Prognostic value of serial (1,3)-ß-D-glucan measurements in ICU patients with invasive candidiasis.

BACKGROUND: To determine whether a decrease in serum (1,3)-ß-D-glucan (BDG) was associated with reduced mortality and to investigate the performance of BDG downslope in predicting clinical outcome in invasive candidiasis. METHODS: Observational cohort study in ICU patients over a ten-year period (2012-2022) in Italy. Proven invasive candidiasis with at least 2 BDG determinations were considered. RESULTS: In the study population of 103 patients (age 47 [35-62] years, SAPS II score 67 [52-77]) 68 bloodstream and 35 intrabdominal infections were recorded. Serial measurements showed that in 54 patients BDG decreased over time (BDG downslope group) while in 49 did not (N-BDG downslope group). Candida albicans was the pathogen most frequently isolated (61%) followed by C. parapsilosis (17%) and C. glabrata (12%), in absence of any inter-group difference. Invasive candidiasis related mortality was lower in BDG downslope than in N-BDG downslope group (17% vs 53%, p < 0.01). The multivariate Cox regression analysis showed the association of septic shock at infection occurrence and chronic liver disease with invasive candidiasis mortality (HR [95% CI] 3.24 [1.25-8.44] p = 0.02 and 7.27 [2.33-22.66] p < 0.01, respectively) while a BDG downslope was the only predictor of survival (HR [95% CI] 0.19 [0.09-0.43] p < 0.01). The area under the receiver operator characteristic curve for the performance of BDG downslope as predictor of good clinical outcome was 0.74 (p = 0.02) and our model showed that a BDG downslope > 70% predicted survival with both specificity and positive predictive value of 100%. CONCLUSIONS: A decrease in serum BDG was associated with reduced mortality and a steep downslope predicted survival with high specificity in invasive candidiasis.

Clinical features and 28-day mortality predictors of vaccinated patients admitted to a COVID-19 ICU hub in Italy.

BACKGROUND: COVID-19 vaccination has been proved to be effective in preventing hospitalization and illness progression, even though data on mortality of vaccinated patients in the intensive care unit (ICU) are conflicting. The aim of this study was to investigate the characteristics of vaccinated patients admitted to ICU according to their immunization cycle and to outline the risk factors for 28-day mortality. This observational study included adult patients admitted to ICU for acute respiratory failure (ARF) due to SARS-CoV-2 and who had received at least one dose of vaccine. RESULTS: Fully vaccination was defined as a complete primary cycle from < 120 days or a booster dose from > 14 days. All the other patients were named partially vaccinated. One-hundred sixty patients (91 fully and 69 partially vaccinated) resulted eligible, showing a 28-day mortality rate of 51.9%. Compared to partially vaccinated, fully vaccinated were younger (69 [60-77.5] vs. 74 [66-79] years, p 0.029), more frequently immunocompromised (39.56% vs. 14.39%, p 0.003), and affected by at least one comorbidity (90.11% vs 78.26%, p 0.045), mainly chronic kidney disease (CKD) (36.26% vs 20.29%, p 0.035). At multivariable analysis, independent predictors of 28-day mortality were as follows: older age [OR 1.05 (CI 95% 1.01-1.08), p 0.005], history of chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) [OR 3.05 (CI 95% 1.28-7.30), p 0.012], immunosuppression [OR 3.70 (CI 95% 1.63-8.40), p 0.002], and admission respiratory and hemodynamic status [PaO2/FiO2 and septic shock: OR 0.99 (CI 95% 0.98-0.99), p 0.009 and 2.74 (CI 95% 1.16-6.48), p 0.022, respectively]. CONCLUSIONS: Despite a full vaccination cycle, severe COVID-19 may occur in patients with relevant comorbidities, especially immunosuppression and CKD. Regardless the immunization status, predisposing conditions (i.e., older age, COPD, and immunosuppression) and a severe clinical presentation were predictors of 28-day mortality.

Perioperative analgesia in the elderly.

The administration of analgesic drugs in elderly patients should take into account age-related physiological changes, loss of efficiency of homeostatic mechanisms, and pharmacological interactions with chronic therapies. Underestimation of pain in patients with impaired cognition is often linked to difficulties in pain assessment. In the preoperative phase, it is essential to assess the physical status, cognitive reserve, and previous chronic pain conditions to plan effective analgesia. Furthermore, an accurate pharmacological history of the patient must be collected to establish any possible interaction with the whole perioperative analgesic plan. The use of analgesic drugs with different mechanisms of action for pain relief in the intraoperative phase is a crucial step to achieve adequate postoperative pain control in older adults. The combined multimodal and opioid-sparing strategy is strongly recommended to reduce side effects. The use of various adjuvants is also preferable. Moreover, the implementation of non-pharmacological approaches may lead to faster recovery. High-quality postoperative analgesia in older patients can be achieved only with a collaborative interdisciplinary team. The aim of this review is to highlight the perioperative pain management strategies in the elderly with a special focus on intraoperative pharmacological interventions.

Remdesivir plus Dexamethasone in COVID-19: A cohort study of severe patients requiring high flow oxygen therapy or non-invasive ventilation.

INTRODUCTION: Remdesivir and Dexamethasone represent the cornerstone of therapy for critically ill patients with acute hypoxemic respiratory failure caused by Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19). However, clinical efficacy and safety of concomitant administration of Remdesivir and Dexamethasone (Rem-Dexa) in severe COVID-19 patients on high flow oxygen therapy (HFOT) or non-invasive ventilation (NIV) remains unknown. MATERIALS AND METHODS: Prospective cohort study that was performed in two medical Intensive Care Units (ICUs) of a tertiary university hospital. The clinical impact of Rem-Dexa administration in hypoxemic patients with COVID-19, who required NIV or HFOT and selected on the simplified acute physiology score II, the sequential organ failure assessment score and the Charlson Comorbidity Index score, was investigated. The primary outcome was 28-day intubation rate; secondary outcomes were end-of-treatment clinical improvement and PaO2/FiO2 ratio, laboratory abnormalities and clinical complications, ICU and hospital length of stay, 28-day and 90-day mortality. RESULTS: We included 132 patients and found that 28-day intubation rate was significantly lower among Rem-Dexa group (19.7% vs 48.5%, p<0.01). Although the end-of-treatment clinical improvement was larger among Rem-Dexa group (69.7% vs 51.5%, p = 0.05), the 28-day and 90-day mortalities were similar (4.5% and 10.6% vs. 15.2% and 16.7%; p = 0.08 and p = 0.45, respectively). The logistic regression and Cox-regression models showed that concomitant Rem-Dexa therapy was associated with a reduction of 28-day intubation rate (OR 0.22, CI95% 0.05-0.94, p = 0.04), in absence of laboratory abnormalities and clinical complications (p = ns). CONCLUSIONS: In COVID-19 critically ill patients receiving HFO or NIV, 28-day intubation rate was lower in patients who received Rem-Dexa and this finding corresponded to lower end-of-treatment clinical improvement. The individual contribution of either Remdesevir or Dexamethasone to the observed clinical effect should be further investigated.

Staphylococcus aureus ventilator-associated pneumonia in patients with COVID-19: clinical features and potential inference with lung dysbiosis.

BACKGROUND: Hospitalized patients with COVID-19 admitted to the intensive care unit (ICU) and requiring mechanical ventilation are at risk of ventilator-associated bacterial infections secondary to SARS-CoV-2 infection. Our study aimed to investigate clinical features of Staphylococcus aureus ventilator-associated pneumonia (SA-VAP) and, if bronchoalveolar lavage samples were available, lung bacterial community features in ICU patients with or without COVID-19. METHODS: We prospectively included hospitalized patients with COVID-19 across two medical ICUs of the Fondazione Policlinico Universitario A. Gemelli IRCCS (Rome, Italy), who developed SA-VAP between 20 March 2020 and 30 October 2020 (thereafter referred to as cases). After 1:2 matching based on the simplified acute physiology score II (SAPS II) and the sequential organ failure assessment (SOFA) score, cases were compared with SA-VAP patients without COVID-19 (controls). Clinical, microbiological, and lung microbiota data were analyzed. RESULTS: We studied two groups of patients (40 COVID-19 and 80 non-COVID-19). COVID-19 patients had a higher rate of late-onset (87.5% versus 63.8%; p = 0.01), methicillin-resistant (65.0% vs 27.5%; p < 0.01) or bacteremic (47.5% vs 6.3%; p < 0.01) infections compared with non-COVID-19 patients. No statistically significant differences between the patient groups were observed in ICU mortality (p = 0.12), clinical cure (p = 0.20) and microbiological eradication (p = 0.31). On multivariable logistic regression analysis, SAPS II and initial inappropriate antimicrobial therapy were independently associated with ICU mortality. Then, lung microbiota characterization in 10 COVID-19 and 16 non-COVID-19 patients revealed that the overall microbial community composition was significantly different between the patient groups (unweighted UniFrac distance, R2 0.15349; p < 0.01). Species diversity was lower in COVID-19 than in non COVID-19 patients (94.4 ± 44.9 vs 152.5 ± 41.8; p < 0.01). Interestingly, we found that S. aureus (log2 fold change, 29.5), Streptococcus anginosus subspecies anginosus (log2 fold change, 24.9), and Olsenella (log2 fold change, 25.7) were significantly enriched in the COVID-19 group compared to the non-COVID-19 group of SA-VAP patients. CONCLUSIONS: In our study population, COVID-19 seemed to significantly affect microbiological and clinical features of SA-VAP as well as to be associated with a peculiar lung microbiota composition.

COVID-19 influences lung microbiota dynamics and favors the emergence of rare infectious diseases: A case report of Hafnia Alvei pneumonia.

The coronavirus disease 2019 causes a wide degree of organ dysfunction and is associated with bacterial secondary infections. We reported lung microbiota dynamics in a critically ill patient with coronavirus disease 2019, who developed severe Hafnia alvei ventilator-associated pneumonia and required extracorporeal membrane oxygenation support.