Sex-Based Differences in Clinical Characteristics and Outcomes among Patients with Peripheral Artery Disease: A Retrospective Analysis.

Peripheral arterial disease (PAD) is a prevalent medical condition associated with high mortality and morbidity rates. Despite the high clinical burden, sex-based differences among PAD patients are not well defined yet, in contrast to other atherosclerotic diseases. This study aimed to describe sex-based differences in clinical characteristics and outcomes among hospitalized patients affected by PAD. This was a retrospective study evaluating all patients with a diagnosis of PAD admitted to the Emergency Department from 1 December 2013 to 31 December 2021. The primary endpoint of the study was the difference between male and female PAD patients in cumulative occurrence of Major Adverse Cardiovascular Events (MACEs) and Major Adverse Limb Events. A total of 1640 patients were enrolled. Among them, 1103 (67.3%) were males while females were significantly older (median age of 75 years vs. 71 years; p =< 0.001). Females underwent more angioplasty treatments for revascularization than men (29.8% vs. 25.6%; p = 0.04); males were treated with more amputations (19.9% vs. 15.3%; p = 0.012). A trend toward more MALEs and MACEs reported in the male group did not reach statistical significance (OR 1.27 [0.99-1.64]; p = 0.059) (OR 0.75 [0.50-1.11]; p = 0.153). However, despite lower extremity PAD severity seeming similar between the two sexes, among these patients males had a higher probability of undergoing lower limb amputations, of cardiovascular death and of myocardial infarction. Among hospitalized patients affected by PAD, even if there was not a sex-based significant difference in the incidence of MALEs and MACEs, adverse clinical outcomes were more common in males.

Characteristic of IgA and IgG antibody response to SARS-CoV-2 infection in an Italian referral COVID-19 Hospital.

INTRODUCTION: Antibody response plays a fundamental role in the natural history of infectious disease. A better understanding of the immune response in patients with SARS-CoV-2 infection could be important for identifying patients at greater risk of developing a more severe form of disease and with a worse prognosis. METHODS: We performed a cross-sectional analysis to determine the presence and the levels of both anti-SARS-CoV-2 IgG and IgA in a cohort of hospitalized patients with confirmed infection at different times in the natural history of the disease. Patients enrolled when admitted at the emergency department were prospectively followed up during hospital stay. RESULTS: Overall, 131 patients were considered with a total of 237 samples processed. Cross-sectional analysis showed that seroconversion for IgA seems to occur between days 6 and 15, while IgG response seems to occur slightly later, peaking at day 20 after symptoms onset. Both IgA and IgG were maintained beyond 2 months. Severe patients showed a higher IgA response compared with mild patients when analyzing optical density (8.3 versus 5.6, p < 0.001). Prospective analysis conducted on 55 patients confirmed that IgA appear slightly earlier than IgG. After stratifying for the severity of disease, both the IgA and IgG responses were more vigorous in severe cases. Moreover, while IgG tended to stabilize, there was a relevant decline after the first month of IgA levels in mild cases. CONCLUSION: IgA and IgG antibody response is closely related, although seroconversion for IgA occurs earlier. Both IgA and IgG are maintained beyond 2 months. Severe patients showed a more vigorous IgA and IgG response. IgA levels seem to decline after 1 month since the onset of symptoms in mild cases. Our results should be interpreted with cautions due to several limitations in our study, mainly the small number of cases, lack of data on viral load and clinical setting.

Blood Glucose Levels Combined with Triage Revised Trauma Score Improve the Outcome Prediction in Adults and in Elderly Patients with Trauma.

INTRODUCTION: This study was aimed to assess if combining the evaluation of blood glucose level (BGL) and the Triage Revised Trauma Score (T-RTS) may result in a more accurate prediction of the actual clinical outcome, both in general adult population and in elderly patients with trauma. METHODS: This is a retrospective cohort study, conducted in the emergency department (ED) of an urban teaching hospital, with an average ED admission rate of 75,000 patients per year. Those excluded: known diagnosis of diabetes, age <18 years old, pregnancy, and mild trauma (classified as isolate trauma of upper or lower limb, in absence of exposed fractures). A combined Revised Trauma Score Glucose (RTS-G) score was obtained adding to T-RTS: two for BGL <160mg/dL (8.9mmol/L); one for BGL ≥160mg/dL and < 200mg/dL (11.1mmol/L); and zero for BGL ≥ 200mg/dL. The primary outcome was a composite of patient's death in ED or admission to intensive care unit (ICU). Receiver Operating Characteristic (ROC) curve analysis was used to evaluate the overall performance of T-RTS and of the combined RTS-G score. RESULTS: Among a total of 68,933 traumas, 9,436 patients (4,407 females) were enrolled, aged from 18 to 103 years; 4,288 were aged ≥65 years. A total of 577 (6.1%) met the primary endpoint: 38 patients died in ED (0.4%) and 539 patients were admitted to ICU. The T-RTS and BGL were independently associated to primary endpoint at multivariate analysis. The cumulative RTS-G score was significantly more accurate than T-RTS and reached the best accuracy in elderly patients. In general population, ROC area under curve (AUC) for T-RTS was 0.671 (95% CI, 0.661 - 0.680) compared to RTS-G ROC AUC 0.743 (95% CI, 0.734 - 0.752); P <.001. In patients ≥65 years, T-RTS ROC AUC was 0.671 (95% CI, 0.657 - 0.685) compared to RTS-G ROC AUC 0.780 (95% CI, 0.768 - 0.793); P <.001. CONCLUSIONS: Results showed RTS-G could be used effectively at ED triage for the risk stratification for death in ED and ICU admission of trauma patients, and it could reduce under-triage of approximately 20% compared to T-RTS. Comparing ROC AUCs, the combined RTS-G score performs significantly better than T-RTS and gives best results in patients ≥65 years.

Angiotensin-converting enzyme inhibitors or angiotensin II receptor blockers and prognosis of hypertensive patients hospitalised with COVID-19.

BACKGROUND: Among hypertensive patients, the association between treatment with angiotensin-converting enzyme inhibitors (ACEI) or angiotensin II receptor blockers (ARB) and the clinical severity of COVID-19, remains uncertain. AIMS: To determine whether hypertensive patients hospitalised with COVID-19 are at risk of worse outcomes if on treatment with ACEI or ARB compared to other anti-hypertensive medications. METHODS: This is a retrospective study conducted at a single academic medical centre (Fondazione Policlinico A. Gemelli IRCCS, Rome, Italy) from 1 to 31 March 2020. We compared patients on treatment with an ACEI/ARB (ACEI/ARB group) to patients receiving other anti-hypertensive medications (No-ACEI/ARB group). The end-points of the study were the all-cause in-hospital death and the combination of in-hospital death or need for intensive care unit (ICU) admission. RESULTS: The sample included 166 COVID-19 patients; median age was 74 years and 109 (66%) were men. Overall, 111 (67%) patients were taking an ACEI or ARB. Twenty-nine (17%) patients died during the hospital stay, and 51 (31%) met the combined end-point. After adjustment for comorbidities, age and degree of severity at the presentation, ACEI or ARB treatment was an independent predictor neither of in-hospital death nor of the combination of in-hospital death/need for ICU. No differences were documented between treatment with ACEI compared to ARB. CONCLUSIONS: Among hypertensive patients hospitalised for COVID-19, treatment with ACEI or ARB is not associated with an increased risk of in-hospital death.

Lung Ultrasound Findings Are Associated with Mortality and Need for Intensive Care Admission in COVID-19 Patients Evaluated in the Emergency Department.

Lung ultrasound (LUS) has recently been advocated as an accurate tool to diagnose coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pneumonia. However, reports on its use are based mainly on hypothesis studies, case reports or small retrospective case series, while the prognostic role of LUS in COVID-19 patients has not yet been established. We conducted a prospective study aimed at assessing the ability of LUS to predict mortality and intensive care unit admission of COVID-19 patients evaluated in a tertiary level emergency department. Patients in our sample had a median of 6 lung areas with pathologic findings (inter-quartile range [IQR]: 6, range: 0-14), defined as a score different from 0. The median rate of lung areas involved was 71% (IQR: 64%, range: 0-100), while the median average score was 1.14 (IQR: 0.93, range: 0-3). A higher rate of pathologic lung areas and a higher average score were significantly associated with death, with an estimated difference of 40.5% (95% confidence interval [CI]: 4%-68%, p = 0.01) and of 0.47 (95% CI: 0.06-0.93, p = 0.02), respectively. Similarly, the same parameters were associated with a significantly higher risk of intensive care unit admission with estimated differences of 29% (95% CI: 8%-50%, p = 0.008) and 0.47 (95% CI: 0.05-0.93, p = 0.02), respectively. Our study indicates that LUS is able to detect COVID-19 pneumonia and to predict, during the first evaluation in the emergency department, patients at risk for intensive care unit admission and death.

Acute intramucosal dissection in eosinophilic esophagitis.

Acute intramucosal dissection of the esophagus (IED) is a rare complication of eosinophilic esophagitis (EoE). Only few of such IED cases have been described in the literature. We report the case of a 32-year-old man with a 4-months diagnosis of EoE who was referred to the Emergency Department complaining of dysphagia, epigastric pain and fever and who was diagnosed, after an urgent endoscopy, an IED. After careful evaluation and multidisciplinary assessment the patient was managed conservatively, with specific medical therapy-high-dose proton pump inhibitors, swallowed steroid, broad-spectrum antibiotic-and, after a period of absolute fasting, a diet regimen based on "six food elimination diet" with a stepwise increase of food consistency. The patient experienced a rapid and complete relief of symptoms, paralleled by a progressive healing of IED with no recurrence over a 6-month follow-up period. In EoE patients with a high clinical suspicion of an acute IED, we suggest an early execution of chest CT and a contrast esophagography, avoiding potentially dangerous endoscopic procedures in the acute phase that can contribute to enlargement of the dissection, or progression to perforation. Once the diagnosis of IED is confirmed, even in the presence of a contained perforation, a conservative treatment with a multidisciplinary management should always be considered.

Cardiovascular Involvement in Erdheim-Chester Disease: A Case Report and Review of the Literature.

Erdheim-Chester disease (ECD) is a rare, multiorgan, non-Langerhans cell histiocytosis of uncertain origin, characterized by systemic xanthogranulomatous infiltration from CD68+CD1a- histiocytes. Skeletal involvement is present in up to 96% of cases with bilateral osteosclerosis of meta-diaphysis of long bones. Furthermore, in more than 50% of cases there is 1 extraskeletal manifestation. In this case report, we describe an interesting case of ECD with an extensive pan-cardiac and vascular involvement, in addition to skeletal, retro-orbital, and retroperitoneum one.A 44-year-old woman with a long history of exophthalmos referred to our hospital for elective surgical orbital decompression. At preoperative examinations a large pericardial effusion was discovered. Echocardiography, computed tomography (CT), and magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) described an inhomogeneous mass involving pericardium and the right heart, abdominal aorta and its main branches and the retroperitoneum, suggestive for a systemic inflammatory disorder. Histological examination on a biopsy sample confirmed the diagnosis of ECD. Radiology showed the pathognomonic long-bone involvement. Surgical orbital decompression was performed and medical therapy with interferon-α (INF-α) was started.Among extraskeletal manifestations of ECD, cardiovascular involvement is often asymptomatic and thus under-diagnosed but linked to poor prognosis. This is why clinician should always look for it when a new case of ECD is diagnosed.

Leukocyte Activation in Obese Patients: Effect of Bariatric Surgery.

The rising prevalence of obesity is a major global health problem. In severe obesity, bariatric surgery (BS) allows to obtain a significant weight loss and comorbidities improvement, among them one of the factors is the thrombotic risk. In this observational study, we measured indices of leukocyte activation in severely obese patients as markers of increased thrombotic risk in relation with serum markers of inflammation before and after BS. Frequency of polymorphonuclear neutrophil-platelet (PLT) and monocyte (MONO)-PLT aggregates as well as of tissue factor (TF) expressing MONOs was measured in the peripheral blood of 58 consecutive obese patients and 30 healthy controls. In 31 of the 58 obese patients, data obtained at the enrollment were compared with those obtained at 3, 6, and 12 months after BS. Compared with healthy controls, obese patients showed a higher frequency of polymorphonuclear leukocyte (PMNL)-PLT aggregates (7.47 ± 2.45 [6.82-8.11]% vs 5.85 ± 1.89 [5.14-6.55]%, P = 0.001), MONO-PLT aggregates (12.31 ± 7.33 [10.38-14.24]% vs 8.14 ± 2.22 [7.31-8.97]%, P < 0.001), and TF expressing MONOs (4.01 ± 2.11 [3.45-4.56]% vs 2.64 ± 1.65 [2.02-3.25]%, P = 0.002). PMNL-PLT and MONO-PLT aggregate frequency was positively correlated with TF expressing MONOs (R2 = 0.260, P = 0.049 and R2 = 0.318, P = 0.015, respectively). BS was performed in 31 patients and induced a significant reduction of the body mass index, and waist and hip circumferences. These effects were associated with a significant decrease of PMNL-PLT aggregates at 12 months (7.58 ± 2.27 [6.75-8.42]% vs 4.47 ± 1.11 [3.93-5.01]%, P < 0.001), and a reduction of TF expressing MONOs at 6 (3.82 ± 2.04 [3.07-4.57]% vs 1.60 ± 1.69 [0.30-2.90]%, P = 0.008) and 12 months (3.82 ± 2.04 [3.07-4.57]% vs 1.71 ± 0.54 [1.45-1.97]%, P = 0.001) after BS.These data suggest that leukocyte-PLT aggregate formation and MONO activation represent an important mechanism underlying the increased thrombotic risk of obese patients. We also show that BS is effective in normalizing these inflammatory indices.