Correlation between Academic Citations in Emergency Medicine Journals and Twitter mentions.

INTRODUCTION: Twitter may be used in disseminating scientific information that can be measured via citations by traditional systems. We aimed to investigate the relationship between Twitter mentions, traditional citations including Google Scholar and Scopus, and the metric value of Altmetric for articles published in emergency medicine journals. METHODS: Articles published in emergency medicine journals between January 2018 and June 2018 were retrospectively analyzed in February 2021. Journals included with an impact factor of >1 and indexed in Q1. Metric data about citations in Google Scholar and Scopus, the metric value of the Altmetric system, and Twitter mentions were obtained. RESULTS: There were 502 articles published in different seven emergency medicine journals. Fifty-four articles (10.8%) were never cited in Google Scholar or Scopus. There were 79 articles (15.7%) without Twitter mention. Twitter mentions as a tweet or no tweet impacted the number of articles with citation (p > 0.05). The number of citations per article was significantly higher in articles with Twitter mentions (p = 0.002 for Google Scholar citations, p = 0.005 for Scopus citations). Altmetric cited articles were significantly higher for articles with Twitter mentions (p < 0.001). There were significant positive correlations between the number of Twitter mentions and citations in Scopus (r = 0.30, p < 0.001), in both Google Scholar and Scopus (r = 0.19, p < 0.001), and in Altmetrics (r = 0.852, p < 0.001). CONCLUSION: There were positive correlations between numbers of Twitter mentions, traditional citations, including Google Scholar and Scopus, and metric values of the Altmetric system. This finding supports that increased social media citations are associated with increased dissemination and disclosure of publications.

Can Ferritin Levels Predict the Severity of Illness in Patients With COVID-19?

OBJECTIVES: This study aimed to investigate whether ferritin level can predict the severity of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19). BACKGROUND: The COVID-19 pandemic has been challenging for both patients and caregivers. Many laboratory markers have been used to better understand the causes of poor outcomes and to improve the management of COVID-19 patients. METHODS: A total of 93 patients who had a positive polymerase chain reaction test result for severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) were included in this study. Demographic features, comorbidities, clinical and laboratory findings were obtained from the hospital database retrospectively. Patients were divided into two groups according to the disease severity as follows: mild group (n = 70) and severe group (n = 23). RESULTS: The median age of the study population was 42.5 (28.3-62.8) with 69.9% male patients. Patients in the severe group were significantly older and showed a higher frequency of hypertension, diabetes mellitus, coronary artery disease, and heart failure in comparison with those in the mild group. In addition, gamma-glutamyl transferase, C-reactive protein, ferritin, interleukin-6, procalcitonin, and neutrophil to lymphocyte ratio were higher whereas albumin level was lower in patients in the severe group. Linear regression analysis demonstrated that ferritin level was the only significant predictor of disease severity (ß = 0.487, t = 2.993, p = 0.004). In receiver operator characteristics curve analysis, ferritin level ≥264.5 ng/mL predicted severe COVID-19 with a sensitivity of 73.9% and specificity of 94.2%. CONCLUSION: Early analysis of ferritin levels in patients with COVID-19 might effectively predict the disease severity.

BLUE protocol ultrasonography in Emergency Department patients presenting with acute dyspnea.

OBJECTIVE: Dyspnea is a common Emergency Department (ED) symptom requiring prompt diagnosis and treatment. The bedside lung ultrasonography in emergency (BLUE) protocol is defined as a bedside diagnostic tool in intensive care units. The aim of this study was to investigate the test performance characteristics of the BLUE-protocol ultrasonography in ED patients presenting with acute dyspnea. METHOD: This study was performed as a prospective observational study at the ED of a tertiary care university hospital over a 3-month period. The BLUE-protocol was applied to all consecutive dyspneic patients admitted to the ED by 5 emergency physicians who were certified for advanced ultrasonography. In addition to the BLUE-protocol, the patients were also evaluated for pleural and pericardial effusion. RESULTS: A total of 383 patients were included in this study (mean age, 65.5 ±â€¯15.5 years, 183 (47.8%) female and 200 (52.2%) male). According to the BLUE-protocol algorithm, the sensitivities and specificities of the BLUE-protocol are, respectively, 87.6% and 96.2% for pulmonary edema, 85.7% and 99.0% for pneumonia, 98.2% and 67.3% for asthma/COPD, 46.2% and 100% for pulmonary embolism, and 71.4% and 100% for pneumothorax. Although not included in the BLUE-protocol algorithm, pleural or pericardial effusion was detected in 82 (21.4%) of the patients. CONCLUSION: The BLUE-protocol can be used confidently in acute dyspneic ED patients. For better diagnostic utility of the BLUE-protocol in EDs, it is recommended that the BLUE-protocol be modified for the assessment of pleural and pericardial effusion. Further diagnostic evaluations are needed in asthma/COPD groups in terms of the BLUE-protocol.