[Aetiology of surgical infections in patients undergoing craniotomy]. / Etiología de las infecciones quirúrgicas en pacientes sometidos a craneotomía.

BACKGROUND: Postoperative infections in patients undergoing craniotomy constitute significant complications associated with increased hospital stay and patient morbidity and mortality. Knowing the aetiology of surgical infections after craniotomy may contribute to improving antibiotic prophylaxis and empirical treatment. METHOD: Information relating to surgical infections in patients undergoing craniotomy was obtained from a series of annual surveys on prevalence of infections in Spanish hospitals (EPINE) during the period 1999-2006. The study protocol collected relevant clinical information on patients with infection. Presence of infection was determined according to the Centres for Disease Control infection criteria. RESULTS: During the time period considered, 107 cases of surgical infections in patients undergoing craniotomy were diagnosed. Forty patients were women (37%) and 67 were male (63%). The mean age was 51.7 years (median 55, range 6-86 years). The duration of the intervention was over 180minutes in 49 patients (45.8%).Thirty-eight patients (35.5%) underwent emergency surgery. Seventy-eight patients (73%) received surgical prophylaxis. Thirty-eight patients (35.5%) had superficial infection of the surgical wound, 38 patients (35.5%) had deep wound infection (including bone flap) and 31 patients (29%), postoperative infections of organ or space (meningitis, subdural empyema or brain abscess). The most common aetiology corresponded to staphylococci (50%), mainly S. aureus (one third of them methicillin-resistant), Pseudomonas aeruginosa (11%), Enterobacter spp (10%) and Acinetobacter baumannii (9%). CONCLUSION: Empirical treatment of these infections should include a glycopeptide such as vancomycin and a beta-lactam with coverage against non-fermenting gram-negative bacilli.

[Microbiology of surgical site infections in abdominal tract surgery patients]. / Microbiología de las infecciones del sitio quirúrgico en pacientes intervenidos del tracto digestivo.

INTRODUCTION: Knowledge of the microbiology of surgical infections after abdominal surgery can be of use when prescribing effective empirical antibiotic treatments. METHOD: Analysis of surgical infections after abdominal surgery in patients enrolled in the Prevalence of Infections in Spanish Hospitals (EPINE) corresponding to the years 1999-2006. RESULTS: During the period of the study, 2,280 patients who were subjected to upper or lower abdominal tract surgery were diagnosed with an infection at the surgical site (SSI). Eight hundred and eighty three patients (37%) had an operation of the upper abdominal tract (gastric, hepatobiliary, and pancreatic surgery) and 1,447 patients (63%) lower abdominal tract surgery (appendectomy and colon surgery). A total of 2,617 bacterial species were isolated in the 2,280 patients included in the analysis. The most frequent microorganisms isolated were, Escherichia coli (28%), Enterococcus spp. (15%), Streptococcus spp. (8%), Pseudomonas aeruginosa (7%), and Staphylococcus aureus (5%, resistant to methicillin 2%). In the surgical infections after upper abdominal tract procedures, there were a higher proportion of isolations of staphylococci, Klebsiella pneumoniae, Enterobacter spp., Acinetobacter spp. and Candida albicans and less Escherichia coli, Bacteroides fragilis and Clostridium spp. CONCLUSION: The microbiology of SSI produced after upper abdominal tract surgery did not show any significant differences compared to those of the lower tract. However, more cases of SSI were detected due to staphylococci, Klebsiella pneumoniae, Enterobacter spp., Acinetobacter spp. and Candida albicans and less caused by Escherichia coli, Bacteroides fragilis and Clostridium spp.

[Small area-based socio-economic indicators in the study of inequalities in health]. / Indicadores socioeconómicos de área pequeña en el estudio de las desigualdades en salud.

OBJECTIVE: To assess whether 2 area-level socioeconomic indicators (one single and the other composite) are able to detect social inequalities in health. METHODS: We used the Health Interview Survey of Barcelona, 1992. Perceived health status, the presence of chronic conditions, smoking, pap test, educational level and social class were analyzed. As area-level indicators, the percentage of unemployment and a deprivation index at census tract level were obtained from the 1991 census. The associations between area-based socioeconomic indicators and individual-level socioeconomic position, as well as the associations among both types of socioeconomic indicator and health, were analyzed. RESULTS: A clear positive association was found between small area-based socioeconomic indicators and individual-level indicators. Similar effects were observed for different health outcomes among men as well as among women. For most of the outcomes analyzed, the differences were greater with the deprivation index than with unemployment. Thus, in men the age-adjusted odds ratio (ORa) of average, poor or very poor perceived health status was 2.0 (95% CI, 1.4-2.9) in the most disadvantaged unemployment quartile in relation to the least disadvantaged quartile while with the deprivation index the ORa was 2.7 (95% CI, 1.9-3.9). For women these ORa were 1.8 (95% CI, 1.4-2.4) and 2.4 (95% CI, 1.8-3.2), respectively. CONCLUSIONS: Area-based socioeconomic indicators, such as those available through the Spanish census, can be applied in all members of a population and are useful for detecting social inequalities in health.

[Gastroenteritis outbreak associated with water consumption, possibly caused by Norwalk or Norwalk-like virus]. / Brote de gastroenteritis asociado al consumo de agua, posiblemente producido por virus tipo Norwalk o semejantes.

BACKGROUND: It is described an acute gastroenteritis outbreak of probable hydric transmission in Ontinyent (Valencia). It was declared on the 31st of January, 1992 and affected 3541 people according to the declaration done by the sanitary services who attended the patients. The clinical situation was characterized by the presence of profuse and watery diarrhoea, nausea, vomiting, abdominal pain and fever or febricula. METHODS: A preliminary study of the cases has been done, the information being treated with the classical method of descriptive epidemiology and a later study of the transversal observation type by means of a telephone inquiry. RESULTS: The results show that this outbreak affected approximately to a 30% of the population, and show the relation between consumption of water from the municipal water system and the outbreak, as well as the existence of a control population not affected for receiving a different water supply. CONCLUSION: Once rejected the bacterial origin for the results of the copro-cultivation done the analysis of the clinical and epidemiological characteristics of the outbreak, show a total agreement with the criteria described by Kaplan to characterize acute gastroenteritis outbreaks because of Norwalk-like virus.

Right-sided diaphragmatic rupture after blunt trauma. An unusual entity.

Traumatic injuries of the diaphragm remain an entity of difficult diagnosis despite having been recognised early in the history of surgery, especially when it comes to blunt trauma and injuries of the right diaphragm. We report the case of a patient with blunt trauma with right diaphragmatic rupture that required urgent surgical treatment for hepatothorax and iatrogenic severe liver injury. Blunt trauma can cause substantial diaphragmatic rupture. It must have a high index of suspicion for diaphragmatic injury in patients, victims of vehicle collisions, mainly if they have suffered frontal impacts and/or side precipitates in patients with severe thoracoabdominal trauma. The diagnosis can be performed clinically and confirmation should be radiological. The general measures for the management of multiple trauma patients must be applied. Surgery at the time of diagnosis should restore continuity.

The usefulness of area-based socioeconomic measures to monitor social inequalities in health in Southern Europe.

BACKGROUND: The study objective was to investigate the association between health outcomes and several small-area-based socioeconomic measures and also with individual socioeconomic measures as a check on external validity. METHODS: Cross-sectional design based on the analysis of the Barcelona Health Interview Survey of 1992. A representative stratified sample of the non-institutionalised population resident in Barcelona city (Spain) was obtained. The present study refers to the 4171 respondents aged over 14. We studied perceived health status, presence of chronic conditions and smoking as health outcomes. Area socioeconomic measures (1991 census) were generated at census tract level and individual socioeconomic measures were educational level and social class obtained through the survey. RESULTS: With individual socioeconomic measures we observed that the lower the educational level or social class, the higher the probability of reporting a perceived health status of fair, poor or very poor and of presenting some chronic condition. With regard to smoking, among men this trend was similar [odds ratio (OR) = 1.5; 95% confidence interval (CI) = 1.2-1.9 in social classes IV-V with respect to social classes I-II], while among women it was reversed (OR = 0.7; 95% CI = 0.5-0.9). With the different area-based socioeconomic indicators differences were also observed in this sense, with the exception of smoking in women for which these indicators do not show any differences by socioeconomic level. CONCLUSIONS: With several census area-based socioeconomic measures similar effects on inequalities in health have been observed. In general, these inequalities were in the same sense as those obtained with individual-based measures. Small-area-based socioeconomic measures from the Spanish census could greatly enhance analysis of social inequalities in health, overcoming the absence of socioeconomic data in public health registries and in medical records.

Mortality and socioeconomic deprivation in census tracts of an urban setting in southern Europe.

In southern European cities, research on deprivation and mortality inequalities using small-area analysis is recent. In many countries, the census tract (CT) is the smallest territorial unit for which population data are available. The aim of this study was to examine the association between mortality from all causes and socioeconomic deprivation in CTs in Barcelona (Spain). A cross-sectional ecologic study was carried out using mortality data for 1987-1995 and 1991 census variables. Mortality data were obtained from death certificates. Socioeconomic deprivation indicators were drawn from the census and included unemployment, inadequate education, and low social class. They were correlated, and a deprivation index was elaborated with them. The analysis was descriptive, and multivariate Poisson regression models were adjusted. The most deprived CTs tend to present higher mortality (49.7% of CT in the quartile associated with greatest deprivation were included in the top male mortality quartile and 40.4% in the top female mortality quartile), whereas the less deprived ones present lower mortality. For male mortality, the risk of dying among those in the quartile representing most deprivation is from 25 to 29% higher (depending on the indicator chosen) than the least deprived quartile, and for women, it is from 12 to 14% higher. We concluded that the mortality from all causes in the CT of a southern European city has shown a clear positive association with a variety of socioeconomic deprivation indicators drawn from the census. Studies of this nature may help to orient more specific studies in which CTs are grouped together as a function of particular population and/or health characteristics.

[Study of temporary disability leave in the City of Játiva]. / Estudio de la incapacidad laboral transitoria en la ciudad de Játiva.

BACKGROUND: The study that we present is basically descriptive and contribute to try to characterize the morbidity of the insured working population of the city of Játiva. METHODS: The period studied is the year 1988. 2044 registers were analyzed for cause, sex and duration. The cases were classified according the CIE-9a. The results are expressed by proportions. The significant differences are valued by the Chi-square. The half duration of the process and his interval of confidence are studied. RESULTS: The respiratory diseases, with the 32.68%, the traumatisms and poisonings, with the 13.36% and the osteomuscular diseases with the 11.74% represent the first three causes of ILT. We found differences significant in the groups VI (Nervous system diseases) and XVII (Traumatisms and poisonings), more frequent for the men, and in the groups V (Mental disorders) and VIII (Respiratory diseases) more frequent for the women. CONCLUSIONS: The results obtained from the ILT study are important for the knowledge of the of the health situation in the city of Játiva.