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Microorganisms Jun 2024Patients with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) infected with SARS-CoV-2 indicate a higher risk of severe COVID-19 course, which is defined as the need for...
Patients with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) infected with SARS-CoV-2 indicate a higher risk of severe COVID-19 course, which is defined as the need for hospitalization in the intensive care unit, mechanical ventilation, or death. However, simple tools to stratify the risk in patients with COPD suffering from COVID-19 are lacking. The current study aimed to evaluate the predictive value of the CHEST score in patients with COPD. A retrospective analysis of medical records from 2184 patients hospitalized with COVID-19 at the University Hospital in Wroclaw from February 2020 to June 2021, which was previously used in earlier studies, assessed outcomes such as mortality during hospitalization, all-cause mortality at 3 and 6 months, non-fatal discharge, as well as adverse clinical incidents. This re-analysis specifically examines the outcomes using a COPD split. In the COPD group, 42 deaths were recorded, including 18 in-hospital deaths. In-hospital mortality rates at 3 and 6 months did not significantly differ among CHEST strata, nor did their impact on subsequent treatment. However, a notable association between the CHEST score and prognosis was observed in the non-COPD cohort comprising 2109 patients. The CHEST score's predictive ability is notably lower in COPD patients compared to non-COPD subjects, with COPD itself indicating a high mortality risk. However, CHEST effectively identifies patients at high risk of cardiac complications during COVID-19, especially in non-COPD cases.
PubMed: 38930620
DOI: 10.3390/microorganisms12061238 -
Journal of Clinical Medicine Jun 2024Respiratory effort is considered important in the context of the diagnosis of obstructive sleep apnoea (OSA), as well as other sleep disorders. However, current...
Respiratory effort is considered important in the context of the diagnosis of obstructive sleep apnoea (OSA), as well as other sleep disorders. However, current monitoring techniques can be obtrusive and interfere with a patient's natural sleep. This study examines the reliability of an unobtrusive tracheal sound-based approach to monitor respiratory effort in the context of OSA, using manually marked respiratory inductance plethysmography (RIP) signals as a gold standard for validation. : In total, 150 patients were trained on the use of type III cardiorespiratory polygraphy, which they took to use at home, alongside a neck-worn AcuPebble system. The respiratory effort channels obtained from the tracheal sound recordings were compared to the effort measured by the RIP bands during automatic and manual marking experiments. A total of 133 central apnoeas, 218 obstructive apnoeas, 263 obstructive hypopneas, and 270 normal breathing randomly selected segments were shuffled and blindly marked by a Registered Polysomnographic Technologist (RPSGT) in both types of channels. The RIP signals had previously also been independently marked by another expert clinician in the context of diagnosing those patients, and without access to the effort channel of AcuPebble. The classification achieved with the acoustically obtained effort was assessed with statistical metrics and the average amplitude distributions per respiratory event type for each of the different channels were also studied to assess the overlap between event types. The performance of the acoustic effort channel was evaluated for the events where both scorers were in agreement in the marking of the gold standard reference channel, showing an average sensitivity of 90.5%, a specificity of 98.6%, and an accuracy of 96.8% against the reference standard with blind expert marking. In addition, a comparison using the Embla Remlogic 4.0 automatic software of the reference standard for classification, as opposed to the expert marking, showed that the acoustic channels outperformed the RIP channels (acoustic sensitivity: 71.9%; acoustic specificity: 97.2%; RIP sensitivity: 70.1%; RIP specificity: 76.1%). The amplitude trends across different event types also showed that the acoustic channels exhibited a better differentiation between the amplitude distributions of different event types, which can help when doing manual interpretation. : The results prove that the acoustically obtained effort channel extracted using AcuPebble is an accurate, reliable, and more patient-friendly alternative to RIP in the context of OSA.
PubMed: 38930155
DOI: 10.3390/jcm13123628 -
Journal of Clinical Medicine Jun 2024Polysomnography and cephalometry have been used for studying obstructive sleep apnea (OSA) etiology. The association between craniofacial skeleton and OSA severity...
Polysomnography and cephalometry have been used for studying obstructive sleep apnea (OSA) etiology. The association between craniofacial skeleton and OSA severity remains controversial. To study OSA's etiology, cephalometry, fiberoptic pharyngoscopy, polysomnography, and sleep endoscopy have been used; however, airway obstructions cannot be located. Recent research suggested ultrasonography for OSA screening and upper airway obstruction localization. Thus, this study aims to investigate the relationship between specific craniofacial cephalometric and ultrasonic airway parameters in adults at high risk of OSA. To assess craniofacial structure, lateral cephalograms were taken from thirty-three adults over 18 with a STOP-Bang questionnaire score of three or higher and a waist-to-height ratio (WHtR) of 0.5 or higher. Airway parameters were assessed through submental ultrasound. NSBA correlated with tongue base airspace width, while MP-H correlated with oropharynx, tongue base, and epiglottis airspace width. SNA, SNB, and NSBA correlated with tongue width at the oropharynx. At tongue base, ANB and MP-H correlated with tongue width. SNB and NSBA were associated with deep tissue thickness at the oropharynx, while MP-H correlated with superficial tissue thickness at velum and oropharynx. Cephalometric parameters (SNA, SNB, ANB, NSBA, and MP-H) were correlated with ultrasonic parameters in the velum, oropharynx, tongue base, and epiglottis.
PubMed: 38930069
DOI: 10.3390/jcm13123540 -
Journal of Clinical Medicine Jun 2024: To date, data regarding the characteristics and management of obstructive, stable coronary artery disease (CAD) encountered in patients undergoing transcatheter aortic...
: To date, data regarding the characteristics and management of obstructive, stable coronary artery disease (CAD) encountered in patients undergoing transcatheter aortic valve implantation (TAVI) are sparse. The aim of the study was to analyze granular details, treatment, and outcomes of patients undergoing TAVI with obstructive, stable CAD from real-world practice. : REVASC-TAVI (Management of myocardial REVASCularization in patients undergoing Transcatheter Aortic Valve Implantation with coronary artery disease) is an investigator-initiated, multicenter registry, which collected data from patients undergoing TAVI with obstructive stable CAD found during the pre-TAVI work-up. : A total of 2025 patients from 30 centers worldwide with complete follow-up were included in the registry. Most patients had single-vessel CAD (56.1%). An involvement of proximal coronary tracts was detected in 62.5% of cases, with 12.0% of patients having CAD in left main (LM). Most patients received percutaneous coronary intervention (PCI) (n = 1617, 79.9%), especially those with proximal CAD (90.4%). At 2 years, the rates of all-cause death [Kaplan-Meier (KM) estimates 20.1% vs. 18.8%, p = 0.86] and of the composite of all-cause death, stroke, myocardial infarction, and rehospitalization for heart failure (KM estimates 29.7% vs. 27.5%, p = 0.82) did not differ between patients undergoing PCI and those who were not. : Patients undergoing TAVI with obstructive CAD more commonly had a single-vessel disease and an involvement of proximal coronary tracts. They were commonly treated with PCI, with similar outcomes compared to those treated conservatively.
PubMed: 38930026
DOI: 10.3390/jcm13123497 -
Journal of Clinical Medicine Jun 2024: Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease (COPD) is a disease of premature aging, characterized by airflow limitations in the lungs and systemic chronic inflammation. This... (Review)
Review
: Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease (COPD) is a disease of premature aging, characterized by airflow limitations in the lungs and systemic chronic inflammation. This systematic review aimed to provide a systematic overview of immunosenescence and inflammation in Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease (COPD). The PubMed, Science Direct, Scopus, Cochrane Library, and Web of Science databases were searched for studies on markers of immunosenescence. Observational studies comparing patients with COPD to individuals without disease were evaluated, considering the following markers: inflammation and senescence in COPD, naïve, memory, and CD28 T cells, and telomere length in leukocytes. A total of 15 studies were included, eight of which were rated as high quality. IL-6 production, telomere shortening, and the higher frequencies of CD28 T cells were more prominent findings in the COPD studies analyzed. Despite lung function severity being commonly investigated in the included studies, the importance of this clinical marker to immunosenescence remains inconclusive. The findings of this systematic review confirmed the presence of accelerated immunosenescence, in addition to systemic inflammation, in stable COPD patients. Further studies are necessary to more comprehensively evaluate the impact of immunosenescence on lung function in COPD.
PubMed: 38929978
DOI: 10.3390/jcm13123449 -
Journal of Clinical Medicine Jun 2024Severe asthma often remains uncontrolled despite optimized inhaled treatment. The rise of biologic therapy in severe asthma represented a major advance for the disease...
Severe asthma often remains uncontrolled despite optimized inhaled treatment. The rise of biologic therapy in severe asthma represented a major advance for the disease management. However, correct phenotyping and monitoring of severe asthma patients is key to the success of targeted biologic therapy. We present the case of a 63-year-old female, never a smoker, diagnosed with asthma at the age of 45 and associated persistent mild rhinitis, without other notable comorbidities. She was prescribed medium-dose ICS/LABA, administered inconstantly in the first years after the diagnosis, with poor overall control of the disease. After several exacerbation episodes, treatment compliance improved, but the control of the disease remained poor despite adding an antileukotriene. In January 2019, she presented an exacerbation episode requiring treatment with oral corticosteroids (OCS) and she was afterwards put on high-dose ICS/LABA and continued the antileukotriene. She was referred for a skin allergy test, which revealed mild sensitization to Dermatophagoides pteronyssinus and farinae, with a total IgE level of 48.3 IU/mL. The blood eosinophil level was 270 cells/mm. The lung function was variable, going from mild impairment to severe fixed obstruction during exacerbations. Despite optimized inhaled treatment, good adherence and inhaler technique, and allergen avoidance strategies, asthma control was not achieved, and she continued to experience severe episodes of exacerbation requiring OCS. In October 2019, she was initiated on biologic therapy with omalizumab, which allowed asthma control to be achieved and maintained for 18 months, with preserved lung function, good symptom control, no exacerbations and slightly elevated blood eosinophil level (340-360 cells/mm). In April 2021, she started experiencing exacerbation episodes requiring OCS (three episodes within 6 months), with a progressive increase in blood eosinophil level (up to 710 cells/mm), and progressive deterioration of asthma control and lung function, despite continuation of previous therapy. A specific IgE test against Aspergillus was negative, and total IgE level was 122.4 IU/mL. In December 2021, the patient was switched from omalizumab to benralizumab. Asthma control was again achieved, lung function improved significantly and the patient did not experience any other exacerbation episodes up until today, which allowed for a reduction in ICS dose. Intriguingly, a relapsing eosinophilia was also noted under anti-IL5-R treatment prior to the dose administration, but with preserved asthma control. This case underscores the pivotal role of meticulous phenotyping in severe asthma management on one side, and careful monitoring of patient evolution and possible side effects of treatment on the other side. By showcasing how diverse inflammatory pathways can coexist within a single patient and impact treatment outcomes, it highlights the necessity of tailored biologic therapy for sustained control.
PubMed: 38929930
DOI: 10.3390/jcm13123402 -
Journal of Personalized Medicine Jun 2024This study aims to characterize the clinical impact of endovascular treatment in Chronic Pelvic Pain (CPP) patients due to Pelvic Congestion Syndrome (PCS) and to assess...
BACKGROUND
This study aims to characterize the clinical impact of endovascular treatment in Chronic Pelvic Pain (CPP) patients due to Pelvic Congestion Syndrome (PCS) and to assess the diagnostic value of surface electromyography (sEMG) studies of pelvic floor musculature (PFM) in PCS patients pre- and post-endovascular treatment. Between January 2019 and July 2023, we studied consecutive patients who were referred for interventional radiology assessment and treatment to a tertiary trauma care hospital, had evidence of non-obstructive PCS from Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI), had sEMG of PFM and who had undergone endovascular treatment. The primary outcome was clinical, defined as a change in symptom severity after endovascular treatment. The secondary outcome was a difference in the sEMG values pre- and post-endovascular therapy.
RESULTS
We included 32 women (mean age 38 years). CPP was the leading symptom in 100% patients, followed by dysmenorrhea (75%) and post-coital pain (68.7%). Endovascular therapy included ovarian vein embolization in 28 patients (87.5%) and internal iliac vein embolization in only 2 patients (6.2%). After a median of 8 (range 6-10) months from endovascular treatment, 29 (90%) of patients reported an improvement of the main symptoms, and 15 (46%) were symptom-free. The sEMG values did not show a statistical difference pre- and post-PCS endovascular treatment.
CONCLUSIONS
Endovascular treatment appeared to be highly effective in CPP due to PCS and was associated with a low rate of complication. sEMG study could be useful in revealing alterations of PFM electrophysiology, but a difference pre- and post-embolization in PCS patients was not demonstrated.
PubMed: 38929881
DOI: 10.3390/jpm14060661 -
Journal of Personalized Medicine Jun 2024Obstructive sleep apnea (OSA) is associated with an increased risk of hypertension, coronary artery disease, heart failure (HF), and atrial fibrillation (AF).
INTRODUCTION
Obstructive sleep apnea (OSA) is associated with an increased risk of hypertension, coronary artery disease, heart failure (HF), and atrial fibrillation (AF).
MATERIALS AND METHODS
A total of 179 patients aged 34-81 years were included in the study. The median age was 63 years (interquartile range: 56-69 years). Of these patients, 105 (58.7%) were men, and 74 (41.3%) were women; there were cases of paroxysmal ( = 99), persistent (n = 64), and permanent AF ( = 16). All patients underwent investigations including respiratory sleep monitoring, echocardiography, and 24 h Holter electrocardiography monitoring. Statistical analyses were performed using IBM SPSS Statistics 26.0.
RESULTS
OSA was detected in 131 (73.2%) patients. In patients with OSA, paroxysmal AF was commonest ( = 65), followed by persistent AF ( = 51) and permanent AF ( = 15). The patients with sleep apnea had increased body mass index (33.6 kg/m2; = 0.02), waist circumference (114 cm; < 0.001), and neck circumference (42 cm; < 0.001) values. HF (OR 2.9; 95% CI: 1.4-5.9; = 0.004) and type 2 diabetes (OR 3.6; 95% CI: 1.5-8.3; = 0.001) were more common in patients with AF and OSA. The STOP-BANG scale (AUC = 0.706 ± 0.044; 95% CI: 0.619-0.792; < 0.001) and the Berlin questionnaire (AUC = 0.699 ± 0.044; 95% CI: 0.614-0.785) had a higher predictive ability for identifying sleep apnea.
CONCLUSIONS
Patients with AF demonstrate a high prevalence of OSA and an increased association with cardiovascular comorbidities. The STOP-BANG scale and the Berlin questionnaire can be used to screen for OSA in patients with AF.
PubMed: 38929839
DOI: 10.3390/jpm14060618 -
Journal of Personalized Medicine Jun 2024Overlap syndrome (OS), the coexistence of chronic obstructive pulmonary disease and obstructive sleep apnea, is frequently characterized by the presence of daytime...
BACKGROUND
Overlap syndrome (OS), the coexistence of chronic obstructive pulmonary disease and obstructive sleep apnea, is frequently characterized by the presence of daytime hypercapnia (pCO ≥ 45 mmHg). The aim of this study was to investigate potential differences in anthropometric, sleep and respiratory characteristics between hypercapnic and normocapnic patients with OS.
METHODS
Consecutive patients who underwent polysomnography, pulmonary function testing and arterial blood gases and had been diagnosed with OS were enrolled in the study.
RESULTS
According to pCO levels in wakefulness, the patients were divided into group A, consisting of OS patients without hypercapnia ( = 108) or group B, consisting of OS patients with hypercapnia ( = 55). The majority of included patients in both groups were males ( = 92 in group A vs. = 50 in group B). Group B had increased BMI ( = 0.001), neck ( = 0.017) and waist circumference ( = 0.013), higher scores in Epworth sleepiness scale (ESS) ( = 0.008), increased sleep efficiency ( = 0.033), oxygen desaturation index ( = 0.004) and time with oxyhemoglobin saturation <90% ( = 0.006) than group A. Also, Group B had decreased average and minimum oxyhemoglobin saturation during sleep ( < 0.001). Hypercapnic patients had lower FEV% ( = 0.003), FVC% ( = 0.004), pO and pCO ( < 0.001 for both) values compared with normocapnic patients. In binary regression analysis, which assessed various predictors on the likelihood of having hypercapnia, it was found that BMI (OR: 1.313, 95% CI: 1.048-1.646, = 0.018) and FVC (OR: 0.913, 95% CI: 0.845-0.986, = 0.020) were the major determinants of hypercapnia in OS patients.
CONCLUSIONS
Hypercapnic OS patients were more obese and sleepy and presented worse respiratory function in wakefulness and sleep hypoxia characteristics compared with normocapnic OS patients.
PubMed: 38929821
DOI: 10.3390/jpm14060600 -
Journal of Personalized Medicine Jun 2024Personalized sleep medicine represents a transformative shift in healthcare, emphasizing individualized approaches to optimizing sleep health, considering the... (Review)
Review
Personalized sleep medicine represents a transformative shift in healthcare, emphasizing individualized approaches to optimizing sleep health, considering the bidirectional relationship between sleep and health. This field moves beyond conventional methods, tailoring care to the unique physiological and psychological needs of individuals to improve sleep quality and manage disorders. Key to this approach is the consideration of diverse factors like genetic predispositions, lifestyle habits, environmental factors, and underlying health conditions. This enables more accurate diagnoses, targeted treatments, and proactive management. Technological advancements play a pivotal role in this field: wearable devices, mobile health applications, and advanced diagnostic tools collect detailed sleep data for continuous monitoring and analysis. The integration of machine learning and artificial intelligence enhances data interpretation, offering personalized treatment plans based on individual sleep profiles. Moreover, research on circadian rhythms and sleep physiology is advancing our understanding of sleep's impact on overall health. The next generation of wearable technology will integrate more seamlessly with IoT and smart home systems, facilitating holistic sleep environment management. Telemedicine and virtual healthcare platforms will increase accessibility to specialized care, especially in remote areas. Advancements will also focus on integrating various data sources for comprehensive assessments and treatments. Genomic and molecular research could lead to breakthroughs in understanding individual sleep disorders, informing highly personalized treatment plans. Sophisticated methods for sleep stage estimation, including machine learning techniques, are improving diagnostic precision. Computational models, particularly for conditions like obstructive sleep apnea, are enabling patient-specific treatment strategies. The future of personalized sleep medicine will likely involve cross-disciplinary collaborations, integrating cognitive behavioral therapy and mental health interventions. Public awareness and education about personalized sleep approaches, alongside updated regulatory frameworks for data security and privacy, are essential. Longitudinal studies will provide insights into evolving sleep patterns, further refining treatment approaches. In conclusion, personalized sleep medicine is revolutionizing sleep disorder treatment, leveraging individual characteristics and advanced technologies for improved diagnosis, treatment, and management. This shift towards individualized care marks a significant advancement in healthcare, enhancing life quality for those with sleep disorders.
PubMed: 38929819
DOI: 10.3390/jpm14060598