Anemia in Patients With Diabetes and Prediabetes With Normal Kidney Function: Prevalence and Clinical Outcomes.

OBJECTIVE: Anemia is a known complication of diabetes mellitus (DM); however, its prevalence and prognostic relevance in patients with DM and pre-DM with normal kidney function have not been well defined. This study assessed the prevalence of anemia in patients with DM and pre-DM and evaluated its association with clinical outcomes during a 4-year follow-up period. METHODS: This retrospective analysis included patients with DM and pre-DM referred to the Meir Medical Center Endocrine Institute in 2015. Patients with an estimated glomerular filtration rate (eGFR) of <60 mL/min or any other recognized cause of anemia were excluded. The risk of developing microvascular or macrovascular complications or of death during the 4-year follow-up period was determined. RESULTS: A total of 622 patients (408 with DM and 214 with pre-DM) were included. The mean age of the patients was 64 ± 10.6 years, and 70% were women. The baseline hemoglobin A1C level was 7.1% ± 1.7% (54 mmol/mol), and the eGFR was 86.1 ± 15.3 mL/min. At the time of inclusion, 77 patients (19%) with DM and 23 (11%) with pre-DM had anemia (hemoglobin level 11.9 ± 0.8 and 11.8 ± 0.8 g/dL, respectively), compared with normal hemoglobin levels of 13.8 ± 0.9 and 13.7± 0.9 g/dL, respectively, in the others. A multivariable analysis demonstrated an inverse correlation between baseline hemoglobin (as a continuous variable) and mortality (P = .035), microvascular complications (P = .003), and eGFR decline (P < .001) but not between baseline hemoglobin and macrovascular complications (P = .567). CONCLUSION: This study found a significant prevalence of anemia unrelated to renal failure, both in patients with DM and pre-DM. Anemia in these patients is associated with the development of microvascular complications, eGFR decline, and mortality. These results underscore the need for intensive lifestyle and pharmacologic interventions in these patients.

Simple bedside score to optimize the time and the decision to initiate appropriate therapy for carbapenem-resistant Enterobacteriaceae.

BACKGROUND: Epidemiological characteristics of patients with bloodstream infections (BSI) due to extended-spectrum ß-lactamase producing (ESBL) and carbapenem-resistant (CRE) strains are often similar. Mortality rates for CRE BSI are 70%, and mean time to initiation of appropriate therapy is ~5 days. A bedside score was developed to differentiate CRE-BSIs from ESBL-BSIs, in order to help decrease the time to initiation of appropriate therapy for CRE and mortality rates. FINDINGS: Score was developed based of data (2007-2010) abstracted from charts of adult patients from Assaf Harofeh Medical Center (AHMC, Zeriffin, Israel), and validated on a cohort of patients from Detroit Medical Center (DMC, MI, USA). A multivariate model for presence of CRE was generated. A clinical prediction score and ROC curve was derived. 451 patients with ESBL BSIs (285 from AHMC and 166 from DMC) and 74 patients with CRE BSIs (58 from AHMC and 16 from DMC) were included. The prediction score included chemotherapy in the past 3 months (19 points), presence of foreign invasive devices (10 points), no peripheral vascular disease (10 points), reduced consciousness or cognition at time of acute illness (9 points), time in hospital prior to BSI ≥ 3 days (7 points), and age younger than 65 years (6 points). A score of ≥32 to define "high CRE risk" had sensitivity of 59%, specificity of 76%, PPV of 34% and NPV of 90%. CONCLUSIONS: The score's 90% NPV implies it could reduce un-necessary (and toxic) empiric use of anti-CRE therapeutics, but this should be studied prospectively and on broader populations in order to test its potential role in reducing mortality.

Carbapenems Versus Piperacillin-Tazobactam for Bloodstream Infections of Nonurinary Source Caused by Extended-Spectrum Beta-Lactamase-Producing Enterobacteriaceae.

A recent, frequently quoted study has suggested that for bloodstream infections (BSIs) due to extended-spectrum ß-lactamase-producing Enterobacteriaceae (ESBL) Escherichia coli, treatment with ß-lactam/ß-lactamase inhibitors (BLBLIs) might be equivalent to treatment with carbapenems. However, the majority of BSIs originate from the urinary tract. A multicenter, multinational efficacy analysis was conducted from 2010 to 2012 to compare outcomes of patients with non-urinary ESBL BSIs who received a carbapenem (69 patients) vs those treated with piperacillin-tazobactam (10 patients). In multivariate analysis, therapy with piperacillin-tazobactam was associated with increased 90-day mortality (adjusted odds ratio, 7.9, P=.03). For ESBL BSIs of a non-urinary origin, carbapenems should be considered a superior treatment to BLBLIs.