Journal of clinical medicine
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The prevalence of obesity is rapidly rising in Spain. The Awareness, Care and Treatment in Obesity Management-An International Observation (ACTION-IO) study (NCT03584191) was an international cross-sectional survey conducted to identify the perceptions, attitudes, behaviors, and barriers to obesity management for people with obesity (PwO) and healthcare professionals (HCPs); results from Spain are presented. In Spain, 1500 PwO (body mass index ≥30 kg/m2 based on self-reported height and weight) and 306 HCPs (in direct patient care for ≥2 years) completed the survey. ⋯ Only 24% of HCPs thought their patients were motivated to lose weight, whilst 45% of PwO reported being motivated. Of the 67% of PwO who had discussed their weight with an HCP in the last 5 years, 66% had been formally diagnosed with obesity. Our Spanish dataset reveals discrepancies in the perceptions and attitudes between PwO and HCPs, thus highlighting the need to improve education about obesity and its clinical management.
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The effect of intubation timing on the prognosis of critically ill patients with coronavirus 2019 (COVID-19) is not yet well understood. We investigated whether early intubation is associated with the survival of COVID-19 patients with acute respiratory distress syndrome (ARDS). This multicenter, retrospective, observational study was done on 47 adult COVID-19 patients with ARDS who were admitted to the intensive care unit (ICU) in Daegu, Korea between February 17 and April 23, 2020. ⋯ Results were similar between early and late intubation in the subgroup analysis of 39 patients treated with mechanical ventilation. In conclusion, in this study of critically ill COVID-19 patients with ARDS, early intubation was not associated with improved survival. This result may help in the efficient allocation of limited medical resources, such as ventilators.
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The introduction of modern sub-perception modalities has improved the efficacy of spinal cord stimulation (SCS) in refractory pain syndromes of the trunk and lower limbs. The objective of this study was to evaluate the effectiveness of low and high frequency SCS among patients with chronic pain. ⋯ The pain-relieving effects of SCS reached significance and were comparable across all modes of stimulation including sham. Sub-perception stimulation was not superior to supra-perception. SCS was characterised by a high degree of placebo effect. No evidence of carryover effect was observed between subsequent treatments. Contemporary neuromodulation procedures should be tailored to the individual preferences of patients.
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The severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) pandemic has led to widespread use of hydroxychloroquine and azithromycin despite the lack of conclusive evidence for their safety and efficacy. We evaluated the association between treatment with hydroxychloroquine and/or azithromycin and hospital mortality as the primary outcome. We compared the hospital mortality of patients treated with hydroxychloroquine alone, azithromycin alone, or their combination to the mortality of patients who received neither drug. ⋯ Hydroxychloroquine alone (OR 0.76, 95% CI 0.53-1.08) and the combination of azithromycin and hydroxychloroquine (OR 1.13, 95% CI 0.77-1.69) were not associated with hospital mortality. In this cohort of patients, azithromycin alone was associated with lower hospital mortality but hydroxychloroquine was not associated with increased or reduced mortality. While we await randomized clinical trials, these data support the use of azithromycin in novel coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) and can contribute to better understanding of its role in further meta-analyses.
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Endotracheal intubation (ETI) with direct view laryngoscopy (DL) is the gold standard for airway management. Videolaryngoscopy (VL) can improve glottis visualization, thus facilitating ETI. The aim of this monocentric, randomized, prospective study on a physician staffed German air ambulance is to compare DL and VL for ETI in terms of number of attempts and time as well as visualization of the glottis in a prehospital setting in a physician-based rescue system in adult patients. ⋯ Successful ETI with first pass success was significantly more frequent with VL than DL and three seconds faster. The percentage of glottis opening and the Cormack & Lehane classification were significantly better with VL than DL. Regarding improved first pass success in ETI with the VL, we would recommend the use of VL for prehospital airway management in physician-based rescue systems.