Journal of critical care
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Journal of critical care · Jun 2013
Risk of in-hospital mortality identified according to the typology of patients with acute heart failure: classification tree analysis on data from the Acute Heart Failure Database-Main registry.
The purposes of this study are to identify the strongest clinical parameters in relation to in-hospital mortality, which are available in the earliest phase of the hospitalization of patients, and to create an easy tool for the early identification of patients at risk. ⋯ The presented classification model effectively stratified patients with all syndromes of acute heart failure into in-hospital mortality risk groups and might be of advantage for clinical practice.
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Journal of critical care · Jun 2013
Drug-drug interactions contributing to QT prolongation in cardiac intensive care units.
To determine the most common drug-drug interaction (DDI) pairs contributing to QTc prolongation in cardiac intensive care units (ICUs). ⋯ DDIs may be a significant cause of QT prolongation in cardiac ICUs. These data can be used to educate clinicians on safe medication use. Computerized clinical decision support could be applied to aid in the detection of these events.
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Journal of critical care · Jun 2013
Clinical epidemiology of central venous catheter-related bloodstream infections in an intensive care unit in China.
Central venous catheters (CVCs) are universally used during the treatment of critically ill patients. Their use, however, is associated with a substantial infection risk. At present, there are few studies on catheter-related bloodstream infections (CRBSIs) that are comparable with international similar research. The aim of this study was to determine the rate, risk factors, and outcomes of CRBSIs in patients of an intensive care unit (ICU) in China. ⋯ The CRBSI rate in our ICU is higher compared with that reported by the National Nosocomial Infection Surveillance and was associated with the applications of antibiotics before CRBSI and with the number of placed CVCs. Catheter-related bloodstream infections may be associated with a higher mortality rate and a higher incidence of ventilator-associated pulmonitis, which might lead to an increase in the total costs and medicine expenditures.
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Journal of critical care · Jun 2013
Simplistic approach to prognosis after cardiopulmonary resuscitation-value of pH and lactate.
The purpose was to determine the prognostic value of broadly available clinical parameters such as pH and lactate for early stratification of outcome after cardiopulmonary resuscitation. ⋯ A combination of clinical data and broadly available parameters can help to stratify prognosis of patients after cardiopulmonary resuscitation with sufficiently high predictive value. Interestingly, a combination of the 3 parameters-age more than 65 years, high lactate, and low pH upon admission-had a sensitivity of 1.0 for a poor outcome after return of spontaneous circulation.