Purpose The COVID-19 pandemic has spread worldwide, and almost 396 million people have been infected around the globe. Latin American countries have been deeply affected, and there is a lack of data in this regard. This study aims to identify the clinical characteristics, in-hospital outcomes, and factors associated with ICU admission due to COVID-19. Furthermore, to describe the functional status of patients at hospital discharge after the acute episode of COVID-19. Material and methods This was a prospective, multicenter, multinational observational cohort study of subjects admitted to 22 hospitals within Latin America. Data were collected prospectively. Descriptive statistics were used to characterize patients, and multivariate regression was carried out to identify factors associated with severe COVID-19. Results A total of 3008 patients were included in the study. A total of 64.3% of patients had severe COVID-19 and were admitted to the ICU. Patients admitted to the ICU had a higher mean (SD) 4C score (10 [3] vs. 7 [3)], p<0.001). The risk factors independently associated with progression to ICU admission were age, shortness of breath, and obesity. In-hospital mortality was 24.1%, whereas the ICU mortality rate was 35.1%. Most patients had equal self-care ability at discharge 43.8%; however, ICU patients had worse self-care ability at hospital discharge (25.7% [497/1934] vs. 3.7% [40/1074], p<0.001). Conclusions This study confirms that patients with SARS CoV-2 in the Latin American population had a lower mortality rate than previously reported. Systemic complications are frequent in patients admitted to the ICU due to COVID-19, as previously described in high-income countries.

Introducción. En mujeres, el riesgo de desarrollar enfermedad tromboembólica venosa (ETV) es 5 a 6 veces mayor durante el embarazo, riesgo que puede aumentar considerablemente si existen antecedentes personales o familiares de otros estados protrombóticos. La ETV es una de las principales causas de morbimortalidad en esta población, por lo que para evaluar la pertinencia de usar tromboprofilaxis, ya sea farmacológica o no farmacológica, es necesario reconocer oportunamente los factores de riesgo clínico asociados a esta condición.Objetivo. Describir el uso de pruebas de tamizaje de estados protrombóticos y de la tromboprofilaxis farmacológica y no farmacológica para prevenir la ETV durante la gestación, durante el parto y durante el puerperio.Materiales y métodos. Se realizó una revisión de la literatura en Embase, ClinicalKey, ScienceDirect, Access Medicine, Scopus, ProQuest, PubMed y LILACS. Se buscaron estudios sobre trombofilia y trombofilaxis en el embarazo publicados entre enero de 2004 y marzo de 2018 en inglés y en español.Resultados. En la búsqueda inicial se identificaron 128 artículos, de los cuales 54 cumplieron los criterios de inclusión. La mayoría de estudios correspondió a revisiones narrativas (n=16), guías de práctica clínica (n=13) y revisiones sistemáticas (n=8).Conclusión. Se recomienda el uso de pruebas de tamizaje de estados protrombóticos durante la gestación, el parto y el puerperio, ya que la identificación oportuna de la ETV permitirá disminuir las tasas de morbimortalidad en esta población mediante la implementación de medidas tromboprofilácticas, sean o no farmacológicas.

Objective To investigate the applicability of the Respiratory Rate-Oxygenation Index to identify the risk of high-flow nasal cannula failure in post-extubation pneumonia patients. Methods This was a 2-year retrospective observational study conducted in a reference hospital in Bogotá, Colombia. All patients in whom post-extubation high-flow nasal cannula therapy was used as a bridge to extubation were included in the study. The Respiratory Rate-Oxygenation Index was calculated to assess the risk of post-extubation high-flow nasal cannula failure. Results A total of 162 patients were included in the study. Of these, 23.5% developed high-flow nasal cannula failure. The Respiratory Rate-Oxygenation Index was significantly lower in patients who had high-flow nasal cannula failure [median (IQR): 10.0 (7.7 - 14.4) versus 12.6 (10.1 - 15.6); p = 0.006]. Respiratory Rate-Oxygenation Index > 4.88 showed a crude OR of 0.23 (95%CI 0.17 - 0.30) and an adjusted OR of 0.89 (95%CI 0.81 - 0.98) stratified by severity and comorbidity. After logistic regression analysis, the Respiratory Rate-Oxygenation Index had an adjusted OR of 0.90 (95%CI 0.82 - 0.98; p = 0.026). The area under the Receiver Operating Characteristic curve for extubation failure was 0.64 (95%CI 0.53 - 0.75; p = 0.06). The Respiratory Rate-Oxygenation Index did not show differences between patients who survived and those who died during the intensive care unit stay. Conclusion The Respiratory Rate-Oxygenation Index is an accessible tool to identify patients at risk of failing high-flow nasal cannula post-extubation treatment. Prospective studies are needed to broaden the utility in this scenario.

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