Severity Scores in COVID-19 Pneumonia: a Multicenter, Retrospective, Cohort Study.

BACKGROUND: Identification of patients on admission to hospital with coronavirus infectious disease 2019 (COVID-19) pneumonia who can develop poor outcomes has not yet been comprehensively assessed. OBJECTIVE: To compare severity scores used for community-acquired pneumonia to identify high-risk patients with COVID-19 pneumonia. DESIGN: PSI, CURB-65, qSOFA, and MuLBSTA, a new score for viral pneumonia, were calculated on admission to hospital to identify high-risk patients for in-hospital mortality, admission to an intensive care unit (ICU), or use of mechanical ventilation. Area under receiver operating characteristics curve (AUROC), sensitivity, and specificity for each score were determined and AUROC was compared among them. PARTICIPANTS: Patients with COVID-19 pneumonia included in the SEMI-COVID-19 Network. KEY RESULTS: We examined 10,238 patients with COVID-19. Mean age of patients was 66.6 years and 57.9% were males. The most common comorbidities were as follows: hypertension (49.2%), diabetes (18.8%), and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (12.8%). Acute respiratory distress syndrome (34.7%) and acute kidney injury (13.9%) were the most common complications. In-hospital mortality was 20.9%. PSI and CURB-65 showed the highest AUROC (0.835 and 0.825, respectively). qSOFA and MuLBSTA had a lower AUROC (0.728 and 0.715, respectively). qSOFA was the most specific score (specificity 95.7%) albeit its sensitivity was only 26.2%. PSI had the highest sensitivity (84.1%) and a specificity of 72.2%. CONCLUSIONS: PSI and CURB-65, specific severity scores for pneumonia, were better than qSOFA and MuLBSTA at predicting mortality in patients with COVID-19 pneumonia. Additionally, qSOFA, the simplest score to perform, was the most specific albeit the least sensitive.

Association of Hypertension with All-Cause Mortality among Hospitalized Patients with COVID-19.

It is unclear to which extent the higher mortality associated with hypertension in the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) is due to its increased prevalence among older patients or to specific mechanisms. Cross-sectional, observational, retrospective multicenter study, analyzing 12226 patients who required hospital admission in 150 Spanish centers included in the nationwide SEMI-COVID-19 Network. We compared the clinical characteristics of survivors versus non-survivors. The mean age of the study population was 67.5 ± 16.1 years, 42.6% were women. Overall, 2630 (21.5%) subjects died. The most common comorbidity was hypertension (50.9%) followed by diabetes (19.1%), and atrial fibrillation (11.2%). Multivariate analysis showed that after adjusting for gender (males, OR: 1.5, p = 0.0001), age tertiles (second and third tertiles, OR: 2.0 and 4.7, p = 0.0001), and Charlson Comorbidity Index scores (second and third tertiles, OR: 4.7 and 8.1, p = 0.0001), hypertension was significantly predictive of all-cause mortality when this comorbidity was treated with angiotensin-converting enzyme inhibitors (ACEIs) (OR: 1.6, p = 0.002) or other than renin-angiotensin-aldosterone blockers (OR: 1.3, p = 0.001) or angiotensin II receptor blockers (ARBs) (OR: 1.2, p = 0.035). The preexisting condition of hypertension had an independent prognostic value for all-cause mortality in patients with COVID-19 who required hospitalization. ARBs showed a lower risk of lethality in hypertensive patients than other antihypertensive drugs.

Tratamiento de la hipercolesterolemia familiar con iPCSK9 en un paciente diagnosticado de distrofia muscular congénita con contraindicación para la toma de estatinas / iPCSK9 treatment of Familial Hypercholesterolemia in a patient diagnosed as Congenital Muscular Dystrophy with contraindication for statin use

Las estatinas están contraindicadas en pacientes con miopatías. Hasta hace unos años, la alternativa en pacientes con hipercolesterolemia familiar que tenían distrofias musculares y no conseguían niveles adecuados de colesterol era la lipoaféresis. Cuando surgieron los inhibidores de PCSK9, se consiguió suspender la lipoaféresis en algunos de estos pacientes y mantenerlos con concentraciones plasmáticas de colesterol adecuadas. Presentamos el caso de un varón, diagnosticado en la infancia de distrofia muscular congénita. A los 27 años se remitió a la unidad de lípidos por hipercolesterolemia, donde tras estudio genético se confirmó una hipercolesterolemia familiar heterocigota. A pesar del tratamiento con dieta y ezetimiba continuó con cifras elevadas de cLDL por lo que se incluyó en programa de lipoaféresis. Con esto se alcanzaron niveles de cLDL de 70 mg/dl. Al disponer de los iPCSK9, se suspendió la lipoaféresis y se inició tratamiento con alirocumab 150 mg quincenal, con buena respuesta y manteniendo valores de cLDL en torno a 75 mg/dl

Statins are contraindicated in patients with myopathies. Until a few years ago, in those patients with Familial Hypercholesterolemia who also presented muscular dystrophies and didńt reach adequate cholesterol plasmatic levels, the next therapeutic ladder was lipoapheresis. When iPCSK9 first appeared, lipoapheresis could be suspended in some of these patients, sustaining nevertheless proper levels of cholesterol. We present the case of a 27 year-old male, diagnosed with Congenital Muscular Dystrophy in the early childhood. He was referred to the Unit of Lipidology presenting hypercholesterolemia which, after genetic test, was assessed as Heterozygous Familial Hypercholesterolemia. Despite of treatment with diet and ezetimibe, cLDL blood levels abide high, being consequently included in lipoapheresis programme, therewith obtained levels of cLDL of 70 mg/dl. In providing iPCSK9, lipoapheresis was withdrawn and treatment with alirocumab 150 mg fortnightly introduced, unveiling a positive response, and sustaining cLDL levels around 75 mg/dl

iPCSK9 treatment of Familial Hypercholesterolemia in a patient diagnosed as Congenital Muscular Dystrophy with contraindication for statin use. / Tratamiento de la hipercolesterolemia familiar con iPCSK9 en un paciente diagnosticado de distrofia muscular congénita con contraindicación para la toma de estatinas.

Statins are contraindicated in patients with myopathies. Until a few years ago, in those patients with Familial Hypercholesterolemia who also presented muscular dystrophies and didnt reach adequate cholesterol plasmatic levels, the next therapeutic ladder was lipoapheresis. When iPCSK9 first appeared, lipoapheresis could be suspended in some of these patients, sustaining nevertheless proper levels of cholesterol. We present the case of a 27 year-old male, diagnosed with Congenital Muscular Dystrophy in the early childhood. He was referred to the Unit of Lipidology presenting hypercholesterolemia which, after genetic test, was assessed as Heterozygous Familial Hypercholesterolemia. Despite of treatment with diet and ezetimibe, cLDL blood levels abide high, being consequently included in lipoapheresis programme, therewith obtained levels of cLDL of 70mg/dl. In providing iPCSK9, lipoapheresis was withdrawn and treatment with alirocumab 150mg fortnightly introduced, unveiling a positive response, and sustaining cLDL levels around 75mg/dl.