Antonio Carlos Beisl Noblat

Preditores da adesão ao tratamento em pacientes com asma grave atendidos em um centro de referência na Bahia

Objective: To determine the rate of adherence to treatment with inhaled corticosteroids in patients with severe asthma, to identify predictive factors for adherence and to evaluate the relationship between adherence to treatment and parameters of clinical and functional response. Methods: Prospective cohort study of patients enrolled in the Program for the Control of Asthma and Allergic Rhinitis in the state of Bahia, Brazil. The study comprised 160 patients with severe asthma, monitored for 180 days in order to evaluate adherence (dependent variable) to the prescribed inhaled corticosteroid. Independent variables were assessed at baseline and for a six-month follow-up period by means of interviews and the completion of a standardized questionnaire.Patients recorded the missed doses in a diary. Results: Of the 160 patients. 158 completed the study. Adherence rate was 83.8%. Of the 158 patients, 112 (70.9%) were considered adherent (cut-off point: 80% of prescribed doses administered). There was a significant association between asthma control and adherence to treatment.Predictors of poor adherence were adverse effects, living far from the referral center, limited resources to pay for transportation and dose schedule. Other factors, such as depressive symptoms, religion and economic status, were not associated with poor adherence. Conclusions: Adherence to asthma treatment was high and was associated with the clinical response to treatment, in a sample of patients with severe asthma enrolled in a public program that provides free medication and the assistance of a multiprofessional specialized team in a referral center

Raça e lesão de órgãos-alvo da hipertensão arterial em pacientes atendidos em um ambulatório universitário de referência na cidade de Salvador

OBJECTIVE To assess whether a patients race is associated with the presence of left ventricular hypertrophy, stroke, and renal failure in hypertensive patients from an outpatient care referral clinic in the city of Salvador in the state of Bahia. METHODS We assessed the data of 622 patients collected during their first visit to the hypertension outpatient care clinic between 1982 and 1986, identifying those with a previous history or sequela of stroke, left ventricular hypertrophy, or renal failure (serum creatinine > 1.4 mg/dL). Logistic regression models were used to estimate the odds ratio (OR) of the association between race (mulattos or black vs white individuals) and hypertensive target-organ damage adjusted for sex and age. RESULTS The mean age of the patients was 53.8+/-14.3 years, and 74.1% were women. In regard to race, 15.1% were white, 65.9% mulatto, and 19.0% black. Stroke was significantly more frequent in blacks or mulattos than in white individuals [adjusted odds ratio (aOR) = 3.44; 95% confidence interval (CI) = (1.23-9.67). In regard to the associations involving race and the events of left ventricular hypertrophy and renal failure, the aORs were not statistically significant but were consistent with a greater prevalence of left ventricular hypertrophy and renal failure in blacks and mulattos. CONCLUSION Hypertensive mulattos and blacks have a greater risk of target-organ damage than white individuals do, with a greater racial difference for nonfatal stroke. Whether racial differences in mortality related to hypertensive complications influence the associations observed between race and target-organ damage should be assessed.

Complicações da hipertensão arterial em homens e mulheres atendidos em um ambulatório de referência

OBJECTIVE To assess the association between sex and left ventricular hypertrophy, stroke, and renal failure in hypertensive patients in a referral outpatient care unit. METHODS This study assessed 622 hypertensive patients diagnosed with left ventricular hypertrophy based on electrocardiography, renal failure based on serum creatinine level > or = 1.4 mg/dL, and stroke based on a previous history and physical examination. Logistic regression was used to estimate the odds ratio of the association between sex and target-organ lesions in hypertension adjusted for race, age, and duration of the disease. RESULTS The mean age of the patients was 48.4 +/- 13.8 years; 74.1% were women, and 84.9% were mulattos or blacks. Almost half of the men and more than 40% of the women had had at least 1 definite event involving a target-organ lesion. The incidence of renal failure was greater among men [adjusted OR (ORa) = 2.73, P= 0.002]. In white patients, the incidence of stroke was significantly (P= 0.017) greater among men (4/33) than among women (0/56), and, in the age group > or = 49 years, the prevalence of left ventricular hypertrophy was significantly greater among men (ORa = 1.99, P= 0.024). CONCLUSION The data obtained suggest a greater prevalence of renal failure in men than in women, of stroke in white men than in white women, and of left ventricular hypertrophy in men than in women aged 49 years and above.

Prevalência de admissão hospitalar por reação adversa a medicamentos em Salvador, BA

OBJECTIVE: To determine the prevalence of hospital admissions due to ADR in Salvador, Bahia and their outcomes. METHODS: All patients admitted in four Sentinel Hospital (ANVISA) in Salvador-Ba were evaluated and followed to determine the prevalence of admissions due to ADR and their outcomes from April to December 2007. Cases were validated by 03 algorithms. The drugs were classified by Anatomical-Therapeutic-Chemical Classification, organs and systems affected by the WHO criteria and severity seconds Pearson et al. Type of ADR was analyzed by Rawlins and Thompson. RESULTS: The prevalence of ADR admission was 0.5% and adjusted for exposed was 2.1%, with 316 cases. Average of hospitalization due to ADR was 12.3 days. Younger and older accounted for 28.8% and 31.1% of patients. Females and blacks were 60% of cases. Main pharmacologic groups were antineoplastics, antibiotics and diuretics, affecting skin, gastrointestinal and hematologic systems. Around 70% of the ADR was validated as defined. ADR of type A was 80% and 90% recovered, and one death (0.5%). CONCLUSION: The prevalence of ADR admission was similar to those described in the literature and only one patient died. As this is the first national study will form the basis for future investigations.

Análise da prescrição de captopril em pacientes hospitalizados

One of the most common complications of Systemic Arterial Hypertension is the hypertensive crisis(1) characterized by a symptomatic elevation of blood pressure (BP) with or without involvement of target organs, which may lead to immediate or potential risk to life. The hypertensive crisis may manifest itself as hypertensive emergency or urgency. In the emergency there is fast deterioration of target organs and immediate risk to life, a situation that does not occur in hypertensive urgency. On the other hand, situations in which the patient presents elevated BP due to an emotionally charged, painful or uncomfortable event, with no evidence of lesion of target organs or immediate risk to life, characterize the hypertensive pseudo-crisis, a condition that does not require the use of emergency antihypertensive therapy. Despite this fact, the practice has become widespread of prescribing antihypertensive medication prior to situations believed to present a risk of abrupt BP elevation, irrespective of the symptoms. This study aims at assessing the frequency of prescription of captopril prior to BP elevation in patients hospitalized in a university hospital. It was also intended to map the places (clinical or surgical wards) where this procedure was more frequent.

Reduction in diastolic blood pressure and cardiovascular mortality in nondiabetic hypertensive patients. A reanalysis of the HOT study.

OBJECTIVE To use published Hypertension Optimal Treatment (HOT) Study data to evaluate changes in cardiovascular mortality in nondiabetic hypertensive patients according to the degree of reduction in their diastolic blood pressure. METHODS In the HOT Study, 18,700 patients from various centers were allocated at random to groups having different objectives of for diastolic blood pressure: </=90 (n=6264); </=85 (n=6264); </=80mmHg (n=6262). Felodipine was the basic drug used. Other antihypertensive drugs were administered in a sequential manner, aiming at the objectives of diastolic blood pressure reduction. RESULTS The group of nondiabetic hypertensive subjects with diastolic pressure</=80mmHg had a cardiovascular mortality ratio of 4.1/1000 patients/year, 35.5% higher than the group with diastolic pressure </=90mmHg (cardiovascular mortality ratio, 3.1/1000 patients/year). In contrast, diabetic patients allocated to the diastolic pressure objective group of </=80mmHg had a 66.7% reduction in cardiovascular mortality (3.7/1000 patients/year) when compared with the diastolic pressure group of </=90mmHg (cardiovascular mortality ratio, 11.1/1000 patients/year). CONCLUSION The results indicate that in hypertensive diabetic patients reduction in diastolic blood pressure to levels </=80mmHg decreases the risk of fatal cardiovascular events. It remains necessary to define the level of diastolic blood pressure </=90mmHg at which maximal reduction in cardiovascular mortality is obtained for nondiabetics.

Prevalence of hospital admission due to adverse drug reaction in Salvador, Bahia

OBJECTIVE To determine the prevalence of hospital admissions due to ADR in Salvador, Bahia and their outcomes. METHODS All patients admitted in four Sentinel Hospital (ANVISA) in Salvador-Ba were evaluated and followed to determine the prevalence of admissions due to ADR and their outcomes from April to December 2007. Cases were validated by 03 algorithms. The drugs were classified by Anatomical-Therapeutic-Chemical Classification, organs and systems affected by the WHO criteria and severity seconds Pearson et al. Type of ADR was analyzed by Rawlins and Thompson. RESULTS The prevalence of ADR admission was 0.5% and adjusted for exposed was 2.1%, with 316 cases. Average of hospitalization due to ADR was 12.3 days. Younger and older accounted for 28.8% and 31.1% of patients. Females and blacks were 60% of cases. Main pharmacologic groups were antineoplastics, antibiotics and diuretics, affecting skin, gastrointestinal and hematologic systems. Around 70% of the ADR was validated as defined. ADR of type A was 80% and 90% recovered, and one death (0.5%). CONCLUSION The prevalence of ADR admission was similar to those described in the literature and only one patient died. As this is the first national study will form the basis for future investigations.

Use of oral antihypertensive medication preceding blood pressure elevation in hospitalized patients

OBJECTIVE To evaluate the frequency of oral antihypertensive medication preceding the increase in blood pressure in patients in a university hospital, the drug of choice, and the maintained use of antihypertensive medication. METHODS Data from January to June 1997 from the University Hospital Professor Edgard Santos Pharmacy concerning the prescriptions of all inpatients were used. Variables included in the analysis were: antihypertensive medication prescription preceding increase in blood pressure, type of antihypertensive medication, gender, clinical or surgical wards, and the presence of maintained antihypertensive medication. RESULTS The hospital admitted 2,532 patients, 1,468 in surgical wards and 818 in medical wards. Antihypertensive medication prescription preceding pressure increase was observed in 578 patients (22.8%). Nifedipine was used in 553 (95.7%) and captopril in 25 (4.3%). In 50.7% of patients, prescription of antihypertensive medication was not associated with maintained antihypertensive medication. Prescription of antihypertensive drugs preceding elevation of blood pressure was significantly (p<0.001) more frequent on the surgical floor (27.5%; 405/1468) than on the medical floor (14.3%; 117/818). The frequency of prescription of antihypertensive drugs preceding elevation of blood pressure without maintained antihypertensive drugs and the ratio between the number of prescriptions of nifedipine and captopril were greater in surgical wards. CONCLUSION The use of antihypertensive medication, preceding elevation of blood pressure (22.8%) observed in admitted patients is not supported by scientific evidence. The high frequency of this practice may be even greater in nonuniversity hospitals.

Economic evaluation of human albumin use in patients with nephrotic syndrome in four Brazilian public hospitals: pharmacoeconomic study

CONTEXT AND OBJECTIVE: In 2004, the Brazilian National Health Surveillance Agency (Agência Nacional de Vigilância Sanitária, ANVISA) published a resolution establishing guidelines for albumin use. Although the published data do not indicate any definitive conclusions about the benefits of albumin use in patients with nephrotic syndrome (NS), the guidelines recommend this procedure only in cases of edema that is refractory to use of diuretics. The aim here was to analyze albumin use among patients with nephrotic syndrome. DESIGN AND SETTING: Pharmacoeconomic study conducted in four large public referral hospitals for nephrology services in northeastern Brazil. METHOD: Cost-effectiveness and cost-utility economic evaluations were performed on a concurrent cohort of patients with nephrotic syndrome, who were divided into two groups according to compliance or noncompliance with the guidelines. Quality-of-life data were obtained from the SF36 and CHQ-PF50 questionnaires. RESULTS: This study enrolled 109 patients (60% adults and 56% women); 41.3% were using albumin in accordance with the guidelines. The weight, diuresis and fluid balance parameters were more cost-effective for patients who adhered to the guidelines. Regarding days of hospitalization avoided, the incremental ratio showed a daily cost of R

Schistosoma mansoni-induced mesangiocapillary glomerulonephritis: Influence of therapy

55.33, and guideline-compliant patients were hospitalized for five days or fewer. The quality of life improved by 8%, and savings of R