Improved long-term survival rate in the responders to bortezomib, cyclophosphamide, dexamethasone induction therapy in a transplant-eligible cohort of predominantly middle-age multiple myeloma patients.

BACKGROUND: Multiple myeloma (MM) represents the second most common hematologic malignancy (15%). Induction with bortezomib, cyclophosphamide, and dexamthasone VCd (d: low dose dexamthasone) regimen is widely used due to its high effectiveness, low toxicity and good tolerability, particularly with renal impairment. Real-world data on the use of VCD in clinical practice is lacking. OBJECTIVES: Evaluate the real-world experience of the VCD regimen. DESIGN: Retrospective. SETTING: Tumor registry database of tertiary cancer care center. PATIENTS AND METHODS: newly diagnosed MM patients who received VCD induction and underwent autologous stem cell transplant (ASCT) from July 2007 to July 2020. MAIN OUTCOME MEASURES: response evaluation, progression-free survival (PFS) and overall survival (OS). SAMPLE SIZE: 87 patients. RESULTS: Of 102 patients who started induction with VCd, 87 patients experienced a partial response or more overall response rate of 85%). The median age of these 87 patients at diagnosis was 52 years, of which 29.9% presented with renal impairment and 60.3% of patients had stage 2 by the Revised International Staging System (R-ISS). Patients with a standard cytogenetic risk achieved a better response compared to those with a poor cytogenetic risk (P=.044). The post-induction response rates were 6.9% stringent complete remission (sCR), 35% complete remission (CR); 41.4% very good partial response (VGPR), and 16.1% partial response (PR), respectively; the response rates became greater for sCR and CR post-transplantation at day 100 with 16.1% sCR, 35.6% CR, 32.2% VGPR and 16.1% PR, respectively. The median PFS was 49 months and 5 years OS was 84%. PFS was better in patients who achieved sCR vs PR (83 vs 35 months, P=.037). High LDH, high-risk cytogenetic and stage 3 R-ISS showed a worse median PFS and OS. CONCLUSIONS: VCD induction in newly diagnosed MM is highly effective, convenient, tolerable and affordable regimen, especially in low and middle-income countries with limited resources, also with favorable outcomes and survival. while those who did not respond successfully shifted to VRD or VTD. LIMITATIONS: The usual limitations of a retrospective analysis using registry-level data, no data on quality of life.

An International Learning Collaborative Phase 2 Trial for Haploidentical Bone Marrow Transplant in Sickle Cell Disease.

In the setting of a learning collaborative, we conducted an international multicenter phase 2 clinical trial testing the hypothesis that non-myeloablative related haploidentical BMT with thiotepa and post-transplant cyclophosphamide (PTCy) will result in 2-year event-free survival (no graft failure or death) of at least 80%. A total of 70 participants (median age 19.1 (IQR 14.1 - 25.0) were evaluable based on the conditioning protocol. Graft failure occurred in 11.4% (8/70) and only in participants <18 years (p=0.001); all had autologous reconstitution. After a median follow-up of 2.4 years (IQR 1.5-3.9), the 2-year Kaplan-Meier-based probability of event-free survival was 82.6% (95% CI 71.4%-89.7%). The 2-year overall survival was 94.1% (95% CI 84.9%-97.7%) with no difference between the child and adult participants (p=0.889). After excluding participants with graft failure (n=8), participants with engraftment had median whole blood donor chimerism values at D+180 and D+365 post-transplant of 100.0% (IQR 99.8 - 100.0%; n=59) and 100.0% (IQR 100.0 - 100.0%; n=58), respectively, and 96.6% (57/59) were off immunosuppression at 1-year post-transplant. The 1-year grades III-IV acute graft versus host disease (GvHD) rate was 10.0% (95% CI 4.6 - 18.6%), and the 2-year moderate-severe chronic GvHD rate was 10.0% (95% CI 4.6 - 18.6%). Five participants (7.1%) died from infectious complications. We demonstrate that non-myeloablative haploidentical BMT with thiotepa and PTCy is a readily available curative therapy for most adults, even those with organ damage, instead of the more expensive myeloablative gene therapy and gene editing. Additional strategies are required for children to decrease graft failure rates (ClinicalTrials.gov identifier NCT01850108).

Myeloablative Haploidentical Donor Hematopoietic Transplantation Using Post-Transplantation Cyclophosphamide and Antithymocyte Globulin.

Haploidentical donor (haplo-) hematopoietic stem cell transplantation (HSCT) with post-transplantation cyclophosphamide (PTCy) is now performed on a large scale worldwide. Our patient outcomes did not completely reflect the results published by other groups. We herein present the results of 60 patients with hematologic malignancies treated homogeneously on a modified version of the standard protocol by adding ATG as an additional graft-versus-host disease (GVHD) prophylaxis measure. This was a retrospective analysis of 60 haplo-HSCT recipients using a myeloablative conditioning regimen with antithymocyte globulin and PTCy for GVHD prophylaxis. At 5 years, overall survival was 59.2%, relapse-free survival (RFS) was 48.6%, and chronic GVHD (cGVHD) and relapse-free survival was 40%. The median time to neutrophil and platelet engraftment was 16 days and 28.5 days, respectively. The rates of grade II-IV acute GVHD and extensive cGVHD were 46.7% and 23.3%, respectively. The cumulative incidence of relapse was 30%, nonrelapse mortality was 21.6%, and transplantation-related mortality was 11%. Higher Disease Risk Index and 50% HLA match were associated with lower RFS. Female donor to male recipient and older donor age were associated with an elevated risk of cGVHD. The use of PTCy might not yield the same results in different populations. Many remaining questions need to be addressed in randomized trials, including optimal graft source and donor, date of calcineurin inhibitor initiation, personalized or targeted dose of PTCy, immune reconstitution, and others.

Ozone Therapy as an Adjuvant in the Treatment of Periodontitis.

The current study aimed to assess the efficacy of ozone therapy in the treatment of stage II and stage III periodontitis. This prospective split-mouth study selected patients who were diagnosed with either stage II or stage III periodontitis. All patients were treated with scaling and root-planing (SRP) on the control side and SRP with ozone therapy on the test side. Probing depth (PD), clinical attachment loss (CAL), O'Leary plaque index (PI), and bleeding on probing (BOP) scores were recorded at baseline and six weeks after the SRP treatment. A total of 46 patients were selected for this study, including 31 males and 15 females. All periodontal variables (PD, CAL, PI, and BOP) showed significant changes (p < 0.0001) from baseline to six weeks. Moreover, significant changes (PD = 0.0001, CAL = 0.0001, PI = 0.042 and BOP = 0.0001) were also observed between the control and test sides. Gender showed no significance on periodontal variables (p > 0.05) except PD on the test side (p = 0.030). In addition, periodontal stages and grades showed no significant changes (p > 0.05) in any periodontal variables on both sides. Ozone therapy significantly improves the periodontal condition compared to SRP treatment alone. However, the stages and grades of periodontitis do not influence the outcome of ozone therapy.

Pronation-Type Galeazzi-Equivalent Fracture: A Case Report.

Fractures of the forearm are common among children and adolescents. Radial shaft fracture with dislocation of the distal radioulnar joint (DRUJ), called Galeazzi fracture, is unusual in pediatrics. The Galeazzi-equivalent fracture is a variant of the classic Galeazzi fracture that occurs in children and adolescents. It is a radius fracture associated with a distal ulnar displaced physeal injury without dislocation of the DRUJ. Our patient was a male, aged 15 years, who visited our emergency department after falling off a scooter onto his left hand. Left wrist X-rays showed a displaced Galeazzi-equivalent fracture. After a trial of close reduction, an X-ray showed a displaced and unstable fracture pattern. The patient was subsequently hospitalized for surgical intervention. Open reduction and internal fixation (ORIF) with a plate and screw were used for the radius fracture. The ulna fracture was irreducible; therefore, ORIF with two crossed smooth Kirschner wires (K-wires) was performed. Complete bone union was achieved, and he had a normal range of motion six months postoperatively. The patient is now able to perform daily and sports activities. At two-year follow-up, complications such as DRUJ instability or joint deformity did not occur. In conclusion, open reduction is desired for patients with malalignment or older patients who have a lower potential for sufficient bone remodeling. Regular serial follow-up sessions are required to assess growth arrest and the occurrence of other complications.

Incidence and risk factors for secondary graft failure in uniformly treated patients with severe aplastic anemia receiving fludarabine and cyclophosphamide for conditioning and matched sibling bone marrow graft as stem cell source.

BACKGROUND AIMS: Graft failure after allogeneic transplant for aplastic anemia is problematic. The risk of graft failure depends on multiple variables, including the preparative regimen, donor type, stem cell dose and source among other variables. METHODS: We performed a retrospective analysis of patients with aplastic anemia who underwent matched-sibling allogeneic transplant at a single center. RESULTS: We identified 82 patients who fit the inclusion criteria. One had primary graft failure and was excluded from this analysis. The recipient median age was 22 years. The donor median age was 23 years. The median time from diagnosis to transplant was 1.6 months. The median number of red cell transfusions before transplant was nine. The median number of platelet transfusions before transplant was 18. Thirteen patients developed secondary graft failure, with a cumulative incidence at 5 years of 16% and median time to develop secondary graft failure of 129 days. All patients engrafted with a median time for neutrophil engraftment of 19 days and a median time for platelet engraftment of 22 days. The survival of patients with or without secondary graft failure was not different. Major or bidirectional ABO incompatibility and older recipient age were statistically significantly associated with greater risk of secondary graft failure. CONCLUSIONS: Secondary graft failure is a significant complication after allogeneic transplant for SAA. Identification of recipients at risk and mitigating the potential risks of this complication is warranted.

Hematologic Manifestations of Parvovirus B19 Infection.

Parvovirus B19 virus infection is widespread among humans because of its highly infectious and obstinate nature, with up to 80% of the population testing positive for IgG antibodies against the virus. Pronormoblasts observed in biopsy are the hallmarks of PVB19 infection. In addition, PVB19 affects the skin, heart, brain, joints, and liver and can be diagnosed through antibody detection or DNA detection via PCR. Due to its capsid proteins' high affinity for bone marrow receptors, its main presentation is the suppression of bone marrow functions. It has been shown to affect patients with hemolytic anemia and patients with hematological malignancies, presenting with pure red cell aplasia. The main available effective treatment option is IV immunoglobulins; however, the risk of recurrence remains high after treatment.

The role of androgen therapy in acquired aplastic anemia and other bone marrow failure syndromes.

Bone marrow failure syndromes are a heterogeneous group of diseases. With the major advancements in diagnostic tools and sequencing techniques, these diseases may be better classified and therapies may be further tailored. Androgens, a historic group of drugs, were found to stimulate hematopoiesis by enhancing the responsiveness of progenitors. These agents have been used for decades to treat different forms of bone marrow failure. With the availability of more effective pathways to treat BMF, androgens are less used currently. Nevertheless, this group of drugs may serve BMF patients where standard therapy is contraindicated or not available. In this article, we review the published literature addressing the use of androgens in BMF patients and we make recommendations on how to best use this class of drugs within the current therapeutic landscape.

Improved survival of adolescents and young adults patients with T-cell acute lymphoblastic leukemia.

Aim: The outcome of T-cell acute lymphoblastic leukemia (T-ALL) has improved with the use of pediatric-inspired protocols in the adolescents and young adults (AYA) population. There is limited literature regarding the outcome of T-ALL/lymphoblastic lymphoma (LBL) AYA patients treated with pediatric protocols. Methods: A total of 35 T-ALL/LBL-AYA patients ages between 14 and 55 years were treated with AYA-15 protocol. Results: At a median follow-up of 5 years the overall survival, disease-free survival and event-free survival are 71%, 62% and 49.6% respectively. Toxicities were within the expected range. Conclusion: Our single-center experience real-world data in treating T-ALL/LBL-AYA patients with pediatric-inspired protocol demonstrates encouraging results of high survival rate and excellent tolerability for patients aged 18-55 years.

Successful use of emapalumab in refractory hemophagocytic lymphohistiocytosis in a child with Chédiak-Higashi syndrome: a case report.

BACKGROUND: Hemophagocytic lymphohistiocytosis is a life-threatening disease heralded by fever, cytopenia, hepatosplenomegaly, and multisystem organ failure. Its association with genetic mutations, infections, autoimmune disorders, and malignancies is widely reported. CASE PRESENTATION: A 3-year-old male Arab Saudi patient with insignificant past medical history and parental consanguinity presented with abdominal distension of moderate severity and persistent fever despite receiving antibiotics. This was accompanied by hepatosplenomegaly and silvery hair. The clinical and biochemical profiles were suggestive of Chédiak-Higashi syndrome with hemophagocytic lymphohistiocytosis. The patient received the hemophagocytic lymphohistiocytosis-2004 chemotherapy protocol and had multiple hospital admissions mainly due to infections and febrile neutropenia. After achieving the initial remission, the patient's disease reactivated and did not respond to reinduction with the hemophagocytic lymphohistiocytosis-2004 protocol. Due to the disease reactivation and intolerance of conventional therapy, the patient commenced emapalumab. The patient was successfully salvaged and underwent an uneventful hematopoietic stem cell transplantation. CONCLUSIONS: Novel agents such as emapalumab can be helpful for the management of refractory, recurrent, or progressive disease, while avoiding the toxicities of conventional therapy. Due to a paucity of available data on emapalumab, additional data are needed to establish its role in hemophagocytic lymphohistiocytosis treatment.

"Incidence and significance of donor-specific antibodies in haploidentical stem cell transplantation".

PGF is a devastating complication after allogeneic transplant. We retrospectively analyzed our haploidentical transplant registry to report the incidence and impact of DSA and anti-HLA on engraftment. 107 patients were identified. Median recipient-age of 22, median donor-age of 31. Sixty-two patients had AML (58%), 29 had ALL (27%), 16 (15%) had other malignancies. Sixty-one recipients (57%) had positive anti-HLA, 56 of them had the DSA results available, of these 17 patients had DSAs (15% of the total number of patients, or 28% of patients who have anti-HLA antibodies). The median cumulative MFI was 2062. Sixty-three percent of the DSA were against class-II HLA antigens. The OS, CIR, aGvHD, and cGvHD did not differ between patients with and without anti-HLA antibodies, nor between patients with and without DSA. The gender of the recipient and donor, as well as the gender mismatch between recipient and donor, were statistically associated with the incidence of anti-HLA antibodies. Three patients only developed GF (2.8%), one was primary (0.9%) and the other two secondary GF (1.9%). None of the GF cases was in patients with anti-HLA antibodies or DSA. The presence of anti-HLA or DSAs did not affect the outcomes including the incidence of PGF.

Can the bone marrow harvest volume be reduced safely in hematopoietic stem cell transplantation with pediatric sibling donors?

Background: Reduced harvest volumes in pediatric donors appear to have the potential to reduce donor-associated risks while maintaining engraftment in recipients; however, the allowable harvest volume reduction remains undefined. Methods: We retrospectively analyzed the data pairs of 553 bone marrow (BM) harvests from pediatric (age at harvest <18 yr) sibling donors and clinical outcomes of 553 pediatric (age at infusion <14 yr) transplant-naïve recipients to assess the optimal BM harvest volume needed from pediatric donors to obtain the desired CD34+ cell count (≥3.0×106 cells per kg of recipient weight), and to study its impact on the clinical outcomes of transplantation in pediatric recipients. Results: The minimum desired CD34+ cell count of ≥3.0×106 per kg of recipient weight was achieved for 506 (95.3%) of donor-recipient pairs. The median CD34+ cell yield was 6.4×106 per kg of recipient weight (range, 1.2‒33.8×106) in donors younger than 5 years old at harvest, 4.7×106 (range, 0.3‒28.5×106) in donors aged 5‒10 years and 2.1×106 (range, 0.3‒11.3×106) in donors older than 10 years (P<0.001). Conclusion: The infused CD34+ cell dose (×106 cells/kg of recipient weight) had no impact on GRFS; however, a CD34+ cell dose of ＞7×106 cells/kg of recipient weight did not improve hematopoietic recovery.

Chimeric Antigen Receptor Structure and Manufacturing of Clinical Grade CAR Engineered Cells using Different Bioreactors.

Increasing success of adaptive cell therapy (ACT), such as genetically engineered T cells to express chimeric antigen receptors (CARs) proven to be highly significant technological advancements and impressive clinical outcomes in selected haematological malignancies, with promising efficacy. The evolution of CAR designs beyond the conventional structures is necessary to address some of the limitations of conventional CAR therapy and to expand the use of CAR T cells to a wider range of malignancies. There are various obstacles with a wide range of engineering strategies in order to improve the safety, efficacy and applicability of this therapeutic modality. Here we describe details of modular CAR structure with all the necessary domains and what is known about proximal CAR signalling in T cells. Furthermore, the global need for adoptive cell therapy is expanding very rapidly, and there is an urgent increasing demand for fully automated manufacturing methods that can produce large scale clinical grade high quality CAR engineered immune cells. Despite the advances in automation for the production of clinical grade CAR engineered cells, the manufacturing process is costly, consistent and involves multiple steps, including selection, activation, transduction, and Ex-Vivo expansion. Among these complex manufacturing phases, the choice of culture system to generate a high number of functional cells needs to be evaluated and optimized. Here we list the most advance fully automated to semi-automated bioreactor platforms can be used for the production of clinical grade CAR engineered cells for clinical trials but are far from being standardized. New processing options are available and a systematic effort seeking automation, standardization and the increase of production scale, would certainly help to bring the costs down and ultimately democratise this personalized therapy. In this review, we describe in detail different CAR engineered T cell platforms available and can be used in future for clinical-grade CAR engineered ATMP production.

Outcome of pediatric chronic myeloid leukemia with management focusing on the monitoring of BCR-ABL fusion gene transcript levels.

Background and objective: Clinical, laboratory and outcome data were reviewed for pediatric patients who were diagnosed with chronic myeloid leukemia (CML) and managed at two tertiary care hospitals in Saudi Arabia, between January 2011 and December 2017 to assess the response to tyrosine kinase inhibitors (TKI) focusing on the monitoring of BCR-ABL fusion gene transcript levels and to look at the overall outcome. Methods: CML patients were identified based on the cytogenetic and molecular results. Results: Twelve pediatric patients diagnosed with CML at a median age of 8.4 year; treated with TKI as first-line therapy, 11 (91.7%) patients were started with imatinib (first-generation TKI), while one received dasatinib (second-generation TKI) due to his three-way Philadelphia chromosome sensitivity. Eight patients (72.7%) starting on imatinib were switched to dasatinib (six patients due to drug resistance, and two patients due to intolerance of Imatinib) and two patients (25%) of whom had already achieved major molecular response (MMR) on Imatinib. Response rate to imatinib in terms of achieving MMR as first-line therapy was achieved in five out of 11 patients (45.5%) and only three of them continued to maintain their MMR. Six out of eight patients who were switched to dasatinib achieved MMR. Two patients underwent hematopoietic stem cell transplant (SCT): one due to blast crisis and one due to the side effects of TKI. With a median follow-up time of 78 months (range, 40.5-108), all of our patients were alive at last update. Conclusion: We report an excellent outcome with an overall survival (OS) of 100% at 5-year and disease-free survival (DFS) of 91.7% (8.0%). All our patients achieved MMR and only one patient had loss of MMR on follow-up. Eight patients (66.7%) achieved complete molecular response (CMR).

Allogeneic transplant compared to pediatric-inspired therapy for Philadelphia chromosome-negative adolescent and adult ALL in first complete remission.

BACKGROUND: Pediatric-inspired non-transplant regimens for adolescent and adult ALL patients are becoming standard in many institutions. We aimed to compare a cohort of patients receiving a pediatric-inspired protocol to a cohort of patients treated with adult type ALL therapy followed by allografting after achieving CR1. METHOD: Eighty-five adolescent and adult ALL patients treated with CALGB 19802 protocol who received MSD transplant in CR1 were retrospectively compared to a matched cohort of 72 adolescent and adult ALL patients treated with a modified version of Children's Cancer Group (CCG) 1900 protocol. RESULTS: The five years OS in the allo-HCT cohort was 63.1% compared to 80.2% in the pediatric-inspired chemotherapy arm (P = 0.03). The five years EFS in the allo-HCT arm was 58.8% compared to 61.6% in the pediatric-inspired chemotherapy arm (P = 0.07). The five years DFS in the allo-HCT arm was 58.8% as compared to 71.9% in the pediatric-inspired chemotherapy arm (P = 0.07). The relapse rate in the allo-HCT cohort was 30.58% compared to 21.68% in the pediatric-inspired chemotherapy arm (P = 0.16). The NRM in the allo-HCT cohort was 10.59 as compared to 6.45 in the pediatric-inspired chemotherapy arm (P = 0.3). CONCLUSION: For adolescent and adult patients with Ph-negative ALL, pediatric-inspired chemotherapy resulted in higher OS compared to allo-HCT.

Outcomes of blood and marrow transplantation in children less than 2-years of age: 23 years of experience at a single center.

Objectives: Allogeneic hematopoietic cell transplantation (Allo-HCT) is a curative option for children with various malignant and non-malignant diseases. Most reports studied all age groups amongst children. Herein we analyzed our data in children transplanted at or less than 2-years of age. Patients and methods: We reviewed medical charts of 618 patients who underwent 666 transplantation at our center between 1993 and 2015. There were 340 boys and 278 girls. Median age was 0.7 years (range 0.04-2). Stem cell source was bone marrow (BM) in 492 (73.9%), unrelated umbilical cord blood (UCB) in 161 (24.2%) followed by peripheral blood stem cell (PBSC) in 13 (2%) patients. Matched siblings were the most common donors (n = 356, 53.5%), followed by unrelated (n = 161, 24.2%) with haploidentical family member donors in 29 (4.4%) transplants. Disease groups were categorized as benign hematology (Thalassemia, Fanconi, Aplastic anemia etc.), benign neoplasm (Langerhans cell histiocytosis, Hemophagocytic Lymphohistiocytosis etc.), non-neoplasms (metabolic disorders, immunodeficiency disorders etc.) and Leukemia/lymphomas (myeloid and lymphoid malignancies etc.). Results: Cumulative incidence of acute GvHD (I-IV) was 31.5% (n = 210) and grade III-IV GvHD was 8.7% (n = 58). At median follow-up of 115.1 months, the cumulative probability of overall survival (OS) at 5 years was 70.0% ± 1.9%. Our mortality rate was 31.2% (n = 193). The five-year OS was significantly better in patients transplanted for benign hematological disorders (P = .001). Patients transplanted using BM/PBSC as source of stem cells fared significantly better compared to those in which CB was used (P<.001). Post-transplant graft failure remains the leading cause requiring further transplants in this age group. In conclusion, the cumulative probability of OS at 5 years was about 70.0% for all with an OS of 61% in our haploidentical recipients. Conclusion: Analyzing our institutional data over time has enabled us to develop tentative strategies to minimize transplant related toxicities in very young children who are candidates for allo-HCT.

Infectious Complications and Preventative Strategies following Chimeric Antigen Receptor T-cells (CAR-T cells) Therapy for B-Cell Malignancies.

Several chimeric antigen receptor T-cell constructs (CAR-T cells) are currently approved for the treatment of B-cell malignancies, including non-Hodgkin lymphoma and acute lymphoblastic leukemia. Additionally, multiple other products are being investigated and developed for other hematological malignancies and solid cancers. Patients receiving CAR-T cells are at increased risk of infectious complications that lead to increased morbidity and inferior mortality in these patients. In this review, we discuss the literature on the incidence and types of infection in patients in the early and late-phase after CAR-T cells infusion. Additionally, we summarize the current literature on prophylaxis against viral, bacterial, and fungal infections after CAR-T cells infusion and the utility of preventative and supportive measures including intravenous immunoglobulins and myeloid growth factors.

Frontline-matched sibling donor transplant of aplastic anemia patients using primed versus steady-state bone marrow grafts.

Priming donors with G-CSF before BM harvest is reported to improve engraftment and GvHD in recipients. These effects are highly desirable when transplanting patients with non-neoplastic hematologic diseases, particularly AA patients. Here we retrospectively report the outcomes of 39 AA patients receiving a primed BM graft from MSD to 43 patients receiving a steady-state BM graft from MSD, otherwise transplanted using a uniform transplant platform. The graft had higher TNC and CD34 cell concentrations in the primed group (p < 0.001), and that was reflected in higher TNC and CD34 doses per kilogram of recipient in the primed group (p = 0.004 and 0.03, respectively). The OS for primed BM graft recipients was 97.4% and 78.9% for the steady-state BM graft recipients, p-value = 0.01. The cumulative incidence of death without GF was 2.6% in the primed group and 16.3% in the steady-state group, p-value = 0.03. There was no difference in GvHD incidence between the two groups. We confirm that priming improved the TNC and CD34 graft concentration and cell dose; this evidence along with other reported studies constitute reasonable evidence to prove that BM priming improve engraftment. We observed no increase in GvHD using primed BM graft.

The effect of COVID-19 on the characteristics of adult emergency department visits: A retrospective cohort tertiary hospital experience in Riyadh.

BACKGROUND: On March 2, 2020, Saudi Arabia identified the first positive COVID-19 case. Since then, several aspects of the COVID-19 impact on Emergency Departments (EDs) use have been reported. The objective of this study is to describe the pattern and characteristics of Emergency Department visits during the COVID-19 pandemic period, compared with the same period in the previous year, including the patients' demographic information, acuity level, length of stay, and admission rate. METHODS: Data were collected from King Abdulaziz Medical City in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia. The health records of all the patients who presented at the Emergency Department from January 2019 to September 2020 were retrospectively reviewed. The variations in the patient and the visit characteristics were described for the periods before and during COVID-19. RESULTS: The records of 209,954 patients who presented at the Emergency Department were retrieved. In contrast to 2019, the number of visits during the pandemic period reduced by 23%. A dramatic decrease was observed after the announcement of the first COVID-19 diagnosed case in Saudi Arabia, and subsequently the numbers gradually increased. The patients who presented at the Emergency Department during the pandemic period were slightly older (mean age, 43.1 versus 44.0 years), more likely to be older, more urgent and had a higher admission rate compared to the pre-pandemic period. There was a slight increase in visits during the daytime curfew hours and a decrease during the nighttime. CONCLUSION: We report a considerable decrease in the number of Emergency Department visits. The reduction was higher in non-urgent and less urgent cases. Patients presenting at the Emergency Department during the curfew times were more likely to stay longer in the Emergency Department and more likely to be admitted, compared with the pre-pandemic period.