Lung diseases have high mortality and morbidity, with an important impact on quality of life. Hypoxemic patients are advised to use oxygen therapy to prolong their survival, but high oxygen saturation (SpO2) levels can also have negative effects. Pulse oximeters are the most common way to assess oxygen levels and guide medical treatment. This study aims to assess whether wearable devices can provide precise SpO2 measurements when compared to commercial pulse oximeters. This is a cross-section study with 100 patients with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease and interstitial lung disease from an outpatient pneumology clinic. SpO2 and heart rate data were collected with an Apple Watch Series 6 (Apple) and compared to two commercial pulse oximeters. The Bland–Altman method and interclass correlation coefficient were used to compare their values. We observed strong positive correlations between the Apple Watch device and commercial oximeters when evaluating heart rate measurements (r = 0.995, p < 0.001) and oximetry measurements (r = 0.81, p < 0.001). There was no statistical difference in the evaluation of skin color, wrist circumference, presence of wrist hair, and enamel nail for SpO2 and heart rate measurements in Apple Watch or commercial oximeter devices (p > 0.05). Apple Watch 6 is a reliable way to obtain heart rate and SpO2 in patients with lung diseases in a controlled environment.

Background Sarcopenia is defined as the loss of muscle mass combined with loss of muscle strength, with or without loss of muscle performance. The use of this parameter as a risk factor for complications after surgery is not currently used. This meta-analysis aims to assess the impact of sarcopenia defined by radiologically and clinically criteria and its relationship with complications after gastrointestinal surgeries. Materials and methods A review of the literature was conducted in accordance with the Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses (PRISMA) guidelines (PROSPERO registration number: CRD42019132221). Articles were selected from the PUBMED and EMBASE databases that adequately assessed sarcopenia and its impact on postoperative complications in gastrointestinal surgery patients. Pooled estimates of pre-operative outcome data were calculated using the odds ratio (OR) and 95% confidence interval (CI). Subgroup analysis were performed to assess each type of surgery. Results The search strategy returned 1323, with 11 studies meeting the inclusion criteria. A total of 4265 patients were analysed. The prevalence of sarcopenia between studies ranged from 6.8% to 35.9%. The meta-analysis showed an OR for complications after surgery of 3.01 (95% CI 2.55-3.55) and an OR of 2.2 (95% CI 1.44-3.36) for hospital readmission (30 days).

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Background High levels of homocysteine (Hct) have been associated with great risks of ischemic stroke. However, some controversy still exists. We performed a systematic review and meta-analysis to compare the levels of Hct between patients with ischemic stroke and controls. Methods We performed a systematic literature search for articles reporting Hct levels of patients with occurrence of ischemic stroke. We employed a random-effects inverse-variance weighted meta-analytical approach in order to pool standardized mean differences, with estimation of τ2 through the DerSimonian-Laird method. Results The initial search yielded 1361 studies. After careful analysis of abstracts and full texts, the meta-analysis included data from 38 studies, which involved almost 16 000 stroke events. However, only 13 studies reported means and standard deviations for cases and controls, and therefore were used in the meta-analysis. Those studies presented data from 5002 patients with stroke and 4945 controls. Standardized mean difference was 1.67 (95% CI 1.00–2.25, P < 0.01), indicating that Hct levels were significantly larger in patients with ischemic stroke compared to controls. Between-study heterogeneity was very large (I2 = 99%), particularly because three studies showed significantly large mean differences. Conclusion This meta-analysis shows that patients with ischemic stroke have higher levels of Hct compared to controls. Whether this is a modifiable risk factor remains to be assessed through larger prospective cohorts.