The American journal of emergency medicine
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The COVID-19 pandemic continues to have profound health, social, psychological, and economic ramifications. Infection by COVID-19 has been of concern in people who use opioids, as opioid use has been known to mediate immunosuppression and is associated with respiratory depression and end-organ damage. With differing modalities of opioid usage, the association between opioids and COVID-19 outcomes is not well understood. ⋯ Significant heterogeneity existed across the included studies. Patients using opioids with COVID-19 were at higher risk of ICU admission and mortality. Prospective studies are required to confirm these findings.
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Randomized Controlled Trial
Comparative evaluation of the effectiveness of intravenous paracetamol, dexketoprofen and ibuprofen in acute low back pain.
Non-traumatic back pain constitutes roughly 5% of the admissions to emergency departments. This study seeks to compare the efficacy of intravenously administered paracetamol, dexketoprofen, and ibuprofen in patients with non-traumatic acute low back pain. ⋯ Given the obtained data, we did not note a significant difference between intravenous paracetamol, dexketoprofen and ibuprofen with respect to pain efficacy in non-traumatic acute low back pain. Based on the patients' clinical conditions and histories, we concluded that the choice of medication might not change the efficacy of the treatment and patient comfort.
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Observational Study
Predictors for mortality in patients admitted with suspected bacterial infections - A prospective long-term follow-up study.
The aim was to examine predictors for all-cause mortality in a long-term follow-up study of adult patients with infectious diseases of suspected bacterial origin. ⋯ More than one-third of a population of patients admitted to the emergency department with infectious diseases of suspected bacterial origin had died during a median follow up of 2.1 years. The study identified several independent predictors for mortality.