Nutritional status in eosinophilic gastrointestinal disorders: A pediatric case-control study.

Eosinophilic gastrointestinal disorders (EGIDs) represent an emerging group of heterogeneous diseases associated with failure to thrive, weight loss, protein-losing enteropathy, and malnutrition. To date, no studies have assessed the nutritional status, vitamin D, and other vitamin levels in patients with non-esophageal EGIDs. We aim to evaluate the nutritional profile of a cohort of children and adolescents with EGIDs. We performed a case-control study, enrolling a total of 98 patients, 38 (39%) patients with EoE, 22 (22%) patients with non-esophageal EGIDs, and 38 (39%) patients with non-allergic controls. Children with EGIDs had both mean ferritin and mean hemoglobin levels, together with other values such as folates and vitamin B12, within normal range and therefore did not have anemia. Albumin and prealbumin levels were within normal limits. Patients with EGIDs have mean vitamin D values slightly higher than non-allergic controls. Although this study is retrospective and referred to only one pediatric center, we found that Italian children and adolescents with EGIDs are neither malnourished nor deficient in vitamin D compared with controls.

Association of the European Society of Cardiology echocardiographic probability grading for pulmonary hypertension with short and mid-term clinical outcomes after heart valve surgery.

BACKGROUND AND AIMS: Pulmonary hypertension (PH) is associated with higher mortality and morbidity after valvular heart surgery, mainly through its adverse effect on right ventricular hemodynamic. Recently, the European Society of Cardiology (ESC) PH guidelines introduced a PH probability grading that lists additional parameters related to right ventricular dimensions. We evaluated the impact of such score on short- and mid-term outcomes in patients undergoing left heart valvular surgery. METHODS AND RESULTS: We included 60 consecutive patients (mean age 70 ±â€¯9 years) undergoing left heart valvular surgery with or without coronary artery bypass. Patients were divided into 3 groups according to the PH probability: "low" (n = 18), "intermediate" (n = 18), or "high" (n = 24). The high PH probability group had higher rate of World Health Organization-Functional Class (WHO-FC) III and IV, hemodynamic complications, deaths, major bleeding events and infections after heart surgery than the other groups. A "high" PH probability was associated with reduced right ventricular systolic function, as measured by the fractional area change (FAC), but not with the tricuspid annular plane systolic excursion (TAPSE). CONCLUSION: The high PH probability as evaluated by the ESC PH echocardiographic probability model, is associated with increased short- and mid-term mortality and morbidity and reduced right ventricular systolic function after cardiac surgery, Thus, additional echocardiographic parameters assessing PH probability are valuable tools to stratify risk in patients undergoing cardiac surgery.