Sex- and age-related patterns in the use of analgesics in older patients in the emergency department.

BACKGROUND: Treatment of acute pain in older patients is a common challenge faced in emergency departments (EDs). Despite many studies that have investigated chronic analgesic use in the elderly, data on patterns of acute use, especially in EDs, of analgesics according to patient characteristics is scarce. OBJECTIVE: To investigate sex- and age-related patterns of analgesic use in the Spanish EDs and determine differences in age-related patterns according to patient sex. DESIGN: A secondary analysis of the Emergency Department and Elderly Needs (EDEN) multipurpose cohort. SETTING: Fifty-two Spanish EDs (17% of Spanish EDs covering 25% of Spanish population). PARTICIPANTS: All patients' ≥65 years attending ED during 1 week (April 1-7, 2019). Patient characteristics recorded included age, sex, chronic treatment with non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs (NSAIDs) and opiates, comorbidity, dependence, dementia, depression, ability to walk and previous falls. Analgesics used in the ED were categorized in three groups: non-NSAID non-opioids (mainly paracetamol and metamizole, PM), NSAIDs, and opiates. OUTCOME MEASURES: Frequency of analgesic use was quantified, and the relationship between sex and age and analgesic use (in general and for each analgesic group) was assessed by unadjusted and adjusted logistic regression and restricted cubic spline models. Interaction between sex and age was explored. MAIN RESULTS: We included 24 573 patients, and 6678 (27.2%) received analgesics in the ED: 5551 (22.6%) PM, 1661 (6.8%) NSAIDs and 937 (3.8%) opiates (1312 received combinations). Analgesics were more frequently used in women (adjusted OR = 1.076, 95%CI = 1.014-1.142), as well as with NSAID (1.205, 1.083-1.341). Analgesic use increased with age, increasing PM and decreasing NSAIDs use. Opiate use remained quite constant across age and sex. Interaction of sex with age was present for the use of analgesics in general ( P  = 0.006), for PM ( P  < 0.001) and for opiates ( P  = 0.033), with higher use of all these analgesics in women. CONCLUSION: Use of analgesics in older individuals in EDs is mildly augmented in women and increases with age, with PM use increasing and NSAIDs decreasing with age. Conversely, opiate use is quite constant according to sex and age. Age-related patterns differ according to sex, with age-related curves of women showing higher probabilities than those of men to receive any analgesic, PM or opiates.

Utilidad del modelo 5MPB-Toledo para predecir bacteriemia en el paciente con infección del tracto urinario en el servicio de urgencias / Usefulness of the 5MPB-Toledo model to predict bacteremia in patients with urinary tract infections in the emergency department

Objetivo: Analizar la utilidad de un nuevo modelo predictivo de bacteriemia (5MPB-Toledo) en pacientes atendidos por infección del tracto urinario (ITU) en los servicios de urgencias (SU). Métodos: Estudio observacional, prospectivo y multicéntrico de los hemocultivos (HC) obtenidos en pacientes mayores de 18 años atendidos por ITU en 65SU desde el 1 de octubre de 2019 hasta el 30 de abril de 2020. Se analizó la capacidad predictiva del modelo con el área bajo la curva (ABC) de la característica operativa del receptor (COR) y se calculó el rendimiento diagnóstico del punto de corte elegido con su sensibilidad, especificidad, valor predictivo positivo y valor predictivo negativo. Resultados: Se incluyeron 1.499 episodios de HC extraídos. De ellos se consideraron como bacteriemias verdaderas 277 (18,5%) y como HC negativos 1.222 (81,5%). Entre los negativos 94 (6,3%) se consideraron contaminados. El ABC-COR del modelo fue de 0,937 (IC 95%: 0,926-0,949). El rendimiento diagnóstico del modelo con un PC≥5 puntos consigue una sensibilidad de 97,47% (IC 95%: 94,64-98,89), especificidad de 76,68% (IC 95%: 74,18-79,00), un valor predictivo positivo de 48,65% (IC 95%: 44,42-52,89) y un valor predictivo negativo de 99,26% (IC 95%: 98,41-99,67). Conclusión: El modelo 5MPB-Toledo podría ser útil para predecir bacteriemia en los pacientes adultos atendidos en el SU por un episodio de ITU (AU)

Objective: To analyze the usefulness of a new predictive model of bacteremia (5MPB-Toledo) in patients treated for urinary tract infection (UTI) in the emergency department (ED). Methods: Prospective and multicenter observational cohort study of the blood cultures (BC) ordered for patients with UTIs in 65 Spanish ED from October 1, 2019, to April 30, 2020. The predictive ability of the model was analyzed with the area under the Receiver Operating Characteristic curve (AUC-ROC). The diagnostic performance was calculated with the chosen cut-off point for sensitivity, specificity, positive predictive value, and negative predictive value. Results A total of 1,499 blood cultures were evaluated. True cases of bacteremia were confirmed in 277 (18.5%). The remaining 1,222 cultures (81.5%) were negative. Ninety-four (6.3%) were considered contaminated. The model's area under the ROC curve was 0.937 (95% CI, 0.926-0.949). The prognostic performance with a model's cut-off value of≥5 points achieved 97.47% (95% CI, 94.64-98.89) sensitivity, 76.68% (95% CI, 74.18-79.00) specificity, 48.65% (95% CI, 44.42-52.89) positive predictive value and 99.26% (95% CI, 98.41-99.67) negative predictive value. Conclusion: The 5MPB-Toledo score is useful for predicting bacteremia in patients with UTIs who visit the ED (AU)