João Gabriel Rosa Ramos

Human bocavirus in very young infants hospitalized with acute respiratory infection in Northeast Brazil

Abstract A cross-sectional study was carried out over a period of 12 months to investigate the occurrence of human bocavirus (HBoV) infection in infants hospitalized for respiratory infections in a teaching hospital in Salvador, Brazil, and to describe the clinical manifestations of this infection. Nasopharyngeal aspirates were collected from the children and immunofluorescence and polymerase chain reaction were performed to investigate the presence of respiratory viruses. HBoV was detected in 4 out of 66 patients. Two of the HBoV-positive infants were co-infected with other viruses. The principal clinical findings in HBoV-positive children were: nasal obstruction, catarrh, cough, fever and dyspnea. This study revealed HBoV infection in children aged <2 months, suggesting that the infection may occur at a very early age.

Lactate clearance is associated with mortality in septic patients with acute kidney injury requiring continuous renal replacement therapy: A cohort study.

AbstractThe aim of the study was to assess the clinical utility of lactate measured at different time points to predict mortality at 48 hours and 28 days in septic patients with acute kidney injury (AKI) requiring continuous renal replacement therapy (CRRT).Consecutive critically ill patients with septic AKI requiring CRRT were prospectively studied. Variables were collected at initiation of CRRT and 24 hours later.In total, 186 patients were analyzed. Overall mortality at 48 hours was 28% and at 28 days was 69%. Initial lactate, lactate at 24 hours and the proportion of patients with a lactate clearance superior to 10% were different between survivors at 28 days [2.0 mmol/L, 1.95 mmol/L and 18/45 (40%)] and nonsurvivors [3.46 mmol, 4.66 mmol, and 18/94 (19%)]. Multivariate analysis demonstrated that lactate at 24 hours and lactate clearance, but not initial lactate, were independently associated to mortality. Area under the ROC curves for 28-day mortality was 0.635 for initial lactate; 0.828 for lactate at 24 hours and 0.701 for lactate clearance.Lactate clearance and lactate after 24 hours of CRRT, but not initial lactate, were independently associated with mortality in septic AKI patients undergoing CRRT. Serial lactate measurements may be useful prognostic markers than initial lactate in these patients.

Prognostication in urgent intensive care unit referrals: a cohort study

Objectives Prognostication is an essential ability to clinicians. Nevertheless, it has been shown to be quite variable in acutely ill patients, potentially leading to inappropriate care. We aimed to assess the accuracy of physician’s prediction of hospital mortality in acutely deteriorating patients referred for urgent intensive care unit (ICU) admission. Methods Prospective cohort of acutely ill patients referred for urgent ICU admission in an academic, tertiary hospital. Physicians’ prognosis assessments were recorded at ICU referral. Prognosis was assessed as survival without severe disabilities, survival with severe disabilities or no survival. Prognosis was further dichotomised in good prognosis (survival without severe disabilities) or poor prognosis (survival with severe disabilities or no survival) for prediction of hospital mortality. Results There were 2374 analysed referrals, with 2103 (88.6%) patients with complete data on mortality and physicians’ prognosis. There were 593 (34.4%), 215 (66.4%) and 51 (94.4%) deaths in the groups ascribed a prognosis of survival without disabilities, survival with severe disabilities or no survival, respectively (p<0.001). Sensitivity was 31%, specificity was 91% and the area under the receiver operating characteristic curve was 0.61 for prediction of mortality. After multivariable analysis, severity of illness, performance status and ICU admission were associated with an increased likelihood of incorrect classification, while worse predicted prognosis was associated with a lower chance of incorrect classification. Conclusions Physician’s prediction was associated with hospital mortality, but overall accuracy was poor, mainly due to low sensitivity to detect risk of poor prognosis.

Clinical significance of palliative care assessment in patients referred for urgent intensive care unit admission: A cohort study

Purpose: To evaluate clinical characteristics of patients with palliative care (PC) and urgent intensive care unit (ICU) referrals in the same hospital admission. Methods: All urgent ICU referrals at an academic, tertiary hospital, and the co‐occurrence and timing of PC assessment were retrieved from a prospectively collected database. Results: From May 2014 to May 2015, 2476 patients were analyzed and 179 (7%) had co‐occurrence of PC assessment and urgent ICU referral in the same hospital admission. Hospital mortality was higher (odds ratio, 8.3; 95% confidence interval, 5.4‐12.7) and ICU admission was lower (odds ratio, 0.54; 95% confidence interval, 0.40‐0.74) in patients with PC assessment, compared with patients without concurrent PC and ICU referrals. Variables associated with PC assessment were older age, diagnosis of cancer, depressed level of consciousness, nonsurgical admission, lower performance status, physicians subjective prognosis of poor outcome, and length of hospitalization before ICU referral. Conclusion: In this cohort of patients with urgent ICU referral, clinical characteristics at the moment of ICU referral were associated with co‐occurrence of PC assessment in the same hospital admission. These characteristics might guide the development of instruments to enhance early referral of high‐risk patients to PC services.