Internal and emergency medicine
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The epidemic phase of Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) made the Worldwide health system struggle against a severe interstitial pneumonia requiring high-intensity care settings for respiratory failure. A rationalisation of resources and a specific treatment path were necessary. The study suggests a predictive model drawing on clinical data gathered by 119 consecutive patients with laboratory-confirmed COVID-19 admitted in Busto Arsizio hospital. ⋯ The prediction model that the study presents identifies COVID-19 patients with low risk of in-hospital mortality and admission to ICU. Moreover, it establishes an intermediate portion of patients that should be treated accurately in order to avoid an unfavourable clinical evolution. A further validation of the model is important before its implementation as a decision-making tool to guide the initial management of patients.
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In the context of the COVID-19 pandemic and overloaded hospitals, a central issue is the need to define reliable and consensual criteria for hospitalization or outpatient management in mild cases of COVID-19. Our aim was to define an easy-to-use clinical rule aiming to help emergency physicians in hospitalization or outpatient management decision-making for patients with suspected or confirmed SARS-CoV-2 infection (the HOME-CoV rule). The Delphi method was used to reach a consensus of a large panel of 51 experts: emergency physicians, geriatricians, infectious disease specialists, and ethical consultants. A preliminary list of eligible criteria was compiled based on a literature review. ⋯ Hospitalization is deemed necessary if a patient meets one or more of the criteria. In the end, 94.4% of the experts agreed with the defined rule. Thanks to the Delphi method, an absolute consensus was obtained of a large panel of experts on the HOME-CoV rule, a decision-making support mechanism for clinicians to target patients with suspected or confirmed COVID-19 requiring hospitalization. Trial registration: NCT04338841.
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Considerable concern has emerged for the potential harm in the use of angiotensin-converting enzyme inhibitors (ACEIs) and angiotensin receptor inhibitors (ARBs) in COVID-19 patients, given that ACEIs and ARBs may increase the expression of ACE2 receptors that represent the way for coronavirus 2 to entry into the cell and cause severe acute respiratory syndrome. Assess the effect of ACEI/ARBs on outcome in COVID-19 patients. Hospital-based prospective study. ⋯ Despite producing a RR for SEVERE RD of 2.59 (95% CI 1.93-3.49), hypertension was no longer significant in a logistic regression analysis that identified age, CRP and creatinine as the sole independent predictors of SEVERE RD and DEATH. ACEIs and ARBs do not promote a more severe outcome of COVID-19. There is no reason why they should be withheld in affected patients.