A modified Sequential Organ Failure Assessment score for dengue: development, evaluation and proposal for use in clinical trials.

BACKGROUND: Dengue is a neglected tropical disease, for which no therapeutic agents have shown clinical efficacy to date. Clinical trials have used strikingly variable clinical endpoints, which hampers reproducibility and comparability of findings. We investigated a delta modified Sequential Organ Failure Assessment (delta mSOFA) score as a uniform composite clinical endpoint for use in clinical trials investigating therapeutics for moderate and severe dengue. METHODS: We developed a modified SOFA score for dengue, measured and evaluated its performance at baseline and 48 h after enrolment in a prospective observational cohort of 124 adults admitted to a tertiary referral hospital in Vietnam with dengue shock. The modified SOFA score included pulse pressure in the cardiovascular component. Binary logistic regression, cox proportional hazard and linear regression models were used to estimate association between mSOFA, delta mSOFA and clinical outcomes. RESULTS: The analysis included 124 adults with dengue shock. 29 (23.4%) patients required ICU admission for organ support or due to persistent haemodynamic instability: 9/124 (7.3%) required mechanical ventilation, 8/124 (6.5%) required vasopressors, 6/124 (4.8%) required haemofiltration and 5/124 (4.0%) patients died. In univariate analyses, higher baseline and delta (48 h) mSOFA score for dengue were associated with admission to ICU, requirement for organ support and mortality, duration of ICU and hospital admission and IV fluid use. CONCLUSIONS: The baseline and delta mSOFA scores for dengue performed well to discriminate patients with dengue shock by clinical outcomes, including duration of ICU and hospital admission, requirement for organ support and death. We plan to use delta mSOFA as the primary endpoint in an upcoming host-directed therapeutic trial and investigate the performance of this score in other phenotypes of severe dengue in adults and children.

Rates of rehospitalisation in the first 2 years among preterm infants discharged from the NICU of a tertiary children hospital in Vietnam: a follow-up study.

OBJECTIVES: To describe the characteristics of rehospitalisation in Vietnamese preterm infants and to examine the time-to-first-readmission between two gestational age (GA) groups (extremely/very preterm (EVP) vs moderate/late preterm (MLP)); and further to compare rehospitalisation rates according to GA and corrected age (CA), and to examine the association between potential risk factors and rehospitalisation rates. DESIGN AND SETTING: A cohort study to follow up preterm infants discharged from a neonatal intensive care unit (NICU) of a tertiary children's hospital in Vietnam. PARTICIPANTS: All preterm newborns admitted to the NICU from July 2013 to September 2014. MAIN OUTCOMES: Rates, durations and causes of hospital admission during the first 2 years. RESULTS: Of 294 preterm infants admitted to NICU (all outborn, GA ranged from 26 to 36 weeks), 255 were discharged alive, and 211 (83%) NICU graduates were followed up at least once during the first 2 years CA, of whom 56% were hospital readmitted. The median (IQR) of hospital stay was 7 (6-10) days. Respiratory diseases were the major cause (70%). Compared with MLP infants, EVP infants had a higher risk of first rehospitalisation within the first 6 months of age (p=0.01). However, the difference in risk declined thereafter and was similar from 20 months of age. There was an interaction in rehospitalisation rates between GA and CA. Longer duration of neonatal respiratory support and having older siblings were associated with higher rehospitalisation rates. Lower rates of rehospitalisation were seen in infants with higher cognitive and motor scores (not statistically significant in cognitive scores). CONCLUSIONS: Hospital readmission of Vietnamese preterm infants discharged from NICU was frequent during their first 2 years, mainly due to respiratory diseases. Scale-up of follow-up programmes for preterm infants is needed in low-income and middle-income countries and attempts to prevent respiratory diseases should be considered.

Lack of decline in hepatitis C virus incidence among HIV-positive men who have sex with men during 1990-2014.

BACKGROUND & AIMS: Hepatitis C virus (HCV) incidence among HIV-positive men who have sex with men (MSM) has increased since 2000, although there are regional differences. We aimed to 1) estimate trends in HCV incidence among HIV-positive MSM, 2) assess the association between incidence and geographical region, age and HIV-related measurements and, 3) assess temporal changes from HIV seroconversion to HCV infection. METHODS: Data was used from MSM with well-estimated dates of HIV seroconversion from the CASCADE Collaboration (1990-2014). Smoothly varying trends in HCV incidence over time were allowed, using restricted cubic splines. The association of calendar year, age, CD4 count (lagged), HIV RNA (lagged), geographical region and HIV infection stage (recent vs. chronic) with HCV incidence were assessed using Poisson regression. RESULTS: Of 5,941 MSM, 337 acquired HCV during follow-up. HCV incidence significantly increased from 0.7/1,000 person-years in 1990 to 18/1,000 person-years in 2014. Recent calendar years, younger age, recent HIV infection and higher HIV RNA levels were significantly associated with HCV incidence, while CD4 count was not. Trends differed by geographical region; while incidence appeared to have stabilized in Western Europe and remained stable in Southern Europe, it continued to increase in Northern Europe in recent years. Time from HIV to HCV infection significantly decreased over time (p<0.001). CONCLUSIONS: HCV has continued to spread among HIV-positive MSM in recent years, but trends differ by geographical region. Interventions to decrease the risk of HCV acquisition and increase early diagnosis are warranted. LAY SUMMARY: Hepatitis C virus infection continues to spread among HIV-positive men who have sex with men, especially among younger individuals. However, trends seem to differ by European region in recent years. Furthermore, men who have sex with men with a higher HIV RNA load were more likely to get infected with the hepatitis C virus. During recent HIV infection, MSM appear to be at higher risk of acquiring hepatitis C.