Plos One
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The role of systemic corticosteroid as a therapeutic agent for patients with COVID-19 pneumonia is controversial. ⋯ Among non-ICU patients hospitalized with COVID-19 pneumonia complicated by AHRF, treatment with corticosteroid was associated with a significantly lower risk of the primary composite outcome of ICU transfer, intubation, or in-hospital death, composite of intubation or death and individual components of the primary outcome.
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Observational Study
Safety of bedside surgical tracheostomy during COVID-19 pandemic: A retrospective observational study.
Data regarding safety of bedside surgical tracheostomy in novel coronavirus 2019 (COVID-19) mechanically ventilated patients admitted to the intensive care unit (ICU) are lacking. We performed this study to assess the safety of bedside surgical tracheostomy in COVID-19 patients admitted to ICU. This retrospective, single-center, cohort observational study (conducted between February, 23 and April, 30, 2020) was performed in our 45-bed dedicated COVID-19 ICU. ⋯ However, PaO2/FiO2 progressively increased at 24 hours after tracheostomy (142 ± 50.7). None of the members involved in the tracheotomy procedures developed COVID-19 infection. Bedside surgical tracheostomy appears to be feasible and safe, both for patients and for health care workers, during COVID-19 pandemic in an experienced center.
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The extent to which people implement government-issued protective measures is critical in preventing further spread of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) caused by coronavirus SARS-CoV-2. Our study aimed to describe the public belief in the effectiveness of protective measures, the reported implementation of these measures, and to identify communication channels used to acquire information on COVID-19 in European countries during the early stage of the pandemic. ⋯ During the early stage of the COVID-19 pandemic, belief in the effectiveness of protective measures among survey respondents from three European countries was high and participants reported feeling sufficiently informed. In March 2020, implementation of measures differed between countries and were highest among respondents from Italy, who were subjected to the most stringent lockdown measures and greatest COVID-19 burden in Europe during this period.
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We performed an exclusive study to investigate the associations between a total of 23 lactate-related indices during the first 24h in an intensive care unit (ICU) and in-hospital mortality. ⋯ These data indicate that the maximal arterial lactate concentration at T24 is a robust predictor of in-hospital mortality as well as 90-day survival in unselected ICU patients with predictive ability as comparable with APACHE III score.
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The purpose of this study was to establish a Korean version of the Central Sensitization Inventory (CSI-K) for Korean-speaking patients facing total knee arthroplasty (TKA) for knee osteoarthritis (OA) and to investigate the psychometric characteristics of the CSI-K. We recruited a total of 269 patients with knee OA who were scheduled to undergo TKA for the study. CSI-K and pain-related outcomes, including the pain visual analog scale (VAS) and the Western Ontario and McMaster Universities OA Index (WOMAC) pain sub-scores, were measured. ⋯ As expected, the CSI scores correlated strongly with the WOMAC pain scores (r = 0.524, p < 0.001) and moderately with the pain VAS (r = 0.496, p < 0.001), the WOMAC function (r = 0.408, p < 0.001), and the EQ-5D scores (r = 0.437, p < 0.001). EFA resulted in a six-factor model. The findings demonstrate that the CSI was successfully trans-culturally adapted into a simplified Korean version (CSI-K) that was reliable and valid for Korean-speaking patients who awaiting TKA for knee OA.