Respiratory care
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In mainland China, there are no special care centers (long-term acute care, weaning, chronic care facilities) for patients requiring prolonged mechanical ventilation (PMV). Our goal was to characterize the prevalence and outcome of patients undergoing PMV in Chinese intensive care units (ICUs). ⋯ The number of subjects receiving PMV was surprisingly high in this cross-section of Chinese ICUs. In the following 28 ICU days, only a small proportion of these subjects were weaned. Age and chronic heart dysfunction were high risk factors for weaning failure.
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Many studies have investigated COPD-linked comorbidities and their influence on associated outcomes, but the extent to which COPD is related to chronic renal failure is undetermined. The objective of this work was to assess the prevalence of chronic renal failure (overt or concealed) in a cohort with COPD compared with that of a control group, and to investigate the relationships of the clinical and functional data with the subjects' renal conditions. ⋯ Chronic renal failure should not be ignored or underestimated in patients with COPD because it frequently cannot be recognized based on serum creatinine because decreases in estimated glomerular filtration rate are more prevalent.