Critical care explorationsPub Date : 2025-01-31eCollection Date: 2025-02-01DOI: 10.1097/CCE.0000000000001210
Ghazal Haddad, David M Maslove, Lawrence Mbuagbaw, Emilie P Belley-Côté, Bram Rochwerg
{"title":"Corticosteroids in Cardiogenic Shock: A Retrospective Analysis of the Medical Information Mart for Intensive Care-IV Database.","authors":"Ghazal Haddad, David M Maslove, Lawrence Mbuagbaw, Emilie P Belley-Côté, Bram Rochwerg","doi":"10.1097/CCE.0000000000001210","DOIUrl":"10.1097/CCE.0000000000001210","url":null,"abstract":"<p><strong>Importance: </strong>While corticosteroid administration in septic shock has been shown to result in faster shock reversal and lower short-term mortality, the role of corticosteroids in the management of cardiogenic shock (CS) remains unexplored.</p><p><strong>Objectives: </strong>Determine the impact of corticosteroid administration on 90-day mortality (primary outcome) in patients admitted to a critical care unit with CS.</p><p><strong>Design, setting, and participants: </strong>In this retrospective cohort study, we used the critical care database of Medical Information Mart for Intensive Care-IV, and included all adult patients diagnosed with CS excluding repeated admissions, patients with adrenal insufficiency, those receiving baseline corticosteroids, and those requiring extracorporeal life support. We considered exposure based on receiving systemic corticosteroids from 6 hours before to 24 hours post-critical care admission.</p><p><strong>Main outcomes and measures: </strong>We calculated Cox proportional hazards using multivariate analysis for 90-day mortality (primary outcome). We also explored the association of corticosteroid use with hospital length of stay, ventilator-free days (VFDs), vasopressor-free days, ventilator-associated pneumonia, central-line-associated bloodstream infections, and hyperglycemia.</p><p><strong>Results: </strong>We included 2000 eligible patients, with 143 (7.2%) receiving systemic corticosteroids. Corticosteroid-treated patients were younger (67.7 vs. 71.2 yr; p = 0.006), had higher Sequential Organ Failure Assessment scores at baseline (9.4 vs. 7.8; p < 0.001), and more often required vasopressors (78% vs. 63%; p < 0.001), and invasive mechanical ventilation (73% vs. 45%; p < 0.001). Corticosteroid use was associated with increased 90-day mortality in multivariate analysis (hazard ratio, 1.60; 95% CI, 1.25-2.05) and fewer VFDs (2.8 d fewer; 95% CI, 0.35-5.26) with no effect on other secondary outcomes.</p><p><strong>Conclusions and relevance: </strong>Use of corticosteroids may be associated with increased mortality and a reduction in VFDs in patients admitted to critical care with CS. These findings suggesting potential harm of corticosteroids in CS might reflect unmeasured confounding and require corroboration through additional observational studies and ultimately randomized clinical trials.</p>","PeriodicalId":93957,"journal":{"name":"Critical care explorations","volume":"7 2","pages":"e1210"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2025-01-31","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC11789865/pdf/","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"143070184","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Critical care explorationsPub Date : 2025-01-31eCollection Date: 2025-02-01DOI: 10.1097/CCE.0000000000001212
Mervin V Loi, Rehena Sultana, Tuong Minh Nguyen, Shi Ting Tia, Jan Hau Lee, Daniel O'Connor
{"title":"The Diagnostic Utility of Host RNA Biosignatures in Adult Patients With Sepsis: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis.","authors":"Mervin V Loi, Rehena Sultana, Tuong Minh Nguyen, Shi Ting Tia, Jan Hau Lee, Daniel O'Connor","doi":"10.1097/CCE.0000000000001212","DOIUrl":"10.1097/CCE.0000000000001212","url":null,"abstract":"<p><strong>Objectives: </strong>Sepsis is a life-threatening medical emergency, with a profound healthcare burden globally. Its pathophysiology is complex, heterogeneous and temporally dynamic, making diagnosis challenging. Medical management is predicated on early diagnosis and timely intervention. Transcriptomics is one of the novel \"-omics\" technologies being evaluated for recognition of sepsis. Our objective was to evaluate the performance of host gene expression biosignatures for the diagnosis of all-cause sepsis in adults.</p><p><strong>Data sources: </strong>PubMed/Ovid Medline, Ovid Embase, and Cochrane databases from inception to June 2023.</p><p><strong>Study selection: </strong>We included studies evaluating the performance of host gene expression biosignatures in adults who were diagnosed with sepsis using existing clinical definitions. Controls where applicable were patients without clinical sepsis.</p><p><strong>Data extraction: </strong>Data including population demographics, sample size, study design, tissue specimen, type of transcriptome, health status of comparator group, and performance of transcriptomic biomarkers were independently extracted by at least two reviewers.</p><p><strong>Data synthesis: </strong>Meta-analysis to describe the performance of host gene expression biosignatures for the diagnosis of sepsis in adult patients was performed using the random-effects model. Risk of bias was assessed according to the Quality Assessment of Diagnostic Accuracy Studies-2 tool. A total of 117 studies (n = 17,469), comprising 132 separate patient datasets, were included in our final analysis. Performance of transcriptomics for the diagnosis of sepsis against pooled controls showed area under the receiver operating characteristic curve (AUC, 0.86; 95% CI, 0.84-0.88). Studies using healthy controls showed AUC 0.87 (95% CI, 0.84-0.89), while studies using controls with systemic inflammatory response syndrome (SIRS) had AUC 0.84 (95% CI, 0.78-0.90). Transcripts with excellent discrimination against SIRS controls include UrSepsisModel, a 210 differentially expressed genes biosignature, microRNA-143, and Septicyte laboratory.</p><p><strong>Conclusions: </strong>Transcriptomics is a promising approach for the accurate diagnosis of sepsis in adults and demonstrates good discriminatory ability against both healthy and SIRS control subjects.</p>","PeriodicalId":93957,"journal":{"name":"Critical care explorations","volume":"7 2","pages":"e1212"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2025-01-31","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC11789890/pdf/","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"143070197","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Critical care explorationsPub Date : 2025-01-22eCollection Date: 2025-01-01DOI: 10.1097/CCE.0000000000001201
Aaron S Case, Chad H Hochberg, Binu Koirala, Eleni Flanagan, Souvik Chatterjee, William N Checkley, Ayse P Gurses, David N Hager
{"title":"Heterogeneity of Intermediate Care Organization Within a Single Healthcare System.","authors":"Aaron S Case, Chad H Hochberg, Binu Koirala, Eleni Flanagan, Souvik Chatterjee, William N Checkley, Ayse P Gurses, David N Hager","doi":"10.1097/CCE.0000000000001201","DOIUrl":"10.1097/CCE.0000000000001201","url":null,"abstract":"<p><p>Intermediate care (IC) is prevalent nationwide, but little is known about how to best organize this level of care. Using a 99-item cross-sectional survey assessing four domains (hospital and physical IC features, provider and nurse staffing, monitoring, and interventions/services), we describe the organizational heterogeneity of IC within a five-hospital healthcare system. Surveys were completed by nurse managers from 12 (86%) of 14 IC settings. Six IC settings (50%) were embedded within acute care wards, four (33%) were stand-alone units, and two (17%) were embedded within an ICU. All had a nurse-to-patient ratio of 1:3, provided continuous cardiac telemetry, continuous pulse oximetry, high-flow nasal oxygen, and bedside intermittent hemodialysis. Most (> 50%) permitted arterial lines, frequent nursing assessments (every 2 hr), and noninvasive ventilation or mechanical ventilation via a tracheostomy. Vasopressors were less often permitted (< 25% of settings). Models of IC vary greatly within a single healthcare system.</p>","PeriodicalId":93957,"journal":{"name":"Critical care explorations","volume":"7 1","pages":"e1201"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2025-01-22","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC11756875/pdf/","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"143018390","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Critical care explorationsPub Date : 2025-01-22eCollection Date: 2025-01-01DOI: 10.1097/CCE.0000000000001213
Thomas C Seijbel, Levi Hoste, Corinne M P Buysse, Karolijn Dulfer, Filomeen Haerynck, Matthijs de Hoog, Naomi Ketharanathan
{"title":"Multidimensional 1-Year Outcomes After Intensive Care Admission for Multisystem Inflammatory Syndrome in Children.","authors":"Thomas C Seijbel, Levi Hoste, Corinne M P Buysse, Karolijn Dulfer, Filomeen Haerynck, Matthijs de Hoog, Naomi Ketharanathan","doi":"10.1097/CCE.0000000000001213","DOIUrl":"10.1097/CCE.0000000000001213","url":null,"abstract":"<p><strong>Objectives: </strong>The COVID-19 pandemic gave rise to uncertainty concerning potential sequelae related to a severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 infection. This landscape is currently unfolding with studies reporting sequelae on various domains (physical, cognitive, and psychosocial), although most studies focus on adults or only one domain. We sought to investigate concurrent sequelae on multiple domains 1 year after PICU admission for Multisystem Inflammatory Syndrome in Children (MIS-C).</p><p><strong>Design: </strong>Prospective cohort study.</p><p><strong>Setting: </strong>Two academic, tertiary referral hospitals in The Netherlands and Belgium.</p><p><strong>Patients: </strong>Patients (< 18 yr, <i>n</i> = 58) seen in-person 1-year after PICU admission for MIS-C.</p><p><strong>Interventions: </strong>None.</p><p><strong>Measurements and main results: </strong>Seventy MIS-C patients (62% male; median age, 10.0 [interquartile range, 7.4-13.0]) were admitted to the PICU, mostly (86%) due to (imminent) circulatory failure. The majority received IV immunoglobulins (95%), steroids (83%), and vasopressors and/or inotropes (72%). Invasive respiratory support and extracorporeal membrane oxygenation were necessary in 7% and 2%, respectively. All patients survived. Fifty-eight patients (83%) attended 1-year follow-up. Although most patients had normal functional performance scores (Pediatric Cerebral Performance Category, Pediatric Overall Performance Category, and Functional Status Score), 62% still experienced physical sequelae: fatigue (40%), headaches (27%), and decreased exercise tolerance (19%). Cognitive, behavioral, and psychological problems were reported in 14%, 13%, and 23%, respectively. This resulted in 22% requiring ongoing healthcare utilization, 9% not being able to return to full-time school attendance and cessation of hobbies in 7%.</p><p><strong>Conclusions: </strong>This is the first 1-year outcome study of MIS-C PICU patients to include both physical and psychosocial characteristics. One year after PICU admission, most children had normalized functional performance as measured by three validated performance scores. However, many still reported a variety of multidimensional sequelae at 1-year follow-up impacting daily life. This emphasizes the importance of continued investigative efforts and multidisciplinary follow-up programs to better understand pathophysiology and contributing factors to the MIS-C disease trajectory and initiate patient-specific interventions to improve outcome and social participation.</p>","PeriodicalId":93957,"journal":{"name":"Critical care explorations","volume":"7 1","pages":"e1213"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2025-01-22","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC11756874/pdf/","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"143030597","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Critical care explorationsPub Date : 2025-01-22eCollection Date: 2025-01-01DOI: 10.1097/CCE.0000000000001201
Aaron S Case, Chad H Hochberg, Binu Koirala, Eleni Flanagan, Souvik Chatterjee, William N Checkley, Ayse P Gurses, David N Hager
{"title":"Heterogeneity of Intermediate Care Organization Within a Single Healthcare System.","authors":"Aaron S Case, Chad H Hochberg, Binu Koirala, Eleni Flanagan, Souvik Chatterjee, William N Checkley, Ayse P Gurses, David N Hager","doi":"10.1097/CCE.0000000000001201","DOIUrl":"10.1097/CCE.0000000000001201","url":null,"abstract":"<p><p>Intermediate care (IC) is prevalent nationwide, but little is known about how to best organize this level of care. Using a 99-item cross-sectional survey assessing four domains (hospital and physical IC features, provider and nurse staffing, monitoring, and interventions/services), we describe the organizational heterogeneity of IC within a five-hospital healthcare system. Surveys were completed by nurse managers from 12 (86%) of 14 IC settings. Six IC settings (50%) were embedded within acute care wards, four (33%) were stand-alone units, and two (17%) were embedded within an ICU. All had a nurse-to-patient ratio of 1:3, provided continuous cardiac telemetry, continuous pulse oximetry, high-flow nasal oxygen, and bedside intermittent hemodialysis. Most (> 50%) permitted arterial lines, frequent nursing assessments (every 2 hr), and noninvasive ventilation or mechanical ventilation via a tracheostomy. Vasopressors were less often permitted (< 25% of settings). Models of IC vary greatly within a single healthcare system.</p>","PeriodicalId":93957,"journal":{"name":"Critical care explorations","volume":"7 1","pages":"e1201"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2025-01-22","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC11756875/pdf/","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"143030591","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Critical care explorationsPub Date : 2025-01-20eCollection Date: 2025-01-01DOI: 10.1097/CCE.0000000000001195
Prashanti Marella, Sansuka De Silva, Antony G Attokaran, Kevin B Laupland, Lars Eriksson, Mahesh Ramanan
{"title":"Composite Primary Outcomes Reported in Studies of Critical Care: A Scoping Review.","authors":"Prashanti Marella, Sansuka De Silva, Antony G Attokaran, Kevin B Laupland, Lars Eriksson, Mahesh Ramanan","doi":"10.1097/CCE.0000000000001195","DOIUrl":"10.1097/CCE.0000000000001195","url":null,"abstract":"<p><strong>Objective: </strong>Composite primary outcomes (CPO) (incorporating both mortality and non-mortality outcomes) offer several advantages over mortality as an outcome for critical care research. Our objective was to explore and map the literature to report on CPO evaluated in critical care research.</p><p><strong>Data sources: </strong>PubMed, Embase, Cumulative Index to Nursing and Allied Health Literature, Scopus, and Cochrane Library from January 2000 to January 2024.</p><p><strong>Study selection: </strong>All studies (both non-randomized controlled trial [RCT] and RCT) conducted in ICUs treating adult patients (18 yr old or older) that described CPOs and their definitions, were included for mapping, reporting, and analyzing CPOs without any restrictions.</p><p><strong>Data extraction: </strong>Independent double-screening of abstracts/full texts and data extraction was performed using a pilot-tested extraction template. The data collected included characteristics of CPO, definitions, trends, and death handling techniques used while reporting the CPO.</p><p><strong>Data synthesis: </strong>Seventeen CPOs were extracted from 71 studies, predominantly reported in the setting of pharmaceutical studies (48/71, 67.6%), used RCT methodology (60/71, 84.5%), and were mostly single-center studies (55/71, 77.5%). Ventilator-free days were the most commonly reported CPO (29/71, 40.8%) with marked variability in the definition used and death handling (0 d in 33 studies and -1 d in 7 studies). The most common statistical paradigm used was frequentist (63/71, 88.7%) and the study follow-up time was 90 days with 28 studies using this timeline (28/71, 39.4%). Narrative synthesis highlighted the variability in defining CPO.</p><p><strong>Conclusions: </strong>CPOs are an emerging set of outcomes increasingly reported in critical care research. There was significant heterogeneity in definitions used, follow-up times, and reporting trends.</p>","PeriodicalId":93957,"journal":{"name":"Critical care explorations","volume":"7 1","pages":"e1195"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2025-01-20","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC11749510/pdf/","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"143018388","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Critical care explorationsPub Date : 2025-01-16eCollection Date: 2025-01-01DOI: 10.1097/CCE.0000000000001204
Sarah A Teele, Avihu Z Gazit, Craig Futterman, William G La Cava, David S Cooper, Steven M Schwartz, Joshua W Salvin
{"title":"Investigation of a Novel Noninvasive Risk Analytics Algorithm With Laboratory Central Venous Oxygen Saturation Measurements in Critically Ill Pediatric Patients.","authors":"Sarah A Teele, Avihu Z Gazit, Craig Futterman, William G La Cava, David S Cooper, Steven M Schwartz, Joshua W Salvin","doi":"10.1097/CCE.0000000000001204","DOIUrl":"10.1097/CCE.0000000000001204","url":null,"abstract":"<p><strong>Background: </strong>Accurate assessment of oxygen delivery relative to oxygen demand is crucial in the care of a critically ill patient. The central venous oxygen saturation (Svo<sub>2</sub>) enables an estimate of cardiac output yet obtaining these clinical data requires invasive procedures and repeated blood sampling. Interpretation remains subjective and vulnerable to error. Recognition of patient's evolving clinical status as well as the impact of therapeutic interventions may be delayed.</p><p><strong>Objective: </strong>The predictive analytics algorithm, inadequate delivery of oxygen (IDo<sub>2</sub>) index, was developed to noninvasively estimate the probability of a patient's Svo<sub>2</sub> to fall below a preselected threshold.</p><p><strong>Derivation cohort: </strong>A retrospective multicenter cohort study was conducted using data temporally independent from the design and development phase of the IDo<sub>2</sub> index.</p><p><strong>Validation cohort: </strong>A total of 20,424 Svo<sub>2</sub> measurements from 3,018 critically ill neonates, infants, and children were retrospectively analyzed. Collected data included vital signs, ventilator data, laboratory data, and demographics.</p><p><strong>Prediction model: </strong>The ability of the IDo<sub>2</sub> index to predict Svo<sub>2</sub> below a preselected threshold (30%, 40%, or 50%) was evaluated for discriminatory power, range utilization, and robustness.</p><p><strong>Results: </strong>Area under the receiver operating characteristic curve (AUC) was calculated for each index threshold. Datasets with greater amounts of available data had larger AUC scores. This was observed across each configuration. For the majority of thresholds, Svo<sub>2</sub> values were observed to be significantly lower as the IDo<sub>2</sub> index increased.</p><p><strong>Conclusions: </strong>The IDo<sub>2</sub> index may inform decision-making in pediatric cardiac critical care settings by providing a continuous, noninvasive assessment of oxygen delivery relative to oxygen demand in a specific patient. Leveraging predictive analytics to guide timely patient care, including support for escalation or de-escalation of treatments, may improve care delivery for patients and clinicians.</p>","PeriodicalId":93957,"journal":{"name":"Critical care explorations","volume":"7 1","pages":"e1204"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2025-01-16","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC11741213/pdf/","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"143018391","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Critical care explorationsPub Date : 2025-01-16eCollection Date: 2025-01-01DOI: 10.1097/CCE.0000000000001205
Piyush Mathur, Amanda J Naylor, Moises Auron, Jean Beresian, Alexandra Tallman, Allison Griffith, Kathleen Seasholtz, Mariel Manlapaz, Katherine Zacharyasz, Reem Khatib, Shreya Mishra, Kathryn Haller, Thomas Fraser, Katherine Holman
{"title":"Evaluating the Adequacy of Central Line-Associated Bloodstream Infection As a Quality Measure: A Cross-Sectional Analysis at a Single Tertiary Care Center.","authors":"Piyush Mathur, Amanda J Naylor, Moises Auron, Jean Beresian, Alexandra Tallman, Allison Griffith, Kathleen Seasholtz, Mariel Manlapaz, Katherine Zacharyasz, Reem Khatib, Shreya Mishra, Kathryn Haller, Thomas Fraser, Katherine Holman","doi":"10.1097/CCE.0000000000001205","DOIUrl":"10.1097/CCE.0000000000001205","url":null,"abstract":"<p><strong>Importance: </strong>The current definition of central line-associated bloodstream infection (CLABSI) may overestimate the true incidence of CLABSI as it is often unclear whether the bloodstream infection (BSI) is secondary to the central line or due to another infectious source.</p><p><strong>Objectives: </strong>We aimed to assess the prevalence and outcomes of central CLABSI at our institution, to identify opportunities for improvement, appropriately direct efforts for infection reduction, and identify gaps in the CLABSI definition and its application as a quality measure.</p><p><strong>Design setting and participants: </strong>Retrospective cross-sectional study of patients identified to have a CLABSI in the period 2018-2022 cared for at the value-based purchasing (VBP) units of a 1200-bed tertiary care hospital located in Cleveland, OH. Each CLABSI episode was assessed for relationship with central venous catheter (CVC), suspected secondary source of BSI, mortality associated with the CLABSI hospital encounter, and availability of infectious disease physician or primary physician documentation of infectious source.</p><p><strong>Main outcomes and measures: </strong>CLABSI episodes were classified as CVC related, CVC unrelated, and CVC relationship unclear. Mortality during the same encounter as the CLABSI event was assessed as an outcome measure. Descriptive statistics were performed.</p><p><strong>Results: </strong>A total of 340 CLABSI episodes occurred in adult patients in VBP units. Majority of the CLABSI, 77.5% (266), occurred in the ICU. Of the CLABSI analyzed, 31.5% (107) were classified as unrelated to the CVC; 25.0% (85) had an unclear source; 43% (148) were classified as CVC related. For CVC-related cases, <i>Staphylococcus</i> and <i>Candida</i> were the predominant organisms. For the CVC unrelated and unclear groups <i>Enterococcus</i> was most prevalent. The mortality rate was lowest among patients classified with a CVC-related BSI. The positive predictive value (PPV) of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention CLABSI definition to predict a true CVC-related infection was found to be 58.0%.</p><p><strong>Conclusions and relevance: </strong>The definition of CLABSI as a surrogate for catheter-related BSI is inadequate, with a PPV of 58.0% (43.1-67.6%). Efforts should be redirected toward revising the CLABSI definition and possibly reevaluating its criteria. Resources should be assigned to further investigate and systematically prevent BSIs from secondary sources while adhering to existing CLABSI prevention bundles.</p>","PeriodicalId":93957,"journal":{"name":"Critical care explorations","volume":"7 1","pages":"e1205"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2025-01-16","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC11741216/pdf/","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"143018389","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Prevalence of Pulmonary Embolism in COVID-19 Positive Critically Ill Children.","authors":"Yudy Fonseca, Alise Davies, Stephanie Jarrin, Liliana Simon, Cortney Foster, Sun Kai, Adnan Bhutta","doi":"10.1097/CCE.0000000000001206","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1097/CCE.0000000000001206","url":null,"abstract":"<p><strong>Objectives: </strong>To investigate the prevalence of pulmonary embolism (PE) in children admitted to critical care diagnosed with COVID-19 infection.</p><p><strong>Design: </strong>Retrospective database study.</p><p><strong>Setting: </strong>Data reported to the Virtual Pediatric Systems, 2018-2021.</p><p><strong>Patients: </strong>Patients 28 days to younger than 18 years old, admitted to a PICU with either PE or COVID-19 diagnoses.</p><p><strong>Interventions: </strong>None.</p><p><strong>Measurements and main results: </strong>Among the PE-positive subgroups, from January 2020 to December 2021, 78 patients (14%) had an acute COVID-19 infection. The prevalence of PE pre-pandemic period (2018-2019) was 0.19% and for pandemic period (2020-2021) was 0.26% (p < 0.001). During the pandemic period, the prevalence of PE for COVID-negative patients was 0.21% and for COVID-positive patients was 1.01% (p < 0.001). The result shows that the chance to develop PE for COVID-positive patients is 4.8 times that for COVID-negative patients during the pandemic. In the subgroup of the PE-positive patients, 55.1% were Black or African American in the COVID-positive group and 19% in the COVID-negative group (p < 0.001). A multivariable logistic regression showed that race was an independent risk factor for COVID in PE-positive patients.</p><p><strong>Conclusions: </strong>Our study demonstrates a significant increase in the prevalence of PE among pediatric patients admitted to PICUs during the COVID-19 pandemic compared with pre-pandemic. Our study indicates that COVID-positive patients are 4.8 times more likely to develop PE than COVID-negative patients. Additionally, the study highlights substantial racial disparities in the prevalence of PE, with Black or African American patients being disproportionately affected.</p>","PeriodicalId":93957,"journal":{"name":"Critical care explorations","volume":"7 1","pages":"e1206"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2025-01-15","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"143018394","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Critical care explorationsPub Date : 2025-01-15eCollection Date: 2025-01-01DOI: 10.1097/CCE.0000000000001202
Rachel L Winner, Lydia R Ware, Kevin M Dube, Mary P Kovacevic, Kenneth E Lupi, Paul M Szumita, Jeremy R DeGrado
{"title":"A Retrospective, Single-Center Assessment of Changes in Pain, Agitation, and Delirium Management Before and During the COVID-19 Pandemic.","authors":"Rachel L Winner, Lydia R Ware, Kevin M Dube, Mary P Kovacevic, Kenneth E Lupi, Paul M Szumita, Jeremy R DeGrado","doi":"10.1097/CCE.0000000000001202","DOIUrl":"10.1097/CCE.0000000000001202","url":null,"abstract":"<p><strong>Importance: </strong>Recent studies have found an association between COVID-19 infection and deeper sedation in mechanically ventilated patients, raising concerns about the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on pain, agitation, and delirium (PAD) management practices overall.</p><p><strong>Objectives: </strong>This study aimed to assess differences in PAD management in patients without COVID-19 infection in pre- and peri-COVID-19 pandemic timeframes.</p><p><strong>Design, setting, and participants: </strong>This was a single-center, retrospective, pre-/post-cohort analysis of mechanically ventilated adult patients without COVID-19 infection admitted to an ICU in Boston, MA. The \"pre\" and \"post\" groups enrolled patients in 2019 and 2021, respectively. All PAD data during the first 7 days of mechanical ventilation (MV) were collected.</p><p><strong>Main outcomes and measures: </strong>The primary outcome was ventilator-free days (VFDs) during the first 28 days. A multivariable linear regression analysis was performed to assess VFD while controlling for confounders. Secondary outcomes included depth of sedation, total dose of sedatives, and in-hospital mortality.</p><p><strong>Results: </strong>There were 339 patients included in the final analysis. There was no difference in VFD between the pre- and post-groups (22.2 vs. 22.6 d; p = 0.92); this was confirmed by multivariable linear regression (p = 0.91). Patients in the post-group experienced significantly deeper levels of sedation compared with the pre-group (58% vs. 53%; p < 0.01) within the first 48 hours of MV. The median number of Richmond Agitation-Sedation Scale assessments per 24-hour period was greater in the pre-group (13 vs. 12 assessments; p = 0.02) within the first 48 hours of MV. There were no significant differences in total cumulative dose of sedatives or in-hospital mortality between the two groups.</p><p><strong>Conclusions and relevance: </strong>This study suggests that PAD practices, including depth of sedation and frequency of assessment, differed between pre- and post-COVID-19 groups in patients without COVID-19. Outcomes including VFD, mortality, and hospital length of stay were not affected. Further studies are needed to understand the broader impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on PAD management practices.</p>","PeriodicalId":93957,"journal":{"name":"Critical care explorations","volume":"7 1","pages":"e1202"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2025-01-15","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC11737495/pdf/","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"142985632","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}