Morad Chughtai

Study of Ebola Virus Disease Survivors in Guinea

BACKGROUNDnThere is a paucity of data regarding health consequences of Ebola virus disease among survivors.nnnMETHODSnWe surveyed 105 Ebola virus disease survivors postdischarge from an Ebola treatment unit in Guinea using a standard data collection form. Patients rated recovery as the percentage of improvement in functional status, where 0% represents unable to perform and 100% represents able to perform at prior level.nnnRESULTSnThe mean ± standard deviation time interval between hospital discharge and administration of questionnaire was 103.5 ± 47.9 days in 105 survivors. Anorexia was reported by 103 patients, with varying severity levels: mild (n = 33), moderate (n = 65), or severe (n = 5). Reported pain according to site was chest (30.7%), joint (86.7%), muscle (26.7%), and back (45.7%), among others. Recovery in functional status was graded as mild (10%-30%) (n = 2 [1.9%]), moderate (40%-70%) (n = 52 [50.0%]), and excellent (80%-100%) (n = 50 [48.1%]). Severity of arthralgia (R(2) = 0.09; P = .008) was directly associated with lower recovery in functional status in multivariate analysis.nnnCONCLUSIONSnEbola virus disease survivors frequently reported anorexia and arthralgia. Severity of arthralgia was related to lower functional recovery. There may be a role for focused screening and intervention for symptoms identified in this study of survivors.

Ebola Virus Disease Survivors Study in Guinea

BACKGROUNDnThere is a paucity of data regarding health consequences of Ebola virus disease among survivors.nnnMETHODSnWe surveyed 105 Ebola virus disease survivors postdischarge from an Ebola treatment unit in Guinea using a standard data collection form. Patients rated recovery as the percentage of improvement in functional status, where 0% represents unable to perform and 100% represents able to perform at prior level.nnnRESULTSnThe mean ± standard deviation time interval between hospital discharge and administration of questionnaire was 103.5 ± 47.9 days in 105 survivors. Anorexia was reported by 103 patients, with varying severity levels: mild (n = 33), moderate (n = 65), or severe (n = 5). Reported pain according to site was chest (30.7%), joint (86.7%), muscle (26.7%), and back (45.7%), among others. Recovery in functional status was graded as mild (10%-30%) (n = 2 [1.9%]), moderate (40%-70%) (n = 52 [50.0%]), and excellent (80%-100%) (n = 50 [48.1%]). Severity of arthralgia (R(2) = 0.09; P = .008) was directly associated with lower recovery in functional status in multivariate analysis.nnnCONCLUSIONSnEbola virus disease survivors frequently reported anorexia and arthralgia. Severity of arthralgia was related to lower functional recovery. There may be a role for focused screening and intervention for symptoms identified in this study of survivors.

Incidental Asymptomatic Intracerebral Hemorrhages and Risk of Subsequent Cardiovascular Events and Cognitive Decline in Elderly Persons

BACKGROUNDnThe long-term prognostic significance of incidental asymptomatic intracerebral hemorrhages (aICHs) detected on brain magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) is unknown.nnnMETHODSnWe analyzed clinical and baseline MRI data from the cohort of 5888 study participants aged 65xa0years and older recruited in the Cardiovascular Health Study from 4 US communities. We identified participants who had aICHs on MRI and selected 3 age- and gender-matched controls without aICHs. We compared the rates of cardiovascular events using logistic regression analysis including incident myocardial infarction, stroke, and death between those with and without aICHs.nnnRESULTSnA total of 23 participants had aICHs classified as acute (nxa0=xa03), subacute (nxa0=xa04), and chronic (nxa0=xa016). During 14xa0years of follow-up, the risk of incident stroke (relative risk [RR], .6; 95% confidence interval [CI], .2-2.0), myocardial infarction (RR, .3; 95% CI, .06-1.4), and death (RR, .6; 95% CI, .2-1.7) was notxa0different between participants with aICHs compared with controls (nxa0=xa069). There was no difference between the 2 groups with regard to time to ischemic stroke or time to death by Kaplan-Meier analysis.nnnCONCLUSIONSnThe risks of stroke, myocardial infarction, and death were similar between persons with aICHs detected onxa0MRIxa0compared with age- and gender-matched controls.