PLoS medicine
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Multicenter Study Observational Study
A simple real-time model for predicting acute kidney injury in hospitalized patients in the US: A descriptive modeling study.
Acute kidney injury (AKI) is an adverse event that carries significant morbidity. Given that interventions after AKI occurrence have poor performance, there is substantial interest in prediction of AKI prior to its diagnosis. However, integration of real-time prognostic modeling into the electronic health record (EHR) has been challenging, as complex models increase the risk of error and complicate deployment. Our goal in this study was to create an implementable predictive model to accurately predict AKI in hospitalized patients and could be easily integrated within an existing EHR system. ⋯ In this study, we observed that a simple model using readily available laboratory data could be developed to predict imminent AKI with good discrimination. This model may lend itself well to integration into the EHR without sacrificing the performance seen in more complex models.
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Comparative Study Observational Study
Particulate matter air pollution and national and county life expectancy loss in the USA: A spatiotemporal analysis.
Exposure to fine particulate matter pollution (PM2.5) is hazardous to health. Our aim was to directly estimate the health and longevity impacts of current PM2.5 concentrations and the benefits of reductions from 1999 to 2015, nationally and at county level, for the entire contemporary population of the contiguous United States. ⋯ According to our estimates, recent reductions in particulate matter pollution in the USA have resulted in public health benefits. Nonetheless, we estimate that current concentrations are associated with mortality impacts and loss of life expectancy, with larger impacts in counties with lower income and higher poverty rate.
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Comparative Study
Estimated impact of revising the 13-valent pneumococcal conjugate vaccine schedule from 2+1 to 1+1 in England and Wales: A modelling study.
In October 2017, the United Kingdom Joint Committee on Vaccination and Immunisation (JCVI) recommended removal of one primary dose of the 13-valent pneumococcal conjugate vaccine (PCV13) from the existing 2+1 schedule (2, 4, 12 months). We conducted a mathematical modelling study to investigate the potential impact of a 1+1 (3, 12 month) schedule on invasive pneumococcal disease (IPD) and pneumococcal community-acquired pneumonia (CAP). Our results and those from a 1+1 immunogenicity study formed the key evidence reviewed by JCVI. ⋯ Our findings suggest that, with the current mature status of the PCV programme in England and Wales, removing one primary dose in the first year of life would have little impact on IPD or pneumococcal CAP cases or associated deaths at any age. A reduction in the number of priming doses would improve programmatic efficiency and facilitate the introduction of new vaccines by reducing the number of coadministered vaccines given at 2 and 4 months of age in the current UK schedule. Our findings should not be applied to other settings with different pneumococcal epidemiology or with immature programmes and poor herd immunity.
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Observational Study
Preeclampsia and risk of end stage kidney disease: A Swedish nationwide cohort study.
Preeclampsia has been suggested to increase the risk of end-stage kidney disease (ESKD); however, most studies were unable to adjust for potential confounders including pre-existing comorbidities such as renal disease and cardiovascular disease (CVD). We aimed to examine the association between preeclampsia and the risk of ESKD in healthy women, while taking into account pre-existing comorbidity and potential confounders. ⋯ The present findings suggest that women with preeclampsia and no major comorbidities before their first pregnancy are at a 5-fold increased risk of ESKD compared with parous women with no preeclampsia; however, the absolute risk of ESKD among women with preeclampsia remains small. Preeclampsia should be considered as an important risk factor for subsequent ESKD. Whether screening and/or preventive strategies will reduce the risk of ESKD in women with adverse pregnancy outcomes is worthy of further investigation.
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Kawasaki disease is an acute vasculitis that primarily affects children younger than 5 years of age. Its etiology is unknown. The United States Vaccine Safety Datalink conducted postlicensure safety surveillance for 13-valent pneumococcal conjugate vaccine (PCV13), comparing the risk of Kawasaki disease within 28 days of PCV13 vaccination with the historical risk after 7-valent PCV (PCV7) vaccination and using chart-validation. A relative risk (RR) of 2.38 (95% CI 0.92-6.38) was found. Concurrently, the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) conducted a postlicensure safety review that identified cases of Kawasaki disease through adverse event reporting. The FDA decided to initiate a larger study of Kawasaki disease risk following PCV13 vaccination in the claims-based Sentinel/Postlicensure Rapid Immunization Safety Monitoring (PRISM) surveillance system. The objective of this study was to determine the existence and magnitude of any increased risk of Kawasaki disease in the 28 days following PCV13 vaccination. ⋯ With more than 6 million doses of PCV13 administered, no evidence was found of an association between PCV13 vaccination and Kawasaki disease onset in the 4 weeks after vaccination nor of an elevated risk extending or concentrated somewhat beyond 4 weeks. These null results were consistent across alternative designs, age-adjustment methods, control intervals, and categories of Kawasaki disease case included.