The American journal of emergency medicine
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High blood pressure is still a challenge for emergency physicians to discern the patients that require further analysis to establish the existence of acute hypertensive target organ damage (TOD). The present study aimed to reveal that adropin levels are useful for detecting TOD in patients presenting with high blood pressure. ⋯ Despite the significantly higher levels of adropin in normotensive patients compared with hypertensive ones, adropin could not be used as a decision tool for detecting TOD in patients presenting with high blood pressure to the emergency department.
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To determine if early measurement of end-tidal carbon dioxide (ETCO2) in nonintubated patients triaged to a level 1 trauma center has utility in ruling out severe injury. ⋯ End-tidal carbon dioxide cannot be used to rule out severe injury in patients meeting criteria for trauma center care. The ETCO2 ≤30 mm Hg may be associated with increased risk of traumatic severe injury.
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The first aim of this study was to investigate the characteristics for elderly patients with acute heart failure presenting to the emergency department (ED). The second aim was to determine the characteristics of these elderly patients associated with serious adverse events. ⋯ Elderly patients with heart failure are a high-risk group. Careful assessment of these factors could help physicians identify those patients most at risk for adverse outcomes and, therefore, most in need of hospital admission.
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Sepsis and septic shock continue to be syndromes that carry a high mortality rate worldwide. Early aggressive fluid and vasopressor support have resulted in significant improvement in patient outcomes. The prognostic clinical significance of a positive fluid balance in septic intensive care unit (ICU) patients remains undetermined. ⋯ Although it is a monocentric retrospective study, we suggest that positive cumulative fluid balance is one of the major factors that can predict the clinical outcome of critically ill patients during their ICU stay and after their discharge from the ICU.