Effect of predischarge blood pressure on follow-up outcomes in patients with severe hypertension in the ED.

BACKGROUND: Although emergency department (ED) patients with asymptomatic severe hypertension (ASH) generally have no serious short-term hypertension-related adverse events, it is unclear whether persistently high discharge blood pressure (BP) affects the outcome due to the dynamic nature of BP. OBJECTIVES: This study aims to investigate the effect of predischarge BP on short-term follow-up results for ED patients with ASH. METHODS: The prospective observational study was performed in the ED of a tertiary care hospital during a 3-month period. Adult patients who had systolic BP ≥180 mm Hg and diastolic BP ≥100 mm Hg without acute end-organ damage were enrolled and treated at the emergency physicians' discretion. Discharge BP was precategorized into severely high and moderately high groups. We compared the groups using direct telephone contact and medical record reviews of follow-up BP within 1 week and identified their related adverse events. RESULTS: One hundred and forty-six eligible cases were identified in this study; 1 patient (0.7%) had a serious hypertension-related adverse event. One hundred and thirteen patients had follow-up BP information available. There was no difference in mean systolic BP and diastolic BP at follow-up between patients who were discharged from the ED with severely high vs moderately high BP. CONCLUSION: Predischarge BP value is not associated with immediate serious adverse events and does not affect short-term BP control in ED patients with ASH. Further study on the need to lower BP during the ED stay and on antihypertensive prescriptions for these patients is required.

Venous lactate in predicting the need for intensive care unit and mortality among nonelderly sepsis patients with stable hemodynamic.

OBJECTIVES: Our study aims to investigate the role of initial venous lactate in predicting the probability of clinical deterioration and 30-day mortality in nonelderly sepsis patients with acute infections, without hemodynamic shock. METHODS: We enrolled emergency department patients aged 18 to 65 years with acute major infections, but without organ hypoperfusion, and obtained a single venous lactate measurement at initial presentation. As the primary end point, the eligible patients were tracked for the need for vasopressor or mechanical ventilation (MV) in the next 72 hours. The patients' venous lactate and related risk factors were analyzed. We also followed the cohort and the predictors to investigate their prognostic role for 30-day mortality. RESULTS: Of 392 patients, 74 required vasopressor/MV, and 388 patients were available for mortality analysis. An initial lactate greater than or equal to 2 mmol/L was the strongest independent predictor for the requirement of vasopressor/MV (adjusted odds ratio, 6.2; 95% confidence interval, 3.4-11.3). The other independent risk factors were immunosuppressive drug users and positive blood culture. However, the initial lactate was not associated with 30-day mortality. The factors that were associated with mortality were the use of vasopressor/MV, active malignancy, Rapid Emergency Medicine Score greater than or equal to 6, and hospitalization within 90 days. CONCLUSIONS: In nonelderly sepsis patients with stable hemodynamic, elevated venous lactate (≥2 mmol/L) was associated with an increased probability of the need for vasopressor/MV. However, unfavorable medical histories and the severity of physiologic changes may be associated with short-term mortality to a greater extent than the single value of initial lactate.

Intensive fever control using a therapeutic normothermia protocol in patients with febrile early septic shock: A randomized feasibility trial and exploration of the immunomodulatory effects.

OBJECTIVES: Fever control has been shown to reduce short-term mortality in patients with septic shock. This study aimed to explore the feasibility of early intensive fever control in patients with septic shock and to assess the immunomodulatory effects of this intervention. METHODS: In this single-center, randomized, open-label trial, febrile patients with septic shock presenting to the emergency department were assigned to either a standard fever control or therapeutic normothermia group. Therapeutic normothermia involved intensive fever control in maintaining normothermia below 37°C. The primary outcome was the feasibility of fever control for 24 h. Secondary outcomes included changes in immunomodulatory biomarkers and adverse events. RESULTS: Fifteen patients were enrolled and analyzed. Fever control was comparable in both groups, but significantly more patients in the therapeutic normothermia group experienced shivering (p = 0.007). Both groups demonstrated increased C-reactive protein and unchanged neutrophil chemotaxis and CD11b expression. The therapeutic normothermia group revealed significant decreased IL-6 and IL-10. The standard fever control group significantly expressed increased monocytic human leukocyte antigen. There were no significant differences between the groups in terms of immunomodulation. CONCLUSIONS: Therapeutic normothermia was feasible in patients with febrile septic shock but was not superior to standard fever control in terms of average body temperature and host defense function. Shivering was more frequent in the therapeutic normothermia group. TRIAL REGISTRATION: Thai Clinical Trials Registry number: TCTR20160321001.