Bertrand Renaud

Association between timing of intensive care unit admission and outcomes for emergency department patients with community-acquired pneumonia*

Objective:To compare the 28-day mortality and hospital length of stay of patients with community-acquired pneumonia who were transferred to an intensive care unit on the same day of emergency department presentation (direct-transfer patients) with those subsequently transferred within 3 days of presentation (delayed-transfer patients). Design:Secondary analysis of the original data from two North American and two European prospective, multicenter, cohort studies of adult patients with community-acquired pneumonia. Patients:In all, 453 non-institutionalized patients transferred within 3 days of emergency department presentation to an intensive care unit were included in the analysis. Supplementary analysis was restricted to patients without an obvious indication for immediate transfer to an intensive care unit. Interventions:None. Measurements and Main Results:The sample consisted of 138 delayed-transfer and 315 direct-transfer patients, among whom 150 (33.1%) were considered to have an obvious indication for immediate intensive care unit admission. After adjusting for the quintile of propensity score, delayed intensive care unit transfer was associated with an increased odds ratio for 28-day mortality (2.07; 95% confidence interval, 1.12–3.85) and a decreased odds ratio for discharge from hospital for survivors (0.53; 95% confidence interval, 0.39–0.71). In a propensity-matched analysis, delayed-transfer patients had a higher 28-day mortality rate (23.4% vs. 11.7%; p = 0.02) and a longer median hospital length of stay (13 days vs. 7 days; p < .001) than direct-transfer patients. Similar results were found after excluding the 150 patients with an obvious indication for immediate intensive care unit admission. Conclusions:Our findings suggest that some patients without major criteria for severe community-acquired pneumonia, according to the recent Infectious Diseases Society of America/American Thoracic Society consensus guideline, may benefit from direct transfer to the intensive care unit. Further studies are needed to prospectively identify patients who may benefit from direct intensive care unit admission despite a lack of major severity criteria for community-acquired pneumonia based on the current guidelines.

Pulmonary Artery Thrombosis during Acute Chest Syndrome in Sickle Cell Disease

RATIONALE The pathophysiology of acute chest syndrome (ACS) in patients with sickle cell disease is complex, and pulmonary artery thrombosis (PT) may contribute to this complication. OBJECTIVES To evaluate the prevalence of PT during ACS using multidetector computed tomography (MDCT). METHODS We screened 125 consecutive patients during 144 ACS episodes. One hundred twenty-one MDCTs (in 103 consecutive patients) were included in the study. MEASUREMENTS AND MAIN RESULTS Twenty MDCTs were positive for PT, determining a prevalence of 17% (95% confidence interval, 10-23%). Revised Geneva clinical probability score was similar between patients with PT and those without. D-dimer testing was very often positive (95%) during ACS. A precipitating factor for ACS was less frequently found in patients with PT as compared with those without. Patients with PT exhibited significantly higher platelet counts (517 [273-729] vs. 307 [228-412] 10(9)/L, P < 0.01) and lower bilirubin (28 [19-43] vs. 44 [31-71] μmol/L, P < 0.01) levels at the onset of ACS as compared with others. In addition, patients with PT had a higher platelet count peak (537 [345-785] vs. 417 [330-555] 10(9)/L, P = 0.048) and smaller bilirubin peak (36 [18-51] vs. 46 [32-83] μmol/L, P = 0.048)and lactate dehydrogenase peak (357 [320-704] vs. 604 [442-788] IU/L, P = 0.01) during hospital stay as compared with others. CONCLUSIONS PT is not a rare event in the context of ACS and seems more likely in patients with higher platelet counts and lower hemolytic rate during ACS. Patients with sickle cell disease presenting with respiratory symptoms suggestive of ACS may benefit from evaluation for PT.

Risk stratification of early admission to the intensive care unit of patients with no major criteria of severe community-acquired pneumonia: development of an international prediction rule.

IntroductionTo identify risk factors for early (< three days) intensive care unit (ICU) admission of patients hospitalised with community-acquired pneumonia (CAP) and not requiring immediate ICU admission, and to stratify the risk of ICU admission on days 1 to 3.MethodsUsing the original data from four North American and European prospective multicentre cohort studies of patients with CAP, we derived and validated a prediction rule for ICU admission on days 1 to 3 of emergency department (ED) presentation, for patients presenting with no obvious reason for immediate ICU admission (not requiring immediate respiratory or circulatory support).ResultsA total of 6560 patients were included (4593 and 1967 in the derivation and validation cohort, respectively), 303 (4.6%) of whom were admitted to an ICU on days 1 to 3. The Risk of Early Admission to ICU index (REA-ICU index) comprised 11 criteria independently associated with ICU admission: male gender, age younger than 80 years, comorbid conditions, respiratory rate of 30 breaths/minute or higher, heart rate of 125 beats/minute or higher, multilobar infiltrate or pleural effusion, white blood cell count less than 3 or 20 G/L or above, hypoxaemia (oxygen saturation < 90% or arterial partial pressure of oxygen (PaO2) < 60 mmHg), blood urea nitrogen of 11 mmol/L or higher, pH less than 7.35 and sodium less than 130 mEq/L. The REA-ICU index stratified patients into four risk classes with a risk of ICU admission on days 1 to 3 ranging from 0.7 to 31%. The area under the curve was 0.81 (95% confidence interval (CI) = 0.78 to 0.83) in the overall population.ConclusionsThe REA-ICU index accurately stratifies the risk of ICU admission on days 1 to 3 for patients presenting to the ED with CAP and no obvious indication for immediate ICU admission and therefore may assist orientation decisions.

A randomized, controlled clinical trial of ketoprofen for sickle-cell disease vaso-occlusive crises in adults

Vaso-occlusive crisis (VOC) is the primary cause of hospitalization of patients with sickle-cell disease. Treatment mainly consists of intravenous morphine, which has many dose-related side effects. Nonsteroidal antiinflammatory drugs have been proposed to provide pain relief and decrease the need for opioids. Nevertheless, only a few underpowered trials of nonsteroidal antiinflammatory drugs for sickle-cell VOC have been conducted, and conflicting results were reported. We conducted a phase 3, double-blind, randomized, placebo-controlled trial with ketoprofen (300 mg/day for 5 days), a nonselective cyclooxygenase inhibitor, for severe VOC in adults. A total of 66 VOC episodes were included. The primary efficacy outcome was VOC duration. The secondary end points were morphine consumption, pain relief, and treatment failure. Seven VOC episodes in each group were excluded from the analysis because of treatment failures. No significant between-group differences were observed for the primary outcome or the secondary end points. Thus, although ketoprofen was well-tolerated, it had no significant efficacy as treatment of VOC requiring hospitalization. These findings argue against its systematic use in this setting.

Proadrenomedullin Improves Risk of Early Admission to ICU Score for Predicting Early Severe Community-Acquired Pneumonia

BACKGROUND Whether proadrenomedullin (ProADM) improves the performance of the Risk of Early Admission to ICU (REA-ICU) score in predicting early, severe community-acquired pneumonia (ESCAP) has not been demonstrated. METHODS Secondary analysis was completed of the original data from 877 consecutive patients with community-acquired pneumonia (CAP) enrolled in the Procalcitonin-Guided Antibiotic Therapy and Hospitalization in Patients With Lower Respiratory Tract Infections (ProHOSP) study, a multicenter trial in EDs of six tertiary-care hospitals in Switzerland. ESCAP was defined by either the requirement for mechanical ventilation or vasopressive drugs or occurrence of death within 3 days of ED presentation. RESULTS Eighty patients (9.1%) developed ESCAP (47 required mechanical ventilation, 19 vasopressive drugs, and 16 died) within 3 days of ED presentation. They had a higher median ProADM value (2.18 nmol/L vs 1.15 nmol/L, P < .001). Combining ProADM testing with the REA-ICU score improved the area under the curve (0.81) compared with either parameter (ProADM [0.73] or REA-ICU score [0.76], P < .001) and resulted in a net reclassification improvement of 0.20 (P < .001). A ProADM value ≥ 1.8 nmol/L or assignment to REA-ICU risk classes III-IV predicted ESCAP with a sensitivity of 76.3% and a negative predictive value of 96.7%. Excluding 21 patients with major criteria of severe CAP on presentation showed similar results. CONCLUSION These study findings demonstrate that the addition of ProADM to the REA-ICU score improves the classification of a substantial proportion of patients in the ED at intermediate or high risk for ESCAP, which may translate into better triage decisions.

Acute kidney injury in sickle patients with painful crisis or acute chest syndrome and its relation to pulmonary hypertension

BACKGROUND The association between chronic kidney involvement and sickle cell disease (SCD) has been well characterized, but our knowledge on acute kidney injury (AKI) in relation to SCD remains limited. METHODS We retrospectively assessed 254 episodes of vaso-occlusive complication in 161 SCD patients who were admitted to our hospital: these included 174 episodes of painful crisis (PC), 58 episodes of moderate acute chest syndrome (ACS) and 22 episodes of severe ACS. RESULTS The overall incidence of AKI [defined according to Acute Kidney Injury Network (AKIN) criteria] during vaso-occlusive complications was low (4.3%) but seemed to be related to its severity: 2.3% for PC vs 6.9% for moderate ACS and 13.6% for severe ACS (P = 0.03). This finding led us prospectively to look at specific risk factors for AKI occurrence in SCD patients admitted to our intensive care unit for severe ACS and, in particular, the possible link between AKI and haemodynamic status (transthoracic echocardiography). Among patients with severe ACS, those with AKI displayed significantly greater aminotransferases, bilirubin and lactate dehydrogenase levels than patients without AKI. Echocardiography identified higher systolic pulmonary artery pressure in patients with AKI than in those without, whereas the cardiac index was similar between groups. CONCLUSIONS AKI incidence during vaso-occlusive complications of SCD is relatively low (<5%) and appears to be confined to patients with ACS and pulmonary hypertension. These findings suggest a pathophysiological process involving right ventricular dysfunction and venous congestion.

Hospital volume and patient outcomes in pulmonary embolism

Background: In numerous high-risk medical and surgical conditions, a greater volume of patients undergoing treatment in a given setting or facility is associated with better survival. For patients with pulmonary embolism, the relation between the number of patients treated in a hospital (volume) and patient outcome is unknown. Methods: We studied discharge records from 186 acute care hospitals in Pennsylvania for a total of 15 531 patients for whom the primary diagnosis was pulmonary embolism. The study outcomes were all-cause mortality in hospital and within 30 days after presentation for pulmonary embolism and the length of hospital stay. We used logistic models to study the association between hospital volume and 30-day mortality and discrete survival models to study the association between in-hospital mortality and time to hospital discharge. Results: The median annual hospital volume for pulmonary embolism was 20 patients (interquartile range 10–42). Overall in-hospital mortality was 6.0%, whereas 30-day mortality was 9.3%. In multivariable analysis, very-high-volume hospitals (≥ 42 cases per year) had a significantly lower odds of in-hospital death (odds ratio [OR] 0.71, 95% confidence interval [CI] 0.51–0.99) and of 30-day death (OR 0.71, 95% CI 0.54–0.92) than very-low-volume hospitals (< 10 cases per year). Although patients in the very-high-volume hospitals had a slightly longer length of stay than those in the very-low-volume hospitals (mean difference 0.7 days), there was no association between volume and length of stay. Interpretation: In hospitals with a high volume of cases, pulmonary embolism was associated with lower short-term mortality. Further research is required to determine the causes of the relation between volume and outcome for patients with pulmonary embolism.

Outcomes of Early, Late, and No Admission to the Intensive Care Unit for Patients Hospitalized with Community-acquired Pneumonia

OBJECTIVES The objective was to compare outcomes associated with early, late, and no admission to the intensive care unit (ICU) for patients hospitalized with community-acquired pneumonia (CAP). METHODS This was a post hoc analysis of the original data from the Emergency Department Community-Acquired Pneumonia (EDCAP) and Pneumocom-1 prospective multicenter cohort studies of adult patients hospitalized with CAP. Propensity score-adjusted analysis was used to compare 28-day mortality and hospital length of stay (LOS) for 199, 144, and 2,215 patients with early (i.e., ICU admission on the day of emergency department [ED] presentation), late, and no ICU admission. RESULTS Unadjusted 28-day mortality rates were 13.1, 19.4, and 5.7% for early, late, and no ICU admissions, respectively (p < 0.001). After adjusting for quintile of propensity score, the odds of 28-day mortality were higher for late ICU admissions relative to early ICU admissions (odds ratio [OR] = 2.63; 95% confidence interval [CI] = 1.42 to 4.90), and no ICU admissions (OR = 3.40; 95% CI = 2.11 to 5.48), but did not differ between early and no ICU admissions (OR = 1.29; 95% CI = 0.79 to 2.09). The median hospital LOS was 10 days for early (interquartile range [IQR] = 7 to 18), 15 days for late (IQR 9 to 23), and 6 days (IQR 4 to 9) for no ICU admissions (p < 0.001). CONCLUSIONS This study suggests that late but not early admission to the ICU is associated with higher 28-day mortality for patients hospitalized with CAP. Patients admitted to the ICU have longer hospital LOS in comparison to those managed on the wards, particularly if they are admitted late to the ICU.

Is mid-regional pro-atrial natriuretic peptide (MRproANP) an accurate marker of bacteremia in pyelonephritis?

Introduction: Mid-regional pro-atrial natriuretic peptide (MRproANP) increases during systemic infections and could possibly correlate with bacteremia. Methods: We determined the characteristics of MRproANP for accuracy to detect positive blood culture. Results: Bacteremia was positive in 58 (15%) of 347 patients. MRproANP levels increased in patients with bacteremia (98.4 pmol/L [interquartile range (IQR) 68.2–153.1] vs. 66.4 pmol/L [IQR 51.0-90.3], p < 0.01). Performance of MRproANP to predict bacteremia [AUC = 0.69, 95%CI: 0.61–0.77] was equivalent to C-reactive protein (0.66 [95%CI: 0.59–0.74], p = 0.53) but less accurate than procalcitonin (0.78 [95%CI: 0.72–0.84], p < 0.001). Conclusion: Although MRproANP increased in bacteremic patients with acute pyelonephritis, results of likelihood ratios discarded its use at bedside to predict bacteremia.

Understanding providers' offering and patients' acceptance of HIV screening in emergency departments: a multilevel analysis. ANRS 95008, Paris, France.

Objective We assessed the EDs’ characteristics associated with the offer and acceptance rates of a nontargeted HIV rapid-test screening in 29 Emergency Departments (EDs) in the metropolitan Paris region (11.7 million inhabitants), where half of France’s new HIV cases are diagnosed annually. Methods EDs nurses offered testing to all patients 18–64-year-old, able to provide consent, either with or without supplemental staff (hybrid staff model or indigenous staff model). The EDS’ characteristics collected included structural characteristics (location, type, size), daily workload (patients’ number and severity, length of stay in hours), staff’s participation (training, support to the intervention, leadership), type of week day (weekends vs weekdays) and time (in days). Associations between these variables and the staff model, the offer and acceptance rates were studied using multilevel modeling. Results Indigenous staff model was more frequent in EDs with a lower daily patient flow and a higher staff support score to the intervention. In indigenous-model EDs, the offer rate was associated with the patient flow (OR = 0.838, 95% CI = 0.773–0.908), was lower during weekends (OR = 0.623, 95% CI = 0.581–0.667) and decreased over time (OR = 0.978, 95% CI = 0.975–0.981). Similar results were found in hybrid-model EDs. Acceptance was poorly associated with EDs characteristics in indigenous-model EDs while in hybrid-model EDs it was lower during weekends (OR = 0.713, 95% CI = 0.623–0.816) and increased after the first positive test (OR = 1.526, 95% CI = 1.142–2.038). The EDs’ characteristics explained respectively 38.5% and 15% of the total variance in the offer rate across indigenous model-EDs and hybrid model-EDs vs 12% and 1% for the acceptance rate. Conclusion Our findings suggest the need for taking into account EDs’ characteristics while considering the implementation of an ED-based HIV screening program. Strategies allowing the optimization of human resources’ utilization such as HIV targeted screening in the EDs might be privileged.