observational studies were considered eligible for analysis based on the evaluation of 11,880 identified papers. Prehospital prevalence of hypotension was 19.5/1000 emergency medicine service (EMS) contacts, and the prevalence of hypotensive shock was 9.5-19/1000 EMS contacts with an inhospital mortality of shock between 33 to 52%. ED prevalence of hypotension was 4-13/1000 contacts with a mortality of 12%. Information on mortality, prevalence and etiology of shock in the ED was limited. A meta-analysis was not feasible due to substantial heterogeneity between studies.ConclusionThere is inadequate evidence to establish concise estimates of the characteristics of nontraumatic hypotension and shock in the ED or in the prehospital setting. The available studies suggest that 2% of EMS contacts present with nontraumatic hypotension while 1-2% present with shock. The inhospital mortality of prehospital shock is 33-52%. Prevalence of hypotension in the ED is 1% with an inhospital mortality of 12%. Prevalence, etiology and mortality of shock in the ED are not well described.
Project description:BackgroundThe causative pathogen is rarely identified in the emergency department (ED), since the results of cultures are usually unavailable. As a result, antimicrobial treatment may be overused. The aim of our study was to investigate the pathogens, risk factors of acute gastroenteritis, and predictors of acute bacterial gastroenteritis in the ED.MethodsWe conducted a matched case-control study of 627 stool samples and 612 matched pairs.ResultsViruses (41.3%) were the leading cause of gastroenteritis, with noroviruses (32.2%) being the most prevalent, followed by bacteria (26.8%) and Giardia lamblia (12.4%). Taking antacids (adjusted odds ratio [aOR] 4.10; 95% confidence interval [CI], 2.57-6.53), household members/classmates with gastroenteritis (aOR 4.69; 95% CI, 2.76-7.96), attending a banquet (aOR 2.29; 95% CI, 1.64-3.20), dining out (aOR 1.70; 95% CI, 1.13-2.54), and eating raw oysters (aOR 3.10; 95% CI, 1.61-5.94) were highly associated with gastroenteritis. Elders (aOR 1.04; 05% CI, 1.02-1.05), those with CRP >10 mg/L (aOR 2.04; 95% CI, 1.15-3.62), or those who were positive for fecal leukocytes (aOR 2.04; 95% CI, 1.15-3.62) or fecal occult blood (aOR 1.97; 95% CI, 1.03-3.77) were more likely to be hospitalized in ED. In addition, presence of fecal leukocytes (time ratio [TR] 1.22; 95% CI, 1.06-1.41), abdominal pain (TR 1.20; 95% CI, 1.07-1.41), and frequency of vomiting (TR 0.79; 95% CI, 0.64-0.98) were significantly associated with the duration of acute gastroenteritis. Presence of fecal leukocytes (aOR 2.08; 95% CI, 1.42-3.05), winter season (aOR 0.45; 95% CI, 0.28-0.74), frequency of diarrhea (aOR 1.69; 95% CI, 1.01-2.83), and eating shrimp or crab (aOR 1.53; 95% CI, 1.05-2.23) were highly associated with bacterial gastroenteritis. The area under the receiver operating characteristic curve of the final model was 0.68 (95% CI, 0.55-0.63).ConclusionsAcute bacterial gastroenteritis was highly associated with season, frequency of diarrhea, frequency of vomiting, and eating shrimp or crab.
Project description:BackgroundThe etiology of childhood diarrhea is frequently unknown.MethodsWe sought Aeromonas, Campylobacter, Escherichia coli O157:H7, Pleisiomonas shigelloides, Salmonella, Shigella, Vibrio, and Yersinia (by culture), adenoviruses, astroviruses, noroviruses, rotavirus, and Shiga toxin-producing E. coli (STEC; by enzyme immunoassay), Clostridium difficile (by cytotoxicity), parasites (by microscopy), and enteroaggregative E. coli (EAEC; by polymerase chain reaction [PCR] analysis) in the stools of 254 children with diarrhea presenting to a pediatric emergency facility. Age- and geographic-matched community controls without diarrhea (n = 452) were similarly studied, except bacterial cultures of the stool were limited only to cases.ResultsTwenty-nine (11.4%) case stools contained 13 Salmonella, 10 STEC (6 O157:H7 and 4 non-O157:H7 serotypes), 5 Campylobacter, and 2 Shigella. PCR-defined EAEC were present more often in case (3.2%) specimens than in control (0.9%) specimens (adjusted odds ratio [OR], 3.9; 95% confidence interval [CI], 1.1-13.7), and their adherence phenotypes were variable. Rotavirus, astrovirus, and adenovirus were more common among cases than controls, but both groups contained noroviruses and C. difficile at similar rates. PCR evidence of hypervirulent C. difficile was found in case and control stools; parasites were much more common in control specimens.ConclusionsEAEC are associated with childhood diarrhea in Seattle, but the optimal way to identify these agents warrants determination. Children without diarrhea harbor diarrheagenic pathogens, including hypervirulent C. difficile. Our data support the importance of taking into account host susceptibility, microbial density, and organism virulence traits in future case-control studies, not merely categorizing candidate pathogens as being present or absent.
Project description:PURPOSE:Sepsis is a common acute life-threatening condition that emergency physicians routinely face. Diagnostic options within the Emergency Department (ED) are limited due to lack of infrastructure, consequently limiting the use of invasive hemodynamic monitoring or imaging tests. The mortality rate due to sepsis can be assessed via multiple scoring systems, for example, mortality in emergency department sepsis (MEDS) score and sepsis patient evaluation in the emergency department (SPEED) score, both of which quantify the variation of mortality rates according to clinical findings, laboratory data, or therapeutic interventions. This study aims to improve the management processes of sepsis patients by comparing SPEED score and MEDS score for predicting the 28-day mortality in cases of emergency sepsis. METHODS:The study is a cross-sectional, prospective study including 61 sepsis patients in ED in Suez Canal University Hospital, Egypt, from August 2017 to June 2018. Patients were selected by two steps: (1) suspected septic patients presenting with at least one of the following abnormal clinical findings: (a) body temperature higher than 38 °C or lower than 36 °C, (b) heart rate higher than 90 beats/min, (c) hyperventilation evidenced by respiratory rate higher than 20 breaths/min or PaCO2 lower than 32 mmHg, and (d) white blood cell count higher than 12,000/μL or lower than 4000/μL; (2) confirmed septic patients with at least a 2-point increase from the baseline total sequential organ failure assessment (SOFA) score following infection. Other inclusion criteria included adult patients with an age ≥18 years regardless of gender and those who had either systemic inflammatory response syndrome or suspected/confirmed infection. Patients were shortly follow-up for the 28-day mortality. Each patient was subject to SPEED score and MEDS score and then the results were compared to detect which of them was more effective in predicting outcome. The receiver operating characteristic curves were also done for MEDS and SPEED scores. RESULTS:Among the 61 patients, 41 died with the mortality rate of 67.2%. The mortality rate increased with a higher SPEED and MEDS scores. Both SPEED and MEDS scores revealed significant difference between the survivors and nonsurvivors (p = 0.004 and p < 0.001, respectively), indicating that both the two systems are effective in predicting the 28-day mortality of sepsis patients. Thereafter, the receiver operating characteristic curves were plotted, which showed that SPEED was better than the MEDS score when applied to the complete study population with an area under the curve being 0.87 (0.788-0.963) as compared with 0.75 (0.634-0.876) for MEDS. Logistic regression analysis revealed that the best fitting predictor of 28-day mortality for sepsis patients was the SPEED scoring system. For every one unit increase in SPEED score, the odds of 28-day mortality increased by 37%. CONCLUSION:SPEED score is more useful and accurate than MEDS score in predicting the 28-day mortality among sepsis patients. Therefore SPEED rather than MEDS should be more widely used in the ED for sepsis patients.