Ann Acad Med Singap
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Ann Acad Med Singap · Oct 2022
ReviewManaging adult asthma during the COVID-19 pandemic: A 2022 review and current recommendations.
This review aims to examine asthma management during the COVID-19 pandemic. ⋯ While previous recommendations were largely based on expert opinion, the tremendous amount of literature published since the pandemic first emerged 2 years ago has helped guide respiratory professional bodies to update their recommendations. This study provides a timely review of the various recommendations and can be used to guide healthcare professionals in managing asthma patients, as the world prepares for a future with COVID-19 becoming endemic. The long-term consequences of COVID-19 infection in asthma patients and the ripple effects of COVID-19 remain uncertain and deserve ongoing study.
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Ann Acad Med Singap · Oct 2022
Validation and comparison of the PECARN rule, Step-by-Step approach and Lab-score for predicting serious and invasive bacterial infections in young febrile infants.
Differentiating infants with serious bacterial infections (SBIs) or invasive bacterial infections (IBIs) from those without remains a challenge. We sought to compare the diagnostic performances of single biomarkers (absolute neutrophil count [ANC], C-reactive protein [CRP] and procalcitonin [PCT]) and 4 diagnostic approaches comprising Lab-score, Step-by-Step approach (original and modified) and Pediatric Emergency Care Applied Research Network (PECARN) rule. ⋯ CRP strongly predicted SBIs, and PCT strongly predicted IBI. The Step-by-Step approach had the highest sensitivity and NPV, while Lab-score had the highest specificity and AUC in predicting SBIs and IBIs.