Incidence and clinical characteristics of thyroid abnormalities in cancer patients treated with immune checkpoint inhibitors.

INTRODUCTION: Immune checkpoint inhibitors (ICI) are a group of drugs that have been used in recent years for the treatment of advanced malignancies such as melanoma, non-small cell lung cancer and other tumors, significantly increasing survival. However, the use of ICI has been associated with an increased risk of autoimmune diseases, with endocrine organs, specifically the thyroid, being highly susceptible to this phenomenon. OBJECTIVE: To describe the incidence and clinical characteristics of patients treated with ICI who develop thyroid disease. METHODS: The medical records of all patients who received ICI treatment within the last three years were retrospectively reviewed, with those who developed thyroid abnormalities being identified. RESULTS: The prevalence of thyroiditis was 7 %, with an incidence of 21.4 % of patients-month. Median time for the development of thyroiditis was 63 days. Most patients had mild or moderate symptoms and did not require hospitalization, although all but one developed permanent hypothyroidism and required hormone replacement therapy with levothyroxine. CONCLUSIONS: Thyroid dysfunction secondary to immunotherapy is a common entity in our population. Clinical presentation is usually mild and does not require treatment discontinuation; however, due to the high incidence of these adverse events, non-oncology specialists must be familiar with the diagnosis and treatment of these alterations in order to provide multidisciplinary management.

INTRODUCCIÓN: Los inhibidores del punto de control inmunológico (IPCi) son utilizados en los últimos años en el tratamiento de neoplasias malignas avanzadas, con ellos se ha logrado un aumento significativo de la supervivencia; sin embargo, su uso se ha asociado a incremento del riesgo de enfermedades autoinmunes. OBJETIVO: Describir la incidencia y las características clínicas de los pacientes tratados con IPCi que desarrollaron tiroidopatía. MÉTODOS: Se revisaron retrospectivamente los expedientes de todos los pacientes que recibieron IPCi en los últimos tres años y se identificaron aquellos que desarrollaron anomalías tiroideas. RESULTADOS: La prevalencia de tiroiditis fue de 7 %, con una incidencia de 21.4 % pacientes/mes. La mediana del tiempo para el desarrollo de tiroiditis fue de 63 días. La mayoría de los pacientes presentó síntomas leves o moderados y no requirió hospitalización, si bien todos menos uno desarrollaron hipotiroidismo permanente y requirieron terapia de reemplazo hormonal con levotiroxina. CONCLUSIONES: La disfunción tiroidea secundaria a inmunoterapia es una entidad común en nuestra población. El cuadro clínico suele ser leve y no requiere suspender el tratamiento; sin embargo, debido a la alta incidencia de este evento adverso, los médicos no oncólogos deben estar familiarizados con su diagnóstico y tratamiento, para brindar un manejo multidisciplinario.

Are overweight and obesity risk factors for invasive mechanical ventilation in severe coronavirus disease 2019 pneumonia?

ABSTRACT Objective: Describe the demographic, clinical, and biochemical characteristics of overweight or obese people with severe COVID-19 pneumonia and evaluate its association with mechanical ventilation requirements in a Mexican cohort. Subjects and methods: Data were obtained from medical electronic records. Patients were divided in three groups according to the World Health Organization (WHO) classification of body mass index (BMI): lean, overweight and obese. Baseline characteristics and clinical course were compared among these 3 groups. Results: The study included a total of 355 patients with confirmed COVID-19 diagnoses. Patients with obesity and overweigh, according to the WHO classification, had no significantly increased risk of requiring intubation and invasive mechanical ventilation (IMV) compared to lean subjects, with an odds ratio (OR) of 1.82 (95% CI, 0.94-3.53). A post hoc and multivariate analysis using a BMI > 35 kg/m2 to define obesity revealed that subjects above this cut off had as significantly increased risk of requiring IMV after with an OR of 2.86 (95% CI, 1.09-7.05). Conclusion: We found no higher risk of requiring IMV in patients with overweight or obesity while using conventional BMI cutoffs. According to our sensitivity analyses, the risk of IMV increases in patients with a BMI over 35 kg/m2.

Incidencia y características clínicas de la enfermedad tiroidea en pacientes con neoplasias malignas tratados con inhibidores de punto de control inmunológico / Incidence and clinical characteristics of thyroid abnormalities in cancer patients treated with immune checkpoint inhibitors

Resumen Introducción: Los inhibidores del punto de control inmunológico (IPCi) son utilizados en los últimos años en el tratamiento de neoplasias malignas avanzadas, con ellos se ha logrado un aumento significativo de la supervivencia; sin embargo, su uso se ha asociado a incremento del riesgo de enfermedades autoinmunes. Objetivo: Describir la incidencia y las características clínicas de los pacientes tratados con IPCi que desarrollaron tiroidopatía. Métodos: Se revisaron retrospectivamente los expedientes de todos los pacientes que recibieron IPCi en los últimos tres años y se identificaron aquellos que desarrollaron anomalías tiroideas. Resultados: La prevalencia de tiroiditis fue de 7 %, con una incidencia de 21.4 % pacientes/mes. La mediana del tiempo para el desarrollo de tiroiditis fue de 63 días. La mayoría de los pacientes presentó síntomas leves o moderados y no requirió hospitalización, si bien todos menos uno desarrollaron hipotiroidismo permanente y requirieron terapia de reemplazo hormonal con levotiroxina. Conclusiones: La disfunción tiroidea secundaria a inmunoterapia es una entidad común en nuestra población. El cuadro clínico suele ser leve y no requiere suspender el tratamiento; sin embargo, debido a la alta incidencia de este evento adverso, los médicos no oncólogos deben estar familiarizados con su diagnóstico y tratamiento, para brindar un manejo multidisciplinario.

Abstract Introduction: Immune checkpoint inhibitors (ICI) are a group of drugs that have been used in recent years for the treatment of advanced malignancies such as melanoma, non-small cell lung cancer and other tumors, significantly increasing survival. However, the use of ICI has been associated with an increased risk of autoimmune diseases, with endocrine organs, specifically the thyroid, being highly susceptible to this phenomenon. Objective: To describe the incidence and clinical characteristics of patients treated with ICI who develop thyroid disease. Methods: The medical records of all patients who received ICI treatment within the last three years were retrospectively reviewed, with those who developed thyroid abnormalities being identified. Results: The prevalence of thyroiditis was 7 %, with an incidence of 21.4 % of patients-month. Median time for the development of thyroiditis was 63 days. Most patients had mild or moderate symptoms and did not require hospitalization, although all but one developed permanent hypothyroidism and required hormone replacement therapy with levothyroxine. Conclusions: Thyroid dysfunction secondary to immunotherapy is a common entity in our population. Clinical presentation is usually mild and does not require treatment discontinuation; however, due to the high incidence of these adverse events, non-oncology specialists must be familiar with the diagnosis and treatment of these alterations in order to provide multidisciplinary management.

COVID-IRS: A novel predictive score for risk of invasive mechanical ventilation in patients with COVID-19.

BACKGROUND: Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) is a systemic disease that can rapidly progress into acute respiratory failure and death. Timely identification of these patients is crucial for a proper administration of health-care resources. OBJECTIVE: To develop a predictive score that estimates the risk of invasive mechanical ventilation (IMV) among patients with COVID-19. STUDY DESIGN: Retrospective cohort study of 401 COVID-19 patients diagnosed from March 12, to August 10, 2020. The score development cohort comprised 211 patients (52.62% of total sample) whereas the validation cohort included 190 patients (47.38% of total sample). We divided participants according to the need of invasive mechanical ventilation (IMV) and looked for potential predictive variables. RESULTS: We developed two predictive scores, one based on Interleukin-6 (IL-6) and the other one on the Neutrophil/Lymphocyte ratio (NLR), using the following variables: respiratory rate, SpO2/FiO2 ratio and lactic dehydrogenase (LDH). The area under the curve (AUC) in the development cohort was 0.877 (0.823-0.931) using the NLR based score and 0.891 (0.843-0.939) using the IL-6 based score. When compared with other similar scores developed for the prediction of adverse outcomes in COVID-19, the COVID-IRS scores proved to be superior in the prediction of IMV. CONCLUSION: The COVID-IRS scores accurately predict the need for mechanical ventilation in COVID-19 patients using readily available variables taken upon admission. More studies testing the applicability of COVID-IRS in other centers and populations, as well as its performance as a triage tool for COVID-19 patients are needed.