High prevalence of sleep-disordered breathing in the intensive care unit - a cross-sectional study.

PURPOSE: Sleep-disordered breathing may be induced by, exacerbate, or complicate recovery from critical illness. Disordered breathing during sleep, which itself is often fragmented, can go unrecognized in the intensive care unit (ICU). The objective of this study was to investigate the prevalence, severity, and risk factors of sleep-disordered breathing in ICU patients using a single respiratory belt and oxygen saturation signals. METHODS: Patients in three ICUs at Massachusetts General Hospital wore a thoracic respiratory effort belt as part of a clinical trial for up to 7 days and nights. Using a previously developed machine learning algorithm, we processed respiratory and oximetry signals to measure the 3% apnea-hypopnea index (AHI) and estimate AH-specific hypoxic burden and periodic breathing. We trained models to predict AHI categories for 12-h segments from risk factors, including admission variables and bio-signals data, available at the start of these segments. RESULTS: Of 129 patients, 68% had an AHI ≥ 5; 40% an AHI > 15, and 19% had an AHI > 30 while critically ill. Median [interquartile range] hypoxic burden was 2.8 [0.5, 9.8] at night and 4.2 [1.0, 13.7] %min/h during the day. Of patients with AHI ≥ 5, 26% had periodic breathing. Performance of predicting AHI-categories from risk factors was poor. CONCLUSIONS: Sleep-disordered breathing and sleep apnea events while in the ICU are common and are associated with substantial burden of hypoxia and periodic breathing. Detection is feasible using limited bio-signals, such as respiratory effort and SpO2 signals, while risk factors were insufficient to predict AHI severity.

Classification of neurologic outcomes from medical notes using natural language processing.

Neurologic disability level at hospital discharge is an important outcome in many clinical research studies. Outside of clinical trials, neurologic outcomes must typically be extracted by labor intensive manual review of clinical notes in the electronic health record (EHR). To overcome this challenge, we set out to develop a natural language processing (NLP) approach that automatically reads clinical notes to determine neurologic outcomes, to make it possible to conduct larger scale neurologic outcomes studies. We obtained 7314 notes from 3632 patients hospitalized at two large Boston hospitals between January 2012 and June 2020, including discharge summaries (3485), occupational therapy (1472) and physical therapy (2357) notes. Fourteen clinical experts reviewed notes to assign scores on the Glasgow Outcome Scale (GOS) with 4 classes, namely 'good recovery', 'moderate disability', 'severe disability', and 'death' and on the Modified Rankin Scale (mRS), with 7 classes, namely 'no symptoms', 'no significant disability', 'slight disability', 'moderate disability', 'moderately severe disability', 'severe disability', and 'death'. For 428 patients' notes, 2 experts scored the cases generating interrater reliability estimates for GOS and mRS. After preprocessing and extracting features from the notes, we trained a multiclass logistic regression model using LASSO regularization and 5-fold cross validation for hyperparameter tuning. The model performed well on the test set, achieving a micro average area under the receiver operating characteristic and F-score of 0.94 (95% CI 0.93-0.95) and 0.77 (0.75-0.80) for GOS, and 0.90 (0.89-0.91) and 0.59 (0.57-0.62) for mRS, respectively. Our work demonstrates that an NLP algorithm can accurately assign neurologic outcomes based on free text clinical notes. This algorithm increases the scale of research on neurological outcomes that is possible with EHR data.

Physiological Assessment of Delirium Severity: The Electroencephalographic Confusion Assessment Method Severity Score (E-CAM-S).

OBJECTIVES: Delirium is a common and frequently underdiagnosed complication in acutely hospitalized patients, and its severity is associated with worse clinical outcomes. We propose a physiologically based method to quantify delirium severity as a tool that can help close this diagnostic gap: the Electroencephalographic Confusion Assessment Method Severity Score (E-CAM-S). DESIGN: Retrospective cohort study. SETTING: Single-center tertiary academic medical center. PATIENTS: Three-hundred seventy-three adult patients undergoing electroencephalography to evaluate altered mental status between August 2015 and December 2019. INTERVENTIONS: None. MEASUREMENTS AND MAIN RESULTS: We developed the E-CAM-S based on a learning-to-rank machine learning model of forehead electroencephalography signals. Clinical delirium severity was assessed using the Confusion Assessment Method Severity (CAM-S). We compared associations of E-CAM-S and CAM-S with hospital length of stay and inhospital mortality. E-CAM-S correlated with clinical CAM-S (R = 0.67; p < 0.0001). For the overall cohort, E-CAM-S and CAM-S were similar in their strength of association with hospital length of stay (correlation = 0.31 vs 0.41, respectively; p = 0.082) and inhospital mortality (area under the curve = 0.77 vs 0.81; p = 0.310). Even when restricted to noncomatose patients, E-CAM-S remained statistically similar to CAM-S in its association with length of stay (correlation = 0.37 vs 0.42, respectively; p = 0.188) and inhospital mortality (area under the curve = 0.83 vs 0.74; p = 0.112). In addition to previously appreciated spectral features, the machine learning framework identified variability in multiple measures over time as important features in electroencephalography-based prediction of delirium severity. CONCLUSIONS: The E-CAM-S is an automated, physiologic measure of delirium severity that predicts clinical outcomes with a level of performance comparable to conventional interview-based clinical assessment.

Cerebrovascular and cardiovascular disease burden in patients with hereditary hemorrhagic telangiectasia.

INTRODUCTION: Hereditary hemorrhagic telangiectasia (HHT) is a rare genetic disease with prevalence of approximately 1 in 5000-10,000. We evaluated the prevalence and association of cerebrovascular and cardiovascular comorbidities in HHT patients using national database. METHODS: Retrospective observational study was performed using National Inpatient Sampling (NIS) database for the year 2014. HHT patients and comorbidities were identified using ICD-9 codes. Univariate and multivariate analyses were performed using SAS. RESULTS: Prevalence of HHT was 0.0119% with predominance in White population. Mean age of HHT patients was 59 years. Increased proportion of HHT patients had hypertension (46.8% vs 42%), anemia (28.9% vs 15.1%), chronic pulmonary disease (24.8% vs 16.4%), congestive heart failure (15.7% vs 7.5%), liver disease (7.9% vs 2.8%), migraine (4.5% vs 1.5%), and cerebrovascular malformations (0.8% vs 0.03%), whereas chronic kidney disease (12.7% vs 12.2%), headaches (1.3% vs 1.1%), seizures (0.7% vs 0.9%), transient ischemic attacks (1.06% vs 1.03%), ischemic (1.2% vs 1.0%), and hemorrhagic (0.5% vs 0.3%) strokes were similar to those without HHT. Multivariable model shows increase in cerebrovascular malformations (OR 11.04, CI 2.49-22.26, p < 0.0001), migraine (OR 3.23, CI 2.30-4.52, p < 0.0001), chronic blood loss anemia (OR 6.83, CI 5.36-8.71, p < 0.0001), congestive heart failure (OR 1.55, CI 1.26-1.91, p < 0.0001), chronic pulmonary disease (OR 1.30, CI 1.09-1.56, p = 0.0038), and hepatic disease (OR 2.63, CI 2.01-3.45, p < 0.0001) in HHT patients as compared to non-HHT patients. CONCLUSION: There is a need for a large prospective registry of HHT patients that can corroborate these associations and burden of cerebrovascular and cardiovascular diseases.

Current application of cannabidiol (CBD) in the management and treatment of neurological disorders.

Cannabidiol (CBD), which is nonintoxicating pharmacologically relevant constituents of Cannabis, demonstrates several beneficial effects. It has been found to have antioxidative, anti-inflammatory, and neuroprotective effects. As the medicinal use of CBD is gaining popularity for treatment of various disorders, the recent flare-up of largely unproven and unregulated cannabis-based preparations on medical therapeutics may have its greatest impact in the field of neurology. Currently, as lot of clinical trials are underway, CBD demonstrates remarkable potential to become a supplemental therapy in various neurological conditions. It has shown promise in the treatment of neurological disorders such as anxiety, chronic pain, trigeminal neuralgia, epilepsy, and essential tremors as well as psychiatric disorders. While recent FDA-approved prescription drugs have demonstrated safety, efficacy, and consistency enough for regulatory approval in spasticity in multiple sclerosis (MS) and in Dravet and Lennox-Gastaut Syndromes (LGS), many therapeutic challenges still remain. In the current review, the authors have shed light on the application of CBD in the management and treatment of various neurological disorders.

Cerebral vascular malformations and their imaging modalities.

Cerebrovascular malformations are uncommon diverse group of dysmorphic vascular communications that may occur sporadically or as part of genetic syndromes. These include non-neoplastic lesions such as arteriovenous malformations (AVM), cavernous malformations (CM), developmental venous anomalies (DVA), and telangiectasias as well as others like arteriovenous fistulas (AVF), vein of Galen malformations (VOGM), and mixed or unclassified angiomas. These lesions often carry a high degree of morbidity and mortality often requiring surgical or endovascular interventions. The field of cerebrovascular anomalies has seen considerable advancement in the last few years. Treatment and management options of various types of brain anomalies have evolved in neurological, neurosurgical, and neuro-interventional radiology arena. The use of radiological imaging studies is a critical element for treatment of such neurosurgical cases. As imaging modalities continue to evolve at a rapid pace, it is imperative for neurological surgeons to be familiar with current imaging modalities essential for a precise diagnosis. Better understanding of these cerebrovascular lesions along with their associated imaging findings assists in determining the appropriate treatment options. In the current review, authors highlight various cerebrovascular malformations and their current imaging modalities.

Impact of robot-assisted spine surgery on health care quality and neurosurgical economics: A systemic review.

Whenever any new technology is introduced into the healthcare system, it should satisfy all three pillars of the iron triangle of health care, which are quality, cost-effectiveness, and accessibility. There has been quite advancement in the field of spine surgery in the last two decades with introduction of new technological modalities such as CAN and surgical robotic devices. MAZOR SpineAssist/Renaissance was the first robotic system to be approved for the use in spine surgeries in the USA in 2004. In this review, the authors sought to determine if the current literature supports this technology to be cost-effective, accessible, and improve the quality of care for individuals and populations by increasing the likelihood of desired health outcomes. Robotic-assisted surgery seems to provide perfection in surgical ergonomics and surgical dexterity, consequently improving patient outcomes. A lot of data is present on the accuracy, effectiveness, and safety of the robotic-guided technology which reflects remarkable improvements in quality of care, making its utility convincingly undisputable. The technology has been claimed to be cost-effective but there seems to be lack of data in the literature on this topic to validate this claim. Apart from just the outcome parameters, there is an immense need of studies on real-time cost-efficacy, patient perspective, surgeon and resident learning curve, and their experience with this new technology. Furthermore, new studies looking into increased utilities of this technology, such as brain and spine tumor resection, deep brain stimulation procedures, and osteotomies in deformity surgery, might authenticate the cost of the equipment.

Recent update on basic mechanisms of spinal cord injury.

Spinal cord injury (SCI) is a life-shattering neurological condition that affects between 250,000 and 500,000 individuals each year with an estimated two to three million people worldwide living with an SCI-related disability. The incidence in the USA and Canada is more than that in other countries with motor vehicle accidents being the most common cause, while violence being most common in the developing nations. Its incidence is two- to fivefold higher in males, with a peak in younger adults. Apart from the economic burden associated with medical care costs, SCI predominantly affects a younger adult population. Therefore, the psychological impact of adaptation of an average healthy individual as a paraplegic or quadriplegic with bladder, bowel, or sexual dysfunction in their early life can be devastating. People with SCI are two to five times more likely to die prematurely, with worse survival rates in low- and middle-income countries. This devastating disorder has a complex and multifaceted mechanism. Recently, a lot of research has been published on the restoration of locomotor activity and the therapeutic strategies. Therefore, it is imperative for the treating physicians to understand the complex underlying pathophysiological mechanisms of SCI.

Ideal sedation for stroke thrombectomy: a prospective pilot single-center observational study.

OBJECTIVESeveral retrospective studies have supported the use of conscious sedation (CS) over general anesthesia (GA) as the preferred methods of sedation for stroke thrombectomy, but a recent randomized controlled trial showed no difference in outcomes after CS or GA. The purpose of the Ideal Sedation for Stroke Thrombectomy (ISST) study was to evaluate the difference in time and outcomes in the reperfusion of anterior circulation in ischemic stroke using GA and monitored anesthesia care (MAC).METHODSThe ISST study was a prospective, open-label registry. A total of 40 patients who underwent mechanical thrombectomy for anterior circulation ischemic stroke were enrolled. Informed consent was obtained from each patient before enrollment. The primary endpoint included the interval between the patient's arrival to the interventional radiology room and reperfusion time. Secondary endpoints were evaluated to estimate the effects on the outcome of patients between the 2 sedation methods.RESULTSOf the 40 patients, 32 received thrombectomy under MAC and 8 patients under GA. The male-to-female ratio was 18:14 in the MAC group and 4:4 in the GA group. The mean time from interventional radiology room arrival to reperfusion in the GA group was 2 times higher than that in the MAC group. Complete reperfusion (TICI grade 3) was achieved in more than 50% of patients in both groups. The mean modified Rankin Scale score at 3 months was < 2 in the MAC group and > 3 in the GA group (p = 0.021).CONCLUSIONSThe findings from the pilot study showed a significantly shorter time interval between IR arrival and reperfusion and better outcomes in patients undergoing reperfusion for ischemic stroke in the anterior circulation using MAC compared with GA.Clinical trial registration no.: NCT03036631 (clinicaltrials.gov).

Design, Application and Infield Validation of a Pre-Hospital Emergent Large Vessel Occlusion Screening Tool: Ventura Emergent Large Vessel Occlusion Score.

BACKGROUND: The outcome of endovascular treatment for emergent large vessel occlusion (ELVO) is dependent on timely recanalization. To identify ELVO in the field, we present a simplified score, which has been applied and validated in the field by emergency medical services (EMS). Methods and Analysis: Ventura ELVO Scale (VES) comprise of 4 components: Eye Deviation, Aphasia, Neglect, and Obtundation with score range 0-4. The score of greater than or equal to 1 will be considered as ELVO positive. A positive VES along with positive Cincinnati scale prompts ELVO activation. EMS then notify to neurointervention protocol at the receiving stroke center. The performance of VES was evaluated retrospectively. For statistical analysis, SAS version 9.4 was used and Fisher's modelling was used for the comparative analysis. RESULTS: Total 184 patients were included in the final analysis, 62 (33.7%) patients were called VES positive from the field. Out of 62, 36 (58%) patients had ELVO. The mean NIHSS on arrival was 16 in VES positive and 5 in VES negative patients. VES was 94.7% sensitive and 82.4% specific while the PPV and NPV of VES were 58.1% and 98.4%, respectively. It showed 84.9% accuracy. CONCLUSIONS: VES is an effective and simplified prehospital screening tool for detection of ELVO in the field. Its implementation can beat the target door to groin time to improve outcomes and in future it can be used for rerouting of ELVO patients to comprehensive stroke center.

Intracerebral Hemorrhage in Multiple Sclerosis: A Retrospective Cohort Study.

BACKGROUND: To identify the vascular risk factors associated with the occurrence of intracerebral hemorrhage (ICH) in Multiple Sclerosis (MS) patients. METHODS: This is an observational, retrospective cohort study using the nationwide electronic medical records (EMR) database. Patients with the diagnosis of MS were extracted from inpatient and outpatient EMR using the international classification of diseases, ninth/tenth revisions, clinical modification codes. We excluded patients younger than 18 years, and those where gender was not specified. Patients were further stratified based on their demographics, risk factors, medications, and comorbidities. Tobacco, diabetes, hypertension, and alcohol were the predicting variables; antiplatelet medication, and anticoagulant agents were the primary exposures for the development of ICH. A validated diagnosis code algorithm defined the diagnosis of ICH. Multivariable logistic regression models were utilized to assess the risk of ICH in MS patients. RESULTS: Of the total 57,099 MS patients (women: 75%, n = 41,517), 107 (.19%) sustained an ICH. Age (OR = 2.74, CI = 1.13-6.62), use of anticoagulants (OR = 2.15, 95% CI = 1.30-3.56, P = .0028), and history of tobacco exposure (OR = 2.44, CI = 1.37-4.36, P = .0025) were associated with increased risk of ICH. Use of antiplatelet and disease-modifying drugs (DMDs) showed a protective trend against ICH. CONCLUSIONS: Tobacco exposure and anticoagulant use were strongly associated with increased risk of ICH in patients with MS. There might be a protective effect that antiplatelet and DMDs have in the pathophysiology of this disease. Further prospective investigations are warranted to establish these associations.

Variations in the Compressive Strength of a Die Stone with Three Different Sulfates at Eight Different Concentrations: An In Vitro Study.

AIM: The present study aimed to evaluate the alteration in the compressive strength (CS) of the die stone with three different sulfate salt additives, each at eight various concentrations. MATERIALS AND METHODS: The specimens were prepared at specific dimensions (length: 2.5 cm and diameter: 2.5 cm) divided into three test groups based on the type of sulfate additives used [potassium sulfate (K2SO4), zinc sulfate (ZnSO4·H2O), and manganese sulfate (MnSO4·H2O)] and one control group, without any additives. Again, each group was divided into eight subgroups based on concentration of sulfates (ranging from 0.2% to 4%). A total of 375 specimens were tested. CS (in MPa) was evaluated after 72 hours of drying time, using an universal testing machine. STATISTICAL ANALYSIS: A one-way analysis of variance (ANOVA) was used for intergroup comparisons. Individual comparisons were done using the post hoc Tukey HSD analysis. RESULTS: All the three additives at all the concentrations have shown an inferior resistance to compressive forces when compared to the standard specimen. However, the least mean CS was observed at 0.8% of MnSO4 (10.95 MPa) and the highest was at 1% K2SO4 (25.28%). A highly significant difference (p < 0.001) was observed among the concentrations in all the three groups (K2SO4, MnSO4, and ZnSO4 groups) and F values were derived as 69.84, 24.29, and 130.52, respectively. At each concentration, comparisons between the groups have shown a significant difference (p < 0.05) at almost all concentrations. CONCLUSION: The CS of die stone is shown to be decreased with an increase in all three types of sulfate additives when compared to the control specimen. CLINICAL SIGNIFICANCE: Die stone is an often used gypsum material in the field of dentistry. Compressive strength of the die stone is crucial in prosthetic dentistry; chemical additives such as sulfate salts may increase the CS such that the die stone can withstand clinical and laboratory handling forces. How to cite this article: Vyas R, Vaddamanu SK, Gurumurthy V, et al. Variations in the Compressive Strength of a Die Stone with Three Different Sulfates at Eight Different Concentrations: An In Vitro Study. J Contemp Dent Pract 2019;20(11):1297-1306.

High-intensity focused ultrasound: past, present, and future in neurosurgery.

Since Lynn and colleagues first described the use of focused ultrasound (FUS) waves for intracranial ablation in 1942, many strides have been made toward the treatment of several brain pathologies using this novel technology. In the modern era of minimal invasiveness, high-intensity focused ultrasound (HIFU) promises therapeutic utility for multiple neurosurgical applications, including treatment of tumors, stroke, epilepsy, and functional disorders. Although the use of HIFU as a potential therapeutic modality in the brain has been under study for several decades, relatively few neuroscientists, neurologists, or even neurosurgeons are familiar with it. In this extensive review, the authors intend to shed light on the current use of HIFU in different neurosurgical avenues and its mechanism of action, as well as provide an update on the outcome of various trials and advances expected from various preclinical studies in the near future. Although the initial technical challenges have been overcome and the technology has been improved, only very few clinical trials have thus far been carried out. The number of clinical trials related to neurological disorders is expected to increase in the coming years, as this novel therapeutic device appears to have a substantial expansive potential. There is great opportunity to expand the use of HIFU across various medical and surgical disciplines for the treatment of different pathologies. As this technology gains recognition, it will open the door for further research opportunities and innovation.

The Outcome and Patterns of Traumatic Brain Injury in the Paediatric Population of a Developing Country Secondary to TV Trolley Tip-Over.

BACKGROUND: Television (TV) trolley tip-over incidences are common and can cause significant morbidity and mortality in children. This study was aimed at analyzing the pattern and outcomes of head injuries resulting from TV trolley tip-over. METHOD: We conducted a medical chart review of children with TV trolley tip-over head injuries from January 2009 to April 2016. We collected data on demographics, the mechanism of injury, clinical and radiological features of the injury, and outcomes. Outcomes were measured by means of the Glasgow Outcome Scale (GOS) at 6 months (except in 1 case). A descriptive analysis was carried out using SPSS v19. RESULT: Twenty-two children were included in the study (median age 23.5 months). Sixteen children were male. Most of the children (n = 16) were aged 12-35 months. The median Glasgow Coma Scale score on admission was 15. The median Rotterdam Score for the patients was 2.0. Common symptoms upon admission were vomiting, irritability, scalp laceration, and bruises. Median length of hospital stay was 3 days. Skull bone fractures were present in 12 children. Other CT findings included contusions, extradural and subdural haematomas, intraventricular haemorrhage, and pneumocranium. Surgical intervention was required in 4 cases. Although most of the patients made a good recovery (GOS = 5), 1 patient developed a mild disability and another died in hospital. CONCLUSION: TV trolley tip-over is most common in toddlers and can lead to significant head injury and mortality. This can be avoided by parental supervision and adjustments in the household.

Patterns of Care in Patients with Basilar Artery Occlusion (BAO): A Population-Based Study.

Basilar artery occlusion (BAO) is associated with high morbidity and mortality. Endovascular therapy (EVT) has been shown to be beneficial in acute BAO patients. This retrospective observational study used the National Inpatient Sample (NIS) database to identify BAO patients using the International Classification of Diseases (ICD). Multivariable models were used to evaluate the association of risk factors, comorbidities, length of stay (LOS) in hospital, total cost, disposition, and transfer status. A total of 1120 (447 females, 39.95%) patients were identified, with a higher proportion of White individuals (66.8% vs. 57.6%), atrial fibrillation (31.5% vs. 17.2%; p < 0.0001), and peripheral vascular disease (21.2% vs. 13.7%; p = 0.009). A lower proportion of individuals with diabetes mellitus (32.1% vs. 39.5%; p = 0.05) was found in the EVT group. Majority of the patients (924/1120, 82.5%) were treated at the urban teaching facility, which also performed most of the EVT procedures (164, 89.13%), followed by non-academic urban (166, 14.8%) and rural (30, 2.7%) hospitals. Most patients (19/30, 63%) admitted to rural hospitals were transferred to other facilities. Urban academic hospitals also had the highest median LOS (8.9 days), cost of hospitalization (USD 117,261), and disposition to home (32.6%). This study observed distinct patterns and geographical disparities in the acute treatment of BAO patients. There is a need for national- and state-level strategies to improve access to stroke care.

Sleep staging in the ICU with heart rate variability and breathing signals. An exploratory cross-sectional study using deep neural networks.

Introduction: To measure sleep in the intensive care unit (ICU), full polysomnography is impractical, while activity monitoring and subjective assessments are severely confounded. However, sleep is an intensely networked state, and reflected in numerous signals. Here, we explore the feasibility of estimating conventional sleep indices in the ICU with heart rate variability (HRV) and respiration signals using artificial intelligence methods Methods: We used deep learning models to stage sleep with HRV (through electrocardiogram) and respiratory effort (through a wearable belt) signals in critically ill adult patients admitted to surgical and medical ICUs, and in age and sex-matched sleep laboratory patients Results: We studied 102 adult patients in the ICU across multiple days and nights, and 220 patients in a clinical sleep laboratory. We found that sleep stages predicted by HRV- and breathing-based models showed agreement in 60% of the ICU data and in 81% of the sleep laboratory data. In the ICU, deep NREM (N2 + N3) proportion of total sleep duration was reduced (ICU 39%, sleep laboratory 57%, p < 0.01), REM proportion showed heavy-tailed distribution, and the number of wake transitions per hour of sleep (median 3.6) was comparable to sleep laboratory patients with sleep-disordered breathing (median 3.9). Sleep in the ICU was also fragmented, with 38% of sleep occurring during daytime hours. Finally, patients in the ICU showed faster and less variable breathing patterns compared to sleep laboratory patients Conclusion: The cardiovascular and respiratory networks encode sleep state information, which, together with artificial intelligence methods, can be utilized to measure sleep state in the ICU.

Sound and light levels in intensive care units in a large urban hospital in the United States.

Intensive care units (ICUs) may disrupt sleep. Quantitative ICU studies of concurrent and continuous sound and light levels and timings remain sparse in part due to the lack of ICU equipment that monitors sound and light. Here, we describe sound and light levels across three adult ICUs in a large urban United States tertiary care hospital using a novel sensor. The novel sound and light sensor is composed of a Gravity Sound Level Meter for sound level measurements and an Adafruit TSL2561 digital luminosity sensor for light levels. Sound and light levels were continuously monitored in the room of 136 patients (mean age = 67.0 (8.7) years, 44.9% female) enrolled in the Investigation of Sleep in the Intensive Care Unit study (ICU-SLEEP; Clinicaltrials.gov: #NCT03355053), at the Massachusetts General Hospital. The hours of available sound and light data ranged from 24.0 to 72.2 hours. Average sound and light levels oscillated throughout the day and night. On average, the loudest hour was 17:00 and the quietest hour was 02:00. Average light levels were brightest at 09:00 and dimmest at 04:00. For all participants, average nightly sound levels exceeded the WHO guideline of < 35 decibels. Similarly, mean nightly light levels varied across participants (minimum: 1.00 lux, maximum: 577.05 lux). Sound and light events were more frequent between 08:00 and 20:00 than between 20:00 and 08:00 and were largely similar on weekdays and weekend days. Peaks in distinct alarm frequencies (Alarm 1) occurred at 01:00, 06:00, and at 20:00. Alarms at other frequencies (Alarm 2) were relatively consistent throughout the day and night, with a small peak at 20:00. In conclusion, we present a sound and light data collection method and results from a cohort of critically ill patients, demonstrating excess sound and light levels across multiple ICUs in a large tertiary care hospital in the United States. ClinicalTrials.gov, #NCT03355053. Registered 28 November 2017, https://clinicaltrials.gov/ct2/show/NCT03355053.

VE-CAM-S: Visual EEG-Based Grading of Delirium Severity and Associations With Clinical Outcomes.

To develop a physiologic grading system for the severity of acute encephalopathy manifesting as delirium or coma, based on EEG, and to investigate its association with clinical outcomes. DESIGN: This prospective, single-center, observational cohort study was conducted from August 2015 to December 2016 and October 2018 to December 2019. SETTING: Academic medical center, all inpatient wards. PATIENTS/SUBJECTS: Adult inpatients undergoing a clinical EEG recording; excluded if deaf, severely aphasic, developmentally delayed, non-English speaking (if noncomatose), or if goals of care focused primarily on comfort measures. Four-hundred six subjects were assessed; two were excluded due to technical EEG difficulties. INTERVENTIONS: None. MEASUREMENTS AND MAIN RESULTS: A machine learning model, with visually coded EEG features as inputs, was developed to produce scores that correlate with behavioral assessments of delirium severity (Confusion Assessment Method-Severity [CAM-S] Long Form [LF] scores) or coma; evaluated using Spearman R correlation; area under the receiver operating characteristic curve (AUC); and calibration curves. Associations of Visual EEG Confusion Assessment Method Severity (VE-CAM-S) were measured for three outcomes: functional status at discharge (via Glasgow Outcome Score [GOS]), inhospital mortality, and 3-month mortality. Four-hundred four subjects were analyzed (mean [sd] age, 59.8 yr [17.6 yr]; 232 [57%] male; 320 [79%] White; 339 [84%] non-Hispanic); 132 (33%) without delirium or coma, 143 (35%) with delirium, and 129 (32%) with coma. VE-CAM-S scores correlated strongly with CAM-S scores (Spearman correlation 0.67 [0.62-0.73]; p < 0.001) and showed excellent discrimination between levels of delirium (CAM-S LF = 0 vs ≥ 4, AUC 0.85 [0.78-0.92], calibration slope of 1.04 [0.87-1.19] for CAM-S LF ≤ 4 vs ≥ 5). VE-CAM-S scores were strongly associated with important clinical outcomes including inhospital mortality (AUC 0.79 [0.72-0.84]), 3-month mortality (AUC 0.78 [0.71-0.83]), and GOS at discharge (0.76 [0.69-0.82]). CONCLUSIONS: VE-CAM-S is a physiologic grading scale for the severity of symptoms in the setting of delirium and coma, based on visually assessed electroencephalography features. VE-CAM-S scores are strongly associated with clinical outcomes.