Clinical outcomes of HIV-syphilis coinfection among patients with no neurological symptoms: a retrospective cohort study.

OBJECTIVE: Our objective was to describe and compare the occurrence of neurological outcomes and neurosyphilis in people living with HIV with incident syphilis and no neurological symptoms who underwent early screening for asymptomatic neurosyphilis (ANS) or regular clinical management without a lumbar puncture. METHODS: This was a retrospective cohort study in a single referral centre of Sao Paulo, Brazil. Patients with incident syphilis diagnosed between January 2000 and August 2016 and meeting the adapted criteria for ANS investigation suggested by Marra et al. (CD4+ T-cell counts ≤350 cells/mm³ and/or venereal disease research laboratory test results ≥1:16) were identified. Those with no neurological symptoms and immediately referred for lumbar puncture were categorized as group 1, and those not referred for cerebrospinal fluid collection were categorized as group 2. We compared the occurrence of neurological symptoms and neurosyphilis diagnoses between the groups using incidence rates and Kaplan-Meier curves. RESULTS: We included 425 participants with a median follow-up of 6 years. The incidence rate of neurological symptoms was 36.5/1000 person-years in group 1 and 40.6/1000 person-years in group 2 (incidence rate ratio [IRR] 0.90; 95% confidence interval [CI] 0.57-1.39; p = 0.62). The incidence rate of neurosyphilis was 15.0 cases/1000 person-years in group 1 and 6.7 cases/1000 person-years in group 2 (IRR 2.26; 95% CI 0.93-5.68; p = 0.05). CONCLUSIONS: We found no statistically significant differences between groups in the incidence rates of neurological symptoms and neurosyphilis. Our findings support the current guidelines, which suggest a less invasive approach regarding ANS investigation among people living with HIV with incident syphilis.

Geoclimatic, demographic and socioeconomic characteristics related to dengue outbreaks in Southeastern Brazil: an annual spatial and spatiotemporal risk model over a 12-year period.

Dengue fever is re-emerging worldwide, however the reasons of this new emergence are not fully understood. Our goal was to report the incidence of dengue in one of the most populous States of Brazil, and to assess the high-risk areas using a spatial and spatio-temporal annual models including geoclimatic, demographic and socioeconomic characteristics. An ecological study with both, a spatial and a temporal component was carried out in Sao Paulo State, Southeastern Brazil, between January 1st, 2007 and December 31st, 2019. Crude and Bayesian empirical rates of dengue cases following by Standardized Incidence Ratios (SIR) were calculated considering the municipalities as the analytical units and using the Integrated Nested Laplace Approximation in a Bayesian context. A total of 2,027,142 cases of dengue were reported during the studied period. The spatial model allocated the municipalities in four groups according to the SIR values: (I) SIR<0.8; (II) SIR 0.8<1.2; (III) SIR 1.2<2.0 and SIR>2.0 identified the municipalities with higher risk for dengue outbreaks. "Hot spots" are shown in the thematic maps. Significant correlations between SIR and two climate variables, two demographic variables and one socioeconomical variable were found. No significant correlations were found in the spatio-temporal model. The incidence of dengue exhibited an inconstant and unpredictable variation every year. The highest rates of dengue are concentrated in geographical clusters with lower surface pressure, rainfall and altitude, but also in municipalities with higher degree of urbanization and better socioeconomic conditions. Nevertheless, annual consolidated variations in climatic features do not influence in the epidemic yearly pattern of dengue in southeastern Brazil.

Comparative assessment of mortality risk factors between admission and follow-up models among patients hospitalized with COVID-19.

OBJECTIVES: This study aimed to compare differences in mortality risk factors between admission and follow-up incorporated models. METHODS: A retrospective cohort study of 524 patients with confirmed COVID-19 infection admitted to a tertiary medical center in São Paulo, Brazil from 13 March to 30 April 2020. Data were collected on admission, and the third, eighth and fourteenth days of hospitalization. The hazard ratio (HR) was calculated and 28-day in-hospital mortality risk factors were compared between admission and follow-up models using a time-dependent Cox regression model. RESULTS: Of 524 patients, 50.4% needed mechanical ventilation. The 28-day mortality rate was 32.8%. Compared with follow-up, admission models under-estimated the mortality HR for peripheral oxygen saturation <92% (1.21 versus 2.09), heart rate >100 bpm (1.19 versus 2.04), respiratory rate >24/min (1.01 versus 1.82) and mechanical ventilation (1.92 versus 12.93). Low oxygen saturation, higher oxygen support and more biomarkers-including lactate dehydrogenase, C-reactive protein, neutrophil-lymphocyte ratio, and urea remained associated with mortality after adjustment for clinical factors at follow-up compared with only urea and oxygen support at admission. CONCLUSIONS: The inclusion of follow-up measurements changed mortality hazards of clinical signs and biomarkers. Low oxygen saturation, higher oxygen support, lactate dehydrogenase, C-reactive protein, neutrophil-lymphocyte ratio, and urea could help with prognosis of patients during follow-up.