Lymphopenia as prognostic factor for mortality and hospital length of stay for elderly hospitalized patients.

BACKGROUND: Lymphopenia is a common finding in elderly patients and its relevance is unknown. AIMS: To evaluate the clinical prognostic value of lymphopenia on the admission of elderly hospitalized patients. METHODS: From 2012 to 2013, all consecutive patients >75 hospitalized because of medical conditions were prospectively included in the study. Sociodemographic, clinical and laboratory data were collected. Lymphopenia was considered by a plasmatic lymphocyte count of <1100 × 10(9)/l. Hospital length of stay, in-hospital mortality and mortality after a 1-year follow-up were assessed. RESULTS: The total sample consisted of 180 patients, 90 of whom were females (50 %). Mean age was 83.8 years (SD 5.4). Lymphopenia was present in 45 patients (25 %) upon admission. When compared, those patients with lymphopenia showed a longer hospital stay (19.9 vs. 15.7 days; p 0.002) and higher in-hospital mortality (26.7 vs 7.7 %; p 0.001). The odds ratio for in-hospital mortality in patients with lymphopenia was 3.9 (p 0.03) and the hazard ratio for 1-year mortality 1.9 (p 0.038). Both groups of elderly patients, with and without lymphopenia on admission, showed no differences related to sociodemographic, clinical, or other laboratory data. The study showed no difference in rate of infections between the groups. CONCLUSION: A quarter of our elderly hospitalized patients had lymphopenia on admission. Furthermore, lymphopenia seemed to constitute as a predictor for bad outcome in terms of a longer hospital stay, in-hospital mortality and 1-year mortality after discharge.

Virological and Immunological Outcomes of an Intensified Four-Drug versus a Standard Three-Drug Antiretroviral Regimen, Both Integrase Strand Transfer Inhibitor-Based, in Primary HIV Infection.

The optimal therapeutic approach for primary HIV infection (PHI) is still debated. We aimed to compare the viroimmunological response to a four- versus a three-drug regimen, both INSTI-based, in patients with PHI. This was a monocentric, prospective, observational study including all patients diagnosed with PHI from December 2014 to April 2018. Antiretroviral therapy (ART) was started, before genotype resistance test results, with tenofovir/emtricitabine and either raltegravir plus boosted darunavir or dolutegravir. Cumulative probability of virological suppression [VS] (HIV-1 RNA< 40 cp/mL), low-level HIV-1 DNA [LL-HIVDNA] (HIV-1 DNA < 200 copies/106PBMC), and CD4/CD8 ratio ≥1 were estimated using Kaplan−Meier curves. Factors associated with the achievement of VS, LL-HIVDNA, and CD4/CD8 ≥ 1 were assessed by a Cox regression model. We enrolled 144 patients (95.8% male, median age 34 years): 110 (76%) started a four-drug-based therapy, and 34 (24%) a three-drug regimen. Both treatment groups showed a comparable high probability of achieving VS and a similar probability of reaching LL-HIVDNA and a CD4/CD8 ratio ≥1 after 48 weeks from ART initiation. Higher baseline HIV-1 RNA and HIV-1 DNA levels lowered the chance of VS, whereas a better preserved immunocompetence increased that chance. Not statistically significant factors associated with LL-HIVDNA achievement were found, whereas a higher baseline CD4/CD8 ratio predicted the achievement of immune recovery. In PHI patients, the rapid initiation of either an intensified four-drug or a standard three-drug INSTI-based regimen showed comparable responses in terms of VS, viral reservoir size, and immunological recovery.

Clinical features, etiology, and outcomes of community-acquired pneumonia in patients with diabetes mellitus.

We performed an observational analysis of a prospective cohort of immunocompetent hospitalized adults with community-acquired pneumonia (CAP) to determine the epidemiology, clinical features, and outcomes of pneumonia in patients with diabetes mellitus (DM). We also analyzed the risk factors for mortality and the impact of statins and other cardiovascular drugs on outcomes. Of 2407 CAP episodes, 516 (21.4%) occurred in patients with DM; 483 (97%) had type 2 diabetes, 197 (40%) were on insulin treatment, and 119 (23.9%) had end-organ damage related to DM. Patients with DM had different clinical features compared to the other patients. They were less likely to have acute onset, cough, purulent sputum, and pleural chest pain. No differences in etiology were found between study groups. Patients with DM had more inhospital acute metabolic complications, although the case-fatality rate was similar between the groups. Independent risk factors for mortality in patients with DM were advanced age, bacteremia, septic shock, and gram-negative pneumonia. Patients with end-organ damage related to DM had more inhospital cardiac events and a higher early case-fatality rate than did the overall population. The use of statins and other cardiovascular drugs was not associated with better CAP outcomes in patients with DM. In conclusion, CAP in patients with DM presents different clinical features compared to the features of patients without DM.