Background Recent trials with dexamethasone and hydrocortisone have demonstrated benefit in patients with coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID‐19). Data on methylprednisolone are limited. Methods Retrospective cohort of consecutive adults with severe COVID‐19 pneumonia on high‐flow oxygen (FiO2 ≥ 50%) admitted to an academic centre in New York, from 1 March to 15 April 2020. We used inverse probability of treatment weights to estimate the effect of methylprednisolone on clinical outcomes and intensive care resource utilization. Results Of 447 patients, 153 (34.2%) received methylprednisolone and 294 (65.8%) received no corticosteroids. At 28 days, 102 patients (22.8%) had died and 115 (25.7%) received mechanical ventilation. In weighted analyses, risk for death or mechanical ventilation was 37% lower with methylprednisolone (hazard ratio 0.63; 95% CI 0.47‐0.86; P = .003), driven by less frequent mechanical ventilation (subhazard ratio 0.56; 95% CI 0.40‐0.79; P = .001); mortality did not differ between groups. The methylprednisolone group had 2.8 more ventilator‐free days (95% CI 0.5‐5.1; P = .017) and 2.6 more intensive care‐free days (95% CI 0.2‐4.9; P = .033) during the first 28 days. Complication rates were not higher with methylprednisolone. Conclusions In nonintubated patients with severe COVID‐19 pneumonia, methylprednisolone was associated with reduced need for mechanical ventilation and less‐intensive care resource utilization without excess complications.
Background Hepatic encephalopathy (HE) is a common cause of hospital admission in patients with liver cirrhosis (LC). The aims of this study were to evaluate the precipitant factors and analyze the treatment outcomes of HE in LC. Methods All the LC patients admitted between February 2017 and January 2018 for overt HE were analyzed for precipitating factors and treatment outcomes. Treatments were compared among three treatment groups: receiving lactulose, lactulose plus L-ornithine L-aspartate (LOLA), and lactulose plus rifaximin. The primary endpoints were mortality and hospital stay. The chi-square test was used to compare the different treatment outcomes with hospital stay and mortality with significance at p<0.05. Results A total of 132 patients (mean age 49.2 ± 10.2 years; male/female ratio of 103:29) were studied. The most common precipitating factor of HE was infection 65 (49.2%), followed by electrolyte imbalance 54 (41%), constipation 44 (33.33%), and gastrointestinal bleeding 21 (16%) patients. At the time of admission, 29 (22%), 76 (57.5%), 21 (16%), and six (4.5%) patients had grade I, II, III, and IV HE, respectively. The difference in mortality was not statistically significant (p=0.269) in three groups but the hospital stay was shorter among patients in groups B and C than in group A alone (7.36 ± 4.58 and 7 ± 3.69, 9.64 ± 5.28 days, respectively, p=0.015). Conclusions Infection, especially spontaneous bacterial peritonitis, was the commonest precipitating factor of HE. The combination of lactulose either with LOLA or rifaximin is equally effective in improving HE and reducing the duration of hospital stay than lactulose alone.
Aims We examined the value of N‐terminal pro‐B‐type natriuretic peptide (NT‐proBNP) in patients admitted for coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID‐19) without prior history of heart failure (HF) or cardiomyopathy. Methods and results Retrospective cohort of consecutive adults ( N = 679; median age 59 years; 38.7% women; 87.5% White; 7.1% Black; 5.4% Asian; 34.3% Hispanic) admitted with documented COVID‐19 in an academic centre in Long Island, NY. Admission NT‐proBNP was categorized using the European Society of Cardiology Heart Failure Association age‐specific criteria for acute presentations. We examined (i) mortality and the composite of death or mechanical ventilation and (ii) out‐of‐hospital, intensive care unit (ICU)‐free, and ventilator‐free days at 28 days. Estimates were adjusted for confounders using a lasso selection process. Using age‐specific criteria, 417 patients (61.4%) had low, 141 (20.8%) borderline, and 121 (17.8%) high NT‐proBNP. Mortality was 5.8%, 20.6%, and 36.4% for patients with low, borderline, and high NT‐proBNP, respectively. In lasso‐adjusted models, high NT‐proBNP was associated with higher mortality [hazard ratio (HR) 2.15; 95% confidence interval (CI) 1.06–4.39; P = 0.034] and composite endpoint rates (HR 1.66; 95%CI 1.04–2.66; P = 0.035). Patients with high NT‐proBNP had 32%, 33%, and 33% fewer out‐of‐hospital, ICU‐free, and ventilator‐free days compared with low NT‐proBNP counterparts. Results were consistent across age, sex, and race, and regardless of coronary artery disease or hypertension, except for stronger mortality signal with high NT‐proBNP in women. Conclusions In patients with COVID‐19 and no HF history, high admission NT‐proBNP is associated with higher mortality and healthcare resources utilization. Preventive strategies may be required for these patients.
Osteonecrosis, commonly known as avascular necrosis (AVN) of bone, is one of the universally recognized side effects of high-dose steroid and commonly involves femur head leading to significant morbidity. But AVN of femur head due to low-dose oral corticosteroid and relatively shorter span of time is a rare occurrence. We report a case of a 41-year-old woman with hypopituitarism who developed right-sided AVN while on a little physiological replacement dose of oral hydrocortisone used only for 7 months for secondary adrenal insufficiency from idiopathic hypopituitarism. Patient was diagnosed with MRI at early stage and managed with lowest possible physiological preparation of hydrocortisone and alendronate and eventually prevented from hip collapse. There should be a high clinical index for patients with any dose of steroid to recognize early, and prevent fracture and ultimately replacement.
Introduction: The value of N-terminal pro-B-type natriuretic peptide (NT-proBNP) in hospitalized patients with severe coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) is unclear. Hypothesis: Elevated NT-proBNP is associated with worse prognosis in hospitalized COVID-19 patients regardless of history of HF. Methods: We evaluated the in-hospital course of 469 adults admitted to Stony Brook University Hospital, NY, from March 1 to April 15, 2020 with severe COVID-19 pneumonia (need for high-flow O 2 ). We excluded patients who required mechanical ventilation (MV) or died within 24h of admission. We used Cox regression models to examine the association of admission NT-proBNP with mortality and the composite of death or MV. Results: Admission NT-proBNP was available in 399 patients (85.1%) of this cohort. Table 1 summarizes the patient characteristics according to history of HF (41/399 [10.3%]). After a median of 13 days (8-22), 107 patients (26.8%) died and 86 additional patients (21.6%) required MV and survived. Both HF (HR 3.65; 95%CI 2.32-5.77; P<0.001) and admission NT-proBNP (HR per log-2 [doubling] 1.35; 95%CI 1.27-1.44; P<0.001) were strongly associated with mortality. In models adjusting for age, sex, race, body mass index, hypertension, diabetes, coronary artery disease, atrial fibrillation, chronic lung disease, chronic kidney disease, and baseline 0 2 saturation, every log-2 higher admission NT-proBNP was associated with 28% higher mortality in patients with HF (HR 1.28; 95%CI 1.02-1.61; P=0.037) and 26% higher mortality in patients without HF (HR 1.26; 95%CI 1.14-1.40; P<0.001), P for interaction 0.92. Admission NT-proBNP was also associated with the composite of death or MV in the entire cohort (adjusted HR per log-2 1.09; 95%CI 1.02-1.17; P=0.017). Conclusions: In these high-risk COVID-19 patients, admission NT-proBNP was strongly predictive of mortality regardless of HF. Elevated NT-proBNP may thus identify patients in need of cardioprotective measures.
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