Thrombocytopenia in the critically ill: prevalence, incidence, risk factors, and clinical outcomes.

PURPOSE: The aim of this cohort study was to describe the prevalence, incidence, and risk factors for thrombocytopenia in the intensive care unit (ICU) and to evaluate the impact of thrombocytopenia on mortality with further comparisons amongst major diagnostic categories. METHODS: Patients admitted to the ICU from 1997-2011 for cardiac, medical, surgical, and trauma conditions were included. The presence of a platelet count < 100 × 10(9)·L(-1) on admission day or its appearance during ICU stay were considered as prevalent and incident thrombocytopenia, respectively. Risk factors for thrombocytopenia and the influence of thrombocytopenia on mortality were also analyzed. RESULTS: This study included 20,696 patients. Prevalent and incident thrombocytopenia occurred in 13.3% and 7.8% of patients, respectively, with associated mortality rates of 14.3% and 24.7%, respectively, compared with 10.2% in the group with normal platelet count (P < 0.001). After adjustments, thrombocytopenia remained associated with an increased risk of mortality (odds ratio 1.25; 95% confidence interval 1.20 to 1.31; P < 0.001). The greatest impact of thrombocytopenia on mortality was observed in the cancer, respiratory, digestive, genitourinary, and infectious diagnostic categories. Independent risk factors included age, female sex, admission platelet counts and hemoglobin, mechanical ventilation, days of hospitalization prior to ICU admission, liver cirrhosis, hypersplenism, coronary bypass grafting, intra-aortic balloon pump placement, acute hepatitis, septic shock, and pulmonary embolism or deep vein thrombosis. CONCLUSIONS: Thrombocytopenia in the ICU is associated with an independent risk of mortality that varies greatly depending on diagnostic admission category.

Pain management after tonsillectomy: morphine is not enough.

INTRODUCTION: Tonsillectomy is usually done as day surgery, transferring to the parents most of the postoperative care. They often feel alone and incompetent in front of a child in pain. We developed a guide to help parents for both the evaluation and the management of postoperative pain. OBJECTIVE: To improve pediatric posttonsillectomy pain management with the implementation of a parental guide and treatment algorithm. METHODS: Eighty children (5-17 years) were recruited in this randomized clinical trial. Parents and children were assigned to one of the research groups: control or experimental. All received an identical prescription for acetaminophen (15 mg/kg) and morphine (0.3 mg/kg), information about the medication, a visual analogue scale (VAS), and index cards to be filled at home. The experimental group also received a treatment algorithm associating pain scores with analgesics. RESULTS: Pain scores for the control group and the experimental group were 5.3 and 4.7 on the day of surgery, 4.0 and 3.6 the next day, 2.2 and 2.3 3 days later, and 1.6 and 1.4 1 week after the intervention, respectively. The side effects and the analgesics given were comparable for both groups. CONCLUSION: No significant difference was demonstrated for the studied parameters, probably because the majority of the parents followed the prescriptions well. The guide was much appreciated. The children understood the VAS easily and liked using it. The combination of acetaminophen-morphine needs to be revisited since pain remains problematic.