Objectives Missing delirium in the emergency department (ED) has been described as a medical error, yet this diagnosis is frequently unrecognized by emergency physicians. Identifying a subset of patients at high risk for delirium may improve delirium screening compliance by emergency physicians. We sought 1) to determine how often delirium is missed in the ED and how often these missed cases are detected by admitting hospital physicians at the time of admission, 2) to identify delirium risk factors in older ED patients, and 3) to characterize delirium by psychomotor subtypes in the ED setting. Methods This cross-sectional study was a convenience sample of patients conducted at a tertiary care, academic ED. English speaking patients who were 65 years and older and present in the ED for less than 12 hours at the time of enrollment were included. Patients were excluded if they refused consent, were previously enrolled, had severe dementia, were unarousable to verbal stimuli for all delirium assessments, or had incomplete data. Delirium status was determined by using the Confusion Assessment Method for the Intensive Care Unit (CAM-ICU) administered by trained research assistants. Recognition of delirium by emergency and hospital physicians was determined from the medical record, blinded to CAM-ICU status. Multivariable logistic regression was used to identify independent delirium risk factors. The Richmond Agitation and Sedation Scale was used to classify delirium by its psychomotor subtypes. Results Inclusion and exclusion criteria were met in 303 patients and 25 (8.3%) presented to the ED with delirium. The vast majority (92.0%, 95%CI: 74.0% - 99.0%) of delirious patients had the hypoactive psychomotor subtype. Of the 25 patients with delirium, 19 (76.0%, 95%CI: 54.9% - 90.6%) were not recognized to be delirious by the emergency physician. Of the 16 admitted delirious patients who were undiagnosed by the emergency physicians, 15 (93.8%, 95%CI: 69.8% - 99.8%) remained unrecognized by the hospital physician at the time of admission. Dementia, a Katz ADL ≤ 4, and hearing impairment were independently associated with presenting with delirium in the ED. Based upon the multivariable model, a delirium risk score was constructed. Dementia, Katz ADL ≤ 4, and hearing impairment were weighted equally. Patients with higher risk score more likely to be CAM-ICU positive (area under the receiver operating characteristic curve = 0.82). If older ED patients with one or more delirium risk factors were screened for delirium, 165 (54.5%, 95%CI: 48.7% to 60.2%) would have required a delirium assessment at the expense of missing one patient with delirium, while screening 141 patients without delirium. Conclusion Delirium was a common occurrence in the ED and the vast majority of delirium in the ED was the hypoactive subtype. Emergency physicians missed delirium in 76% of the cases. Delirium that was missed in the ED was nearly always missed by hospital physicians at the time of admission. Using a delirium risk score has the pote...

ImportanceThe comparative effectiveness of rivaroxaban and apixaban, the most frequently prescribed oral anticoagulants for ischemic stroke prevention in patients with atrial fibrillation, is uncertain.ObjectiveTo compare major ischemic and hemorrhagic outcomes in patients with atrial fibrillation treated with rivaroxaban or apixaban.Design, Setting, and ParticipantsRetrospective cohort study using computerized enrollment and claims files for US Medicare beneficiaries 65 years or older. Between January 1, 2013, and November 30, 2018, a total of 581 451 patients with atrial fibrillation began rivaroxaban or apixaban treatment and were followed up for 4 years, through November 30, 2018.ExposuresRivaroxaban (n = 227 572) and apixaban (n = 353 879), either standard or reduced dose.Main Outcomes and MeasuresThe primary outcome was a composite of major ischemic (stroke/systemic embolism) and hemorrhagic (intracerebral hemorrhage/other intracranial bleeding/fatal extracranial bleeding) events. Secondary outcomes were nonfatal extracranial bleeding and total mortality (fatal ischemic/hemorrhagic event or other death during follow-up). Rates, hazard ratios (HRs), and rate differences (RDs) were adjusted for baseline differences in comorbidity with inverse probability of treatment weighting.ResultsStudy patients (mean age, 77.0 years; 291 966 [50.2%] women; 134 393 [23.1%] receiving reduced dose) had 474 605 person-years of follow-up (median [IQR] of 174 [62-397] days). The adjusted primary outcome rate for rivaroxaban was 16.1 per 1000 person-years vs 13.4 per 1000 person-years for apixaban (RD, 2.7 [95% CI, 1.9-3.5]; HR, 1.18 [95% CI, 1.12-1.24]). The rivaroxaban group had increased risk for both major ischemic events (8.6 vs 7.6 per 1000 person-years; RD, 1.1 [95% CI, 0.5-1.7]; HR, 1.12 [95% CI, 1.04-1.20]) and hemorrhagic events (7.5 vs 5.9 per 1000 person-years; RD, 1.6 [95% CI, 1.1-2.1]; HR, 1.26 [95% CI, 1.16-1.36]), including fatal extracranial bleeding (1.4 vs 1.0 per 1000 person-years; RD, 0.4 [95% CI, 0.2-0.7]; HR, 1.41 [95% CI, 1.18-1.70]). Patients receiving rivaroxaban had increased risk of nonfatal extracranial bleeding (39.7 vs 18.5 per 1000 person-years; RD, 21.1 [95% CI, 20.0-22.3]; HR, 2.07 [95% CI, 1.99-2.15]), fatal ischemic/hemorrhagic events (4.5 vs 3.3 per 1000 person-years; RD, 1.2 [95% CI, 0.8-1.6]; HR, 1.34 [95% CI, 1.21-1.48]), and total mortality (44.2 vs 41.0 per 1000 person-years; RD, 3.1 [95% CI, 1.8-4.5]; HR, 1.06 [95% CI, 1.02-1.09]). The risk of the primary outcome was increased for rivaroxaban in both those receiving the reduced dose (27.4 vs 21.0 per 1000 person-years; RD, 6.4 [95% CI, 4.1-8.7]; HR, 1.28 [95% CI, 1.16-1.40]) and the standard dose (13.2 vs 11.4 per 1000 person-years; RD, 1.8 [95% CI, 1.0-2.6]; HR, 1.13 [95% CI, 1.06-1.21]) groups.Conclusions and RelevanceAmong Medicare beneficiaries 65 years or older with atrial fibrillation, treatment with rivaroxaban compared with apixaban was associated with a significantly increased risk of major ischemic or hemorrhagic events.

Background: Natural language processing models such as ChatGPT can generate text-based content and are poised to become a major information source in medicine and beyond. The accuracy and completeness of ChatGPT for medical queries is not known. Methods: Thirty-three physicians across 17 specialties generated 284 medical questions that they subjectively classified as easy, medium, or hard with either binary (yes/no) or descriptive answers. The physicians then graded ChatGPT-generated answers to these questions for accuracy (6-point Likert scale; range 1 – completely incorrect to 6 – completely correct) and completeness (3-point Likert scale; range 1 – incomplete to 3 - complete plus additional context). Scores were summarized with descriptive statistics and compared using Mann-Whitney U or Kruskal-Wallis testing. Results: Across all questions (n=284), median accuracy score was 5.5 (between almost completely and completely correct) with mean score of 4.8 (between mostly and almost completely correct). Median completeness score was 3 (complete and comprehensive) with mean score of 2.5. For questions rated easy, medium, and hard, median accuracy scores were 6, 5.5, and 5 (mean 5.0, 4.7, and 4.6; p=0.05). Accuracy scores for binary and descriptive questions were similar (median 6 vs. 5; mean 4.9 vs. 4.7; p=0.07). Of 36 questions with scores of 1-2, 34 were re-queried/re-graded 8-17 days later with substantial improvement (median 2 vs. 4; p<0.01). Conclusions: ChatGPT generated largely accurate information to diverse medical queries as judged by academic physician specialists although with important limitations. Further research and model development are needed to correct inaccuracies and for validation.

Schistosomiasis is the second most socioeconomically devastating parasitic disease worldwide, affecting over 240 million people in 77 countries on 5 continents and killing 300,000 people annually in sub-Saharan Africa alone. Neuroschistosomiasis is caused by granuloma formation around eggs that lodge in the CNS, with Schistosoma mansoni and Schistosoma haematobium usually affecting the spinal cord and Schistosoma japonicum causing most reported cerebral disease. We report a case of a previously healthy 25-year-old woman native to the United States who presented with a single generalized tonic–clonic seizure without other neurologic symptoms four years after spending a semester in Ghana where she went swimming once in a river. Brain MRI showed areas of signal abnormality and mottled nodular linear enhancement in the left temporal and right posterior temporal/parietal lobes and right cerebellum without mass effect. A biopsy of the left temporal lesion showed prominent granulomas with dense mixed inflammatory infiltrates composed of eosinophils, plasma cells, and lymphocytes surrounding refractile egg shells containing characteristic embryonal cells and von Lichtenberg's envelope and displaying the pathognomonic spine shape of S. mansoni. Serum ELISA and antibody immunoblots confirmed exposure to S. mansoni. In summary, we describe the atypical combination of cerebral schistosomiasis due to S. mansoni, after a prolonged interval of four years, from a single known exposure.

Cerebrovascular FMD may present with myriad symptoms. Our data support that patients with FMD with symptomatic disease have a low rate of recurrent symptoms or disease progression and can be managed conservatively with stroke risk modification, antiplatelet agents, surveillance imaging, and counseling.

Results:In high sensation seekers, tobacco smoking independent of nicotine yield ameliorated deprivation effects, whereas amelioration of deprivation effects was dependent on nicotine yield among low sensation seekers. However, this effect was limited to a small subset of measures. Subsequent cigarette selfadministration increased in a nicotine-dependent manner for high sensation seekers only. Conclusions:Compared with low sensation seekers, high sensation seekers were more sensitive to the withdrawal relieving effects of nonnicotine components of smoking following 24 hr of deprivation on selective measures and more sensitive to nicotine yield during subsequent tobacco self-administration. These results are consistent with studies suggesting that factors driving tobacco dependence may vary as a function of sensationseeking status.

Introduction: This study aimed to demonstrate that teleneurology consultations conducted via tablet technology are an efficient and cost-effective means of managing acute neurologic emergencies at community-based hospitals and that utilizing such technology yields high community physician satisfaction. Method: During a 39-month period, Vanderbilt University Medical Center in Tennessee USA, provided teleneurology services to 10 community-based hospitals that lacked adequate neurology coverage. Hospitalists at one community-based hospital were not comfortable treating any patient with a neurologic symptom, resulting in 100% of those patients being transferred. This facility now retains more than 60% of neurology patients. For less than US$1200, these hospitals were able to meet the only capital expenditure required to launch this service: the purchase of handheld tablet computers. Real-time teleneurology consultations were conducted via tablet using two-way video conferencing, radiologic image sharing, and medical record documentation.Community physicians were regularly surveyed to assess satisfaction. Results: From February 2014 to May 2017, 3626 teleneurology consultations were conducted. Community physicians, in partnership with neurologists, successfully managed 87% of patients at the community-based hospital. Only 13% of patients required transfer to another facility for a higher level of care. The most common diagnoses included stroke (34%), seizure (11%), and headache/migraine (6%). The average time for the neurologist to answer a request for consultation page and connect with the community physician was 10.6 minutes. Ninety-one percent of community physicians were satisfied or somewhat satisfied with the overall service. Conclusion:In the assessment of neurology patients, tablets are a more cost-effective alternative to traditional telehealth technologies. The devices promote efficiency in consultations through ease of use and low transfer rates, and survey results indicate community physician satisfaction.

Despite advances in stroke care, patients continue to incur significant disability, are at risk for future events, and are inconsistently comanaged with palliative care (PC) specialty teams. The purpose of this study was to review patients with stroke admitted to our institution, comparing patients with and without PC consultation. We retrospectively reviewed medical record data of all patients with stroke admitted to our neurosciences ICU (NICU) in July 2014 to June 2015 with and without PC consultation. Review focused on stroke type, patient demographics, median days to discharge and death, and posthospitalization discharge. Of 463 patients admitted to the NICU with a stroke diagnosis, 27% (125/463) had (PC) consultation. A higher percentage of the patients with PC consult presented with hemorrhagic stroke than those without PC consult (38% vs 21%, P < .001). Patients with PC consult had longer median days to discharge and death ( P < .001) and a higher percentage of mortality (32% vs 11%). Of the 301 patients without PC consult who discharged (89.1%), 36.5% discharged to inpatient rehab while 10% discharged to a skilled nursing facility. In comparison, of the patients with PC consultation who discharged alive (41.1%), 15.7% discharged to inpatient rehab whereas 39% discharged to skilled nursing ( P < .001). The uncertainty of which patients with stroke benefit most from specialty PC is highlighted in that although sicker patients are referred to PC, a substantial portion (41%) of these patients discharge alive, of which 39.2% discharged to skilled nursing. Future research should focus on which patients with stroke would benefit from specialty PC.