Clinical presentation and antimicrobial resistance of invasive Escherichia coli disease in hospitalized older adults: a prospective multinational observational study.

BACKGROUND: Clinical data characterizing invasive Escherichia coli disease (IED) are limited. We assessed the clinical presentation of IED and antimicrobial resistance (AMR) patterns of causative E. coli isolates in older adults. METHODS: EXPECT-2 (NCT04117113) was a prospective, observational, multinational, hospital-based study conducted in patients with IED aged ≥ 60 years. IED was determined by the microbiological confirmation of E. coli from blood; or by the microbiological confirmation of E. coli from urine or an otherwise sterile body site in the presence of requisite criteria of systemic inflammatory response syndrome (SIRS), Sequential Organ Failure Assessment (SOFA), or quick SOFA (qSOFA). The primary outcomes were the clinical presentation of IED and AMR rates of E. coli isolates to clinically relevant antibiotics. Complications and in-hospital mortality were assessed through 28 days following IED diagnosis. RESULTS: Of 240 enrolled patients, 80.4% had bacteremic and 19.6% had non-bacteremic IED. One-half of infections (50.4%) were community-acquired. The most common source of infection was the urinary tract (62.9%). Of 240 patients, 65.8% fulfilled ≥ 2 SIRS criteria, and 60.4% had a total SOFA score of ≥ 2. Investigator-diagnosed sepsis and septic shock were reported in 72.1% and 10.0% of patients, respectively. The most common complication was kidney dysfunction (12.9%). The overall in-hospital mortality was 4.6%. Of 299 E. coli isolates tested, the resistance rates were: 30.4% for trimethoprim-sulfamethoxazole, 24.1% for ciprofloxacin, 22.1% for levofloxacin, 16.4% for ceftriaxone, 5.7% for cefepime, and 4.3% for ceftazidime. CONCLUSIONS: The clinical profile of identified IED cases was characterized by high rates of sepsis. IED was associated with high rates of AMR to clinically relevant antibiotics. The identification of IED can be optimized by using a combination of clinical criteria (SIRS, SOFA, or qSOFA) and culture results.

Quantifying candidate volume for endovascular therapy for acute ischemic stroke: a retrospective chart review.

BACKGROUND: Endovascular therapy is the new standard of care for certain patients with acute ischemic stroke. We aimed to determine whether procedural volumes at an academic health sciences centre in northeastern Ontario exceeded the minimum of 20 procedures annually to support establishment of an endovascular therapy centre and thus improve regional access to this type of care. METHODS: We conducted a retrospective chart review at Health Sciences North, a regional stroke centre for northeastern Ontario that currently does not offer endovascular therapy for patients with acute ischemic stroke. Medical records and neurovascular imaging results for patients with a discharge diagnosis of cerebral infarction who were seen by the stroke on-call team at Health Sciences North between May 1, 2016, and Apr. 30, 2017, were retrospectively examined in accordance with criteria of the ESCAPE trial to identify potential candidates for endovascular therapy. The number of candidates was extrapolated to include patients discharged with cerebral infarction from referral centres within a 2-hour transport radius from the study institution. RESULTS: Of 71 patients who met the inclusion criteria, 9 were identified as candidates. Of the 71 cases reviewed, 62 (87%) presented within the window for administration of recombinant tissue plasminogen activator of 4.5 hours from symptom onset, 66 (93%) within the endovascular therapy window of 6 hours and 69 (97%) within the extended endovascular therapy window of 12 hours. Expanding these estimates to include regional referral centres, we conservatively estimated that Health Sciences North has the potential to perform 22 or 23 procedures annually. INTERPRETATION: The projected annual number of procedures met the minimum requirement to maintain competency. Establishing Health Sciences North as a centre for endovascular therapy could be an important step in improving equity in stroke outcomes across northeastern Ontario.