Internal and emergency medicine
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Review Meta Analysis
Diagnostic accuracy of novel serological biomarkers to detect acute mesenteric ischemia: a systematic review and meta-analysis.
Laparotomy remains the gold standard for diagnosis of acute mesenteric ischemia (AMI), but is often unhelpful or too late due to non-specific clinical and radiological signs. This systematic review and meta-analysis aims to evaluate the diagnostic accuracy of the novel serological biomarkers intestinal fatty acid-binding protein (I-FABP), α-glutathione S-transferase (α-GST), D-lactate, ischemia modified albumin (IMA), and citrulline to detect AMI. A systematic search of electronic databases was performed to identify all published diagnostic accuracy studies on I-FABP, α-GST, D-lactate, IMA, and citrulline. ⋯ Pooled sensitivity and specificity for investigated biomarkers were: I-FABP (Uden); 79.0 (95% CI 66.5-88.5) and 91.3 (87.0-94.6), I-FABP (Osaka); 75.0 (67.9-81.2) and 79.2 (76.2-82.0), D-lactate; 71.7 (58.6-82.5) and 74.2 (69.0-79.0), α-GST; 67.8 (54.2-79.5) and 84.2 (75.3-90.9), IMA; 94.7 (74.0-99.9) and 86.4 (65.1-97.1), respectively. One study investigated accuracy standards for citrulline: sensitivity 39% and specificity 100%. The novel serological biomarkers I-FABP, α-GST, IMA, and citrulline may offer improved diagnostic accuracy of acute mesenteric ischemia; however, further research is required to specify threshold values and accuracy standards for different aetiological forms.
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Acute heart failure is a common condition among adults presenting with dyspnea in the Emergency Department (ED), still the diagnosis is challenging as objective standardized criteria are lacking. First line work-up, other then clinical findings, is nowadays made with lung ultrasound imaging study, chest X-ray study and brain natriuretic peptide (BNP) level determination; however, it is not clear which is the best diagnostic test to be used and whether there is any real benefit for clinical judgement. We set up this study to compare the performances of these three diagnostic tools; furthermore, we combined them to find the best possible approach to dyspneic patients. ⋯ We find sensitivity and specificity for lung ultrasound of 57.73 and 87.97 %, for chest X-ray 74.49 and 86.26 %, for NT pro-BNP 97.59 and 27.56 %, respectively. Combining together the chest X-ray and lung ultrasound, we find the best overall performance with 84.69 % sensitivity, 77.69 % specificity and 87.07 % negative predictive value. From our results, we could not identify the "best test" to diagnose acute heart failure in an emergency setting, although we could suggest that a stepwise workup combining chest X-ray and lung ultrasound at first, then for those negative, a determination of NT pro-BNP assay would be a reasonable approach to the dyspneic patient.
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Low health literacy is associated with poor clinical outcomes. The relationship between literacy and blood pressure (BP) has been inconsistent. We investigated the determinants of health literacy and the potential relationship between health literacy and hypertension management. ⋯ Adequate health literacy is a contributing factor to better blood pressure (BP) control and better perceived quality of life in hypertensive patients. Low health literacy increases the 10-year risk of ICVD and incidence of artery stiffness in hypertensive patients. Improving health literacy should be considered an important part of the management of hypertension.
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The study purpose was to analyze current daily and current daily nicotine-containing electronic cigarette (EC) use in the European Union (EU). Special Eurobarometer 429, a cross-sectional survey performed in a representative sample of 28 member states of the EU in November and December of 2014, was analyzed. The prevalence of current daily and current daily nicotine-containing EC use was 1.08% (95% CI 0.95-1.20%) and 1.00% (95% CI 0.88-1.12%), respectively, and was mainly observed in current and former smokers. ⋯ The strongest correlates of daily EC use were being current and former smokers. In the EU in late 2014, current daily EC use was predominantly observed in current and former smokers and was associated with high self-reported rates of smoking cessation and reduction. Current daily EC use by never smokers was extremely infrequent.