[Burnout among primary health care professionals in central Catalonia]. / Burnout en profesionales de atención primaria en la Cataluña Central.

AIM: To estimate the prevalence and severity of burnout syndrome among primary care team professionals and its association with work and demographic variables. METHODS: Cross-sectional, observational, descriptive, and multicenter study. The sample was made up of healthcare workers in all professional categories in central Catalonia (Barcelona). The study was conducted using the self-administered and anonymous Maslach Burnout Inventory questionnaire, adapted to the Spanish population, with three scales that assess emotional exhaustion, depersonalization, and personal accomplishment. Quantitative variables were summarized with mean and standard deviation, and qualitative variables with percentages. We used the tStudent t-test for quantitative variables, Pearson's chi-square for categorical variables with Fisher's correction and Mann-Whitney for continuous variables. Results included 95% confidence intervals and a significance level of p<0.05. RESULTS: A total of 614 professionals participated; mean age, 45.6 years, and 84.9% were women. Overall, 54.7% had no affected scales, and 30.4% had at least one affected scale; Burnout involving two or more scales was 14.3%, of which 3.7% presented severe Burnout with alteration of all three scales. High levels of emotional exhaustion and depersonalization, and low personal accomplishment were mostly found in physicians seniors and residents. CONCLUSIONS: Burnout syndrome among primary care professionals mainly affects physicians, with little association to the occupational and socio-demographic variables we  studied, and represents a psychosocial risk factor for the health of these professionals.

OBJETIVOS: Analizar la prevalencia y gravedad del síndrome de Burnout en los profesionales de los Equipos de Atención Primaria y su asociación con variables laborales y demográficas. Métodos: Estudio transversal, observacional, descriptivo y multicéntrico. La muestra la forman trabajadores de todas las categorías profesionales sanitarias de la Cataluña Central. Se realiza a través del cuestionario autoadministrado y anónimo Maslach Burnout Inventory adaptado a la población española con tres escalas que valoran cansancio emocional, despersonalización y realización personal. Las variables cuantitativas se describen con la media y desviación estándar y las cualitativas con porcentajes. Se comparan mediante la t-Student para variables cuantitativas, chi cuadrado de Pearson para las variables categóricas con la corrección de Fisher y Mann-Whitney para las variables continuas.  Resultados: Participaron 614 profesionales, edad media 45.6 años, 84.9% mujeres. El 54.7% no tiene ninguna escala afectada, un 30.94% tiene una escala afectada. El Burnout con alteración de dos o más escalas se presenta en el 14.3%, de los que un 3.74% presentan Burnout grave con alteración de las tres escalas. La dimensión de cansancio emocional y despersonalización en grado alto y baja realización personal se da mayoritariamente en médicos adjuntos y residentes. CONCLUSIONES: El síndrome de Burnout en los profesionales de Atención Primaria afecta principalmente a médicos, con ecsasa relación a variables laborales y sociodemográficas, y constituye un factor de riesgo psicosocial para la salud de estos profesionales.

Triage of General Gastrointestinal Endoscopic Procedures During the COVID-19 Pandemic: Results From a National Delphi Consensus Panel.

BACKGROUND AND AIMS: As the COVID-19 pandemic moves into the postpeak period, the focus has now shifted to resuming endoscopy services to meet the needs of patients who were deferred. By using a modified Delphi process, we sought to develop a structured framework to provide guidance regarding procedure indications and procedure time intervals. METHODS: A national panel of 14 expert gastroenterologists from throughout the US used a modified Delphi process, to achieve consensus regarding: (1) common indications for general endoscopy, (2) critical patient-important outcomes for endoscopy, (3) defining time-sensitive intervals, (4) assigning time-sensitive intervals to procedure indications. Two anonymous rounds of voting were allowed before attempts at consensus were abandoned. RESULTS: Expert panel reached consensus that procedures should be allocated to one of three timing categories: (1) time-sensitive emergent = scheduled within 1 week, (2) time-sensitive urgent = scheduled within 1-8 weeks, (3) nontime sensitive = defer to > 8 weeks and reassess timing then. The panel identified 62 common general endoscopy indications (33 for EGD, 21 for colonoscopy, 5 for sigmoidoscopy). Consensus was reached on patient-important outcomes for each procedure indication, and consensus regarding timing of the procedure indication was achieved for 74% of indications. Panelists also identified adequate personal-protective-equipment, rapid point-of-care testing, and staff training as critical preconditions before endoscopy services could be resumed. CONCLUSION: We used the validated Delphi methodology, while prioritized patient-important outcomes, to provide consensus recommendations regarding triaging a comprehensive list of general endoscopic procedures.

Proactive Therapeutic Drug Monitoring of Adalimumab Is Associated With Better Long-term Outcomes Compared With Standard of Care in Patients With Inflammatory Bowel Disease.

BACKGROUND AND AIMS: Therapeutic drug monitoring [TDM] has proven to be effective for optimising anti-tumour necrosis factor [TNF] therapy in inflammatory bowel disease [IBD]. Nevertheless, the majority of data refer to infliximab and reactive testing or association studies. We aimed to compare the long-term outcome of patients with IBD who received at least one proactive TDM of adalimumab, with standard of care, defined as empirical dose escalation and/or reactive TDM. METHODS: This was a multicentre retrospective cohort study. Patients on maintenance adalimumab therapy from June 2006 to December 2015 were eligible. We analysed time to treatment failure from start of adalimumab until the end of follow-up [July 2016]. Treatment failure was defined as drug discontinuation for secondary loss of response or serious adverse event or need for IBD-related surgery. Serum adalimumab concentrations and antibodies to adalimumab were measured using the Prometheus homogeneous mobility shift assay. RESULTS: A total of 382 patients with IBD [Crohn's disease, n = 311, 81%] were included and received either at least one proactive TDM [n = 53] or standard of care [empirical dose escalation, n = 279; reactive TDM, n = 50]. Patients were followed for a median of 3.1 years [interquartile range, 1.4-4.8 years]. Multiple Cox regression analyses showed that at least one proactive TDM was independently associated with a reduced risk for treatment failure (hazard ratio [HR]: 0.4; 95% confidence interval [CI]: 0.2-0.9; p = 0.022). CONCLUSIONS: This multicentre, retrospective cohort study reflecting real-life clinical practice provides the first evidence that proactive TDM of adalimumab may be associated with a lower risk of treatment failure compared with standard of care in patients with IBD.

Maintenance Adalimumab Concentrations Are Associated with Biochemical, Endoscopic, and Histologic Remission in Inflammatory Bowel Disease.

BACKGROUND: A treat-to-target therapeutic approach is emerging as the new standard of care for treating inflammatory bowel disease (IBD), Crohn's disease (CD), and ulcerative colitis (UC). AIMS: We aimed to investigate the association of serum adalimumab concentrations during maintenance therapy with biochemical, endoscopic, and histologic remission in IBD. METHODS: This retrospective multicenter study included consecutive IBD patients on adalimumab maintenance therapy who had a C-reactive protein (CRP) within 1 week and/or endoscopic evaluation within 12 weeks of therapeutic drug monitoring between July 2013 and December 2016. Biochemical remission was defined as a normal CRP (≤ 5 mg/L). Endoscopic remission was defined as the absence of any ulceration/erosion or a Rutgeerts score of ≤ i1 for patients with an ileocolonic resection for CD and a Mayo endoscopic score of ≤ 1 for UC. Histologic remission was defined as the absence of any sign of active inflammation. Adalimumab concentrations were measured using the homogeneous mobility shift assay. RESULTS: Ninety-one CRP levels and 72 colonoscopies from 98 IBD patients [CD: n = 72 (73%)] were evaluated. Based on receiver operating characteristic analyses, we identified an adalimumab concentration threshold of 11.8, 12, and 12.2 µg/mL in CD and 10.5, 16.2, and 16.2 µg/mL in UC to stratify patients with or without biochemical, endoscopic, or histologic remission, respectively. Adalimumab concentrations ≥ 12 µg/mL (OR 8; 95% CI 2-31.9; p = 0.003) and ≥ 12.2 µg/mL (OR 9.6; 95% CI 1.7-56.1; p = 0.012) were independently associated with endoscopic and histologic remission in CD, respectively. CONCLUSIONS: This study demonstrates that higher maintenance adalimumab concentrations are associated with objective therapeutic outcomes in IBD.

Perianal Crohn's disease: a review.

Perianal involvement in Crohn's disease (CD), which encompasses fistulas, ulcers, abscesses, strictures and cancer, can lead to significant impairment in quality of life. The objective of this article is to review the major perianal complications of CD and the current medical and surgical modalities used to treat them. Antibiotics are commonly used despite a lack of controlled trials to validate their use and should be used as a bridge to maintenance therapy. The anti-metabolites azathioprine and 6-MP have shown a positive response in terms of fistula closure, although these data are mostly from trials looking at this as a secondary endpoint. Infliximab is an effective agent for induction and maintenance of treatment of fistulizing CD. Further studies to evaluate the use of subcutaneous anti-tumor necrosis factors are needed to convincingly prove their efficacy for perianal fistulizing disease. In CD, clinicians should avoid surgery as a first-line approach for skin tags, hemorrhoids or fissures in the setting of proctitis. Surgery, particularly lateral internal sphincterotomy, in combination with medical therapy is associated with higher fissure healing rates in the absence of proctitis. Fistulotomy is curative for most simple low perianal fistulae, but complex fistulas often require sphincter-sparing surgical procedures. Less invasive approaches such as a chemical sphincterotomy should be used first, with therapy escalated only if this fails.