Academic emergency medicine : official journal of the Society for Academic Emergency Medicine
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The emergence of SARS-CoV-2 has presented clinicians with a difficult therapeutic dilemma. With supportive care as the current mainstay of treatment, the fatality rate of COVID-19 is 6.9%. There are currently several trials assessing the efficacy of different antivirals as treatment. Of these, chloroquine (CQ) and its derivative hydroxychloroquine (HCQ) have garnered the most attention. ⋯ There are currently not enough data available to support the routine use of HCQ and CQ as therapies for COVID-19. Pending further results from more extensive studies with more stringent study parameters, clinicians should defer from routine use of HCQ and CQ. There are several clinical trials currently under way with results expected soon.
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The emergence of SARS-CoV-2 has presented clinicians with a difficult therapeutic dilemma. With supportive care as the current mainstay of treatment, the fatality rate of COVID-19 is 6.9%. There are currently several trials assessing the efficacy of different antivirals as treatment. Of these, chloroquine (CQ) and its derivative hydroxychloroquine (HCQ) have garnered the most attention. ⋯ There are currently not enough data available to support the routine use of HCQ and CQ as therapies for COVID-19. Pending further results from more extensive studies with more stringent study parameters, clinicians should defer from routine use of HCQ and CQ. There are several clinical trials currently under way with results expected soon.
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Patient-reported outcomes (PROs) are of increasing importance in clinical research because they capture patients' experience with well-being, illness, and their interactions with health care. Because PROs tend to focus on specific symptoms (e.g., pain, anxiety) or general assessments of patient functioning and quality of life that offer unique advantages compared to traditional clinical outcomes (e.g., mortality, emergency department revisits), emergency care researchers may benefit from incorporation of PRO measures into their research design as a primary or secondary outcome. Patients may also benefit from the ability of PROs to inform clinical practice and facilitate patient decision making, as PROs are obtained directly from the lived experience of other patients with similar conditions or health status. This review article introduces and defines key terminology relating to PROs, discusses reasons for utilizing PROs in clinical research, outlines basic psychometric and practical assessments that can be used to select a specific PRO measure, and highlights examples of commonly utilized PRO measures in emergency care research.
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Review Meta Analysis
Accuracy of Biomarkers for the Diagnosis of Adult Community-acquired Pneumonia: A Meta-analysis.
Biomarkers such as C-reactive protein (CRP) and procalcitonin may help distinguish community-acquired pneumonia (CAP) from other causes of lower respiratory tract infection. ⋯ The best evidence supports CRP as the preferred biomarker for diagnosis of outpatient CAP given its accuracy, low cost, and point-of-care availability.
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Review Meta Analysis
Accuracy of Biomarkers for the Diagnosis of Adult Community-acquired Pneumonia: A Meta-analysis.
Biomarkers such as C-reactive protein (CRP) and procalcitonin may help distinguish community-acquired pneumonia (CAP) from other causes of lower respiratory tract infection. ⋯ The best evidence supports CRP as the preferred biomarker for diagnosis of outpatient CAP given its accuracy, low cost, and point-of-care availability.