Annals of the American Thoracic Society
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Multicenter Study
Association of Nocturnal Hypoxemia and Pulse Rate Variability with Incident Atrial Fibrillation in Patients Investigated for Obstructive Sleep Apnea.
Rationale: Nocturnal hypoxemia and sympathetic/parasympathetic imbalance might contribute to the occurrence or atrial fibrillation (AF) in patients with obstructive sleep apnea (OSA). During sleep recordings, pulse rate variability (PRV) derived from oximetry might provide an accurate estimation of heart rate variability, which reflects the autonomic cardiovascular control. Objectives: We aimed to evaluate whether indices of oxygen desaturation and PRV derived from nocturnal oximetry were associated with AF incidence in patients investigated for OSA. ⋯ Conclusions: In patients investigated for OSA, nocturnal hypoxemia and PRV indices derived from single-channel pulse oximetry were independent predictors of AF incidence. Patients with both marked nocturnal hypoxemia and high PRV were at higher risk of AF. Oximetry may be used to identify patients with OSA at greatest risk of developing AF.
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Observational Study
Noninvasive Ventilatory Support of Patients with COVID-19 outside the Intensive Care Units (WARd-COVID).
Rationale: Treatment with noninvasive ventilation (NIV) in coronavirus disease (COVID-19) is frequent. Shortage of intensive care unit (ICU) beds led clinicians to deliver NIV also outside ICUs. Data about the use of NIV in COVID-19 is limited. ⋯ Conclusions: The use of NIV outside the ICUs was common in COVID-19, with a predominant use of helmet CPAP, with a rate of success >60% and close to 75% in full-treatment patients. C-reactive protein, PaO2/FiO2, and platelet counts were independently associated with increased risk of NIV failure. Clinical trial registered with ClinicalTrials.gov (NCT04382235).
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Observational Study
Pretransplant Risk Factors Can Predict Development of Acute Respiratory Distress Syndrome after Hematopoietic Stem Cell Transplantation.
Rationale: Acute respiratory distress syndrome (ARDS) is a common complication after hematopoietic stem cell transplantation (HCT) and is a major contributor to nonrelapse mortality. Objectives: To better understand pretransplant risk factors for developing ARDS after HCT. Methods: This is a single-center observational study comparing risk factors for ARDS development in 164 patients who went on to develop post-HCT ARDS compared with 492 patients who did not. ⋯ Conclusions: Several risk factors for developing ARDS after HCT are identifiable at the time of transplantation, well before the development of critical illness and ARDS. The identification of risk factors long before ARDS develops is relatively unique to the HCT population. Further work is needed to develop usable risk prediction tools in this setting.
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The burden of rheumatoid arthritis (RA) and RA-associated interstitial lung disease (RA-ILD) in recent years has not been well characterized. ⋯ The overall RA-related mortality rates are decreasing, however, RA-ILD-related mortality rates remain stable except in age groups 65-84 years. This would suggest that therapies for RA and improvement in the management of other comorbidities have improved the overall outcomes in RA patients, but have had limited effect in the subgroup of patients with RA-ILD.
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Rationale: Clinicians commonly use short-term physiologic markers to assess the benefit of ventilator adjustments. Improved arterial oxygen tension/pressure (PaO2)/fraction of inspired oxygen (FiO2) after ventilator adjustment in acute respiratory distress syndrome is associated with lower mortality. However, as driving pressure (ΔP) reflects lung stress and strain, changes in ΔP may more accurately reflect benefits or harms of ventilator adjustments compared with changes in oxygenation. ⋯ When modeled together in ExPress, ΔΔP (aHR, 1.42; 95% CI, 1.14-1.78) was more strongly associated with mortality than ΔPaO2/FiO2 (aHR, 0.95 per 25 mm Hg increase; 95% CI, 0.90-1.00). Conclusions: Reduced ΔP following protocolized ventilator changes was more strongly and consistently associated with lower mortality than was increased PaO2/FiO2, making ΔΔP more informative about benefit from ventilator adjustments. Our results reinforce the primacy of ΔP, rather than oxygenation, as the key variable associated with outcome.