Background Heart failure (HF) readmission rates have become an increasingly important quality metric since the advent of the Hospital Readmissions Reduction Program. Despite many well‐intentioned efforts to reduce readmissions, clinicians continue to struggle with the problem of high HF readmission rates. Hypothesis HF patients with obstructive sleep apnea (OSA) will have higher burden of rehospitalization and mortality than HF patients without OSA. Methods Our study included 344 patient encounters (among 271 unique patients) with a diagnosis of HF from September 2014 through September 2015. Our primary endpoints were all‐cause readmission within 30 and 90 days. Multivariate logistic regression was used to assess the relationship between OSA and readmission when accounting for potential confounders. Results The patients’ were 72 ± 10 years old, and predominantly white (76.2%) and male (99.4%). Among the 344 patient encounters, 247 (71.8%) had diagnosed coronary artery disease, 159 (46.2%) had atrial fibrillation, and 99 (28%) had obstructive sleep apnea (OSA). Notably, patients with OSA had an elevated rate of readmission within 30 days (OSA: 30.3% vs no OSA: 19.6%, P = 0.037) and within 90 days (OSA: 57.6% vs no OSA: 36.3P < 0.01). Patients with OSA had increased risk of readmission within 90 days (odds ratio: 2.38, 95% confidence interval: 1.47‐3.83, P < 0.01) even after adjustment for potential confounders of age, race, obesity, diabetes, and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease. Conclusions HF patients with OSA have an elevated rate of readmission compared to the general HF population, particularly within the first 90 days after discharge.

Ampullary tumors with pancreatobiliary morphology have a worse overall survival, while negative SMAD4 expression is associated with a trend of less survival.

We report the case of a 29-year-old man without immunodeficiency who acquired Pseudomonas aeruginosa pneumonia complicated by pulmonary abscess. The source of infection could be identified as aerosolized metalworking fluid at his workplace contaminated with Pseudomonas aeruginosa. A high titer of specific IgG antibodies (type-III-sensitization, Gell & Coombs) against Pseudomonas aeruginosa has been identified in the patients serum as an indicator for longstanding occupational airborne exposure to contaminated metalworking fluid. This community-acquired pneumonia has been reported to the industrial injuries insurance as an occupational disease for discussion of legal consequences and development of effective measures of prevention.