Delirium as destiny: clinical precision and genetic risk.
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Biomedical subjects
Publications and source records attributed to Yoanna Skrobik.
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OBJECTIVE: Delirium in the critically ill is reported in 11-80% of patients. We estimated the incidence of delirium using a validated scale in a large cohort of ICU patients and determined the associated risk factors and outcomes. DESIGN AND SETTING: Prospective study in a 16-bed medical-surgical intensive care unit (ICU). PATIENTS: 820 consecutive patients admitted to ICU for more than 24 h. INTERVENTIONS: Tools used were: the Intensive Care Delirium Screening Checklist for delirium, Richmond Agitation and Sedation Scale for sedation, and Numerical Rating Scale for pain. Risk factors were evaluated with univariate and multivariate analysis, and factors influencing mortality were determined using Cox regression. RESULTS: Delirium occurred in 31.8% of 764 patients. Risk of delirium was independently associated with a history of hypertension (OR 1.88, 95% CI 1.3-2.6), alcoholism (2.03, 1.2-3.2), and severity of illness (1.25, 1.03-1.07 per 5-point increment in APACHE II score) but not with age or corticosteroid use. Sedatives and analgesics increased the risk of delirium when used to induce coma (OR 3.2, 95% CI 1.5-6.8), and not otherwise. Delirium was linked to longer ICU stay (11.5+/-11.5 vs. 4.4+/-3.9 days), longer hospital stay (18.2+/-15.7 vs. 13.2+/-19.4 days), higher ICU mortality (19.7% vs. 10.3%), and higher hospital mortality (26.7% vs. 21.4%). CONCLUSION: Delirium is associated with a history of hypertension and alcoholism, higher APACHE II score, and with clinical effects of sedative and analgesic drugs.
OBJECTIVE: Injury to the alveolocapillary barrier characterizes ALI/ARDS; therefore determining levels of lung epithelium-specific small proteins in serum may help predict clinical outcomes. We examined whether serum Clara cell protein (CC-16) concentration is correlated with the outcome, mechanical ventilation duration, and incidence of nonpulmonary organ failure. DESIGN: Prospective multicenter observational study conducted by the Quebec Critical Care Network. MEASUREMENTS: Seventy-eight adult ARDS patients requiring mechanical ventilation were enrolled and 28-day mortality was the primary outcome. Ventilatory parameters were computed and blood was sampled daily. Clinical information collected included cause of death, duration of mechanical ventilation, number of ventilator-free days, and organ failures. RESULTS: Median serum levels of CC-16 were significantly higher in nonsurvivors than survivors on days 0-2 (19.93 microg/l, IQR 11.8-44.32, vs. 8.9, 5.66-26.38) and sustained up to day 14. CC-16 levels were correlated positively with the number of failing organs (rho 0.3623) and requirement for prolonged mechanical ventilation. Predictors of patient mortality included age, arterial carbon dioxide partial pressure, CC-16, and APACHE II score (odds ratios 1.35, 1.52, 1.37, 1.159, respectively). CONCLUSIONS: Higher initial CC-16 serum level is associated with increased risk of death, fewer ventilator-free days, and increased frequency of nonpulmonary multiple organ failure. CC-16 is a valuable biomarker of ARDS that may help predict outcome among ARDS patients with high-risk mortality.
STUDY OBJECTIVES: Electrical impedance tomography (EIT) is able to reflect physiological parameters such as real-time changes in global and regional lung volume. EIT can aid in the assessment of lung recruitment, and its use has been validated in preliminary studies monitoring mechanical ventilation at the bedside. ICU patients vary widely in their body habitus, and obesity is becoming more prevalent. Our primary research purpose was to establish whether anthropometric parameters influence EIT's reliability. Our secondary question was whether body position alters its correlation to spirometric measurements. SUBJECTS: 22 healthy adult volunteers (12 male, 10 female) with broadly variable anthropometric parameters. INTERVENTIONS: Simultaneous measurements of changes in lung volume using EIT imaging and a pneumotachograph were obtained with two breathing patterns (quiet and deep breathing) and in four body positions (standing, sitting, semi-reclining and supine). MEASUREMENTS AND RESULTS: Correlation between measurements of changes in lung volume using EIT imaging and a pneumotachograph was excellent. Variations attributable to anthropometric measurements accounted for at most a 1.3% difference. CONCLUSIONS: Anthropometric variability and body position do not adversely influence the EIT estimation of changes in lung volume. These data suggest EIT could be used to monitor critically ill mechanically ventilated adults with variable body habitus regardless of position.
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Spirometry and electrical impedance tomography (EIT) data from 26 healthy subjects (14 males, 12 females) were used to develop a model linking contrast variations in EIT difference images to lung volume changes. Eight recordings, each 64 s long, were made for each subject in four postures (standing, sitting, reclining at 45 degrees, supine) and two breathing modes (quiet tidal and deep breathing). Age, gender and five anthropometric variables were recorded. The database was divided into four subsets. The first subset, data from 22 subjects (12 males, 10 females) recorded in deep breathing mode, was used to create the model. Validation was done with the other subsets: data recorded during quiet tidal breathing in the same 22 subjects, and data recorded in both breathing modes for the other four subjects. A quadratic equation in DeltaV(P) (lung volume changes recorded by the spirometer) provided a very good fit to total contrast changes in the EIT images. The model coefficients were found to depend on posture, gender, thoracic circumference and scapular skin fold. To validate the model, the quadratic equation was inverted to estimate lung volume changes from the EIT images. The estimated changes were then compared to the measured volume changes. Validations with each data subset yielded mean standard errors ranging from 9.3% to 12.4%. The proposed model is a first step in enabling inter individual comparisons of EIT images since: (1) it provides a framework for incorporating the effects of anthropometric variables, gender and posture, and (2) it references the images to a physical quantity (volume) verifiable by spirometry.
PURPOSE: There is no randomized trial comparing low-molecular weight heparin (LMWH) and unfractionated heparin (UFH) for thromboprophylaxis in medical-surgical ICU patients. The primary objective of this randomized pilot study on LMWH vs UFH was to assess the feasibility of conducting a large randomized trial with respect to timely enrollment and blinded study drug administration, practicality of twice-weekly lower limb ultrasounds to screen for deep venous thrombosis, LMWH bioaccumulation and dose adjustment in renal insufficiency, and recruitment rates for a future trial in medical-surgical intensive care unit (ICU) patients. Its additional goals were to evaluate the suitability of the exclusion criteria and to document the range of research activities that precede accrual of patients into a trial to plan multisite management. MATERIALS AND METHODS: By computerized telephone randomization, we allocated 129 medical-surgical ICU patients to treatment with dalteparin 5,000 IU QD SC or that with UFH 5,000 IU BID SC. Within each clinical center, only the study pharmacist was not blinded. We performed bilateral lower limb compression ultrasounds within 48 hours of ICU admission, twice weekly, on suspicion of deep venous thrombosis, and 7 days after ICU discharge. Research coordinators and investigators at 7 centers reported the time they engaged in all research activities before the first patient was randomized. RESULTS: Timely complete study drug administration occurred after enrollment. More than 99% of scheduled doses were administered in a blinded fashion. Scheduled ultrasounds were performed without exception. No bioaccumulation of dalteparin was observed when creatinine clearance decreased to lower than 30 mL/min. Average recruitment was 2 patients/center per month before the study exclusion criteria were modified. Study startup activities required, on average, 65.5 hours of combined investigator and research coordinator time at each center. Careful examination of the accrual in the pilot study led to a reexamination of the Prophylaxis of Thromboembolism in Critical Care Trial (PROTECT) study exclusion criteria. CONCLUSIONS: This pilot study suggests that a multicenter randomized clinical trial comparing LMWH with UFH in critically ill medical-surgical patients is feasible. Pilot studies can improve the design of larger trials and may enhance successful timely completion.
PURPOSE: The authors performed a structured literature review to understand residents' experiences with end-of-life (EOL) decision making with adult hospitalized patients, specifically regarding decisions to withhold or withdraw advanced life-support measures. METHOD: An Ovid-based strategy was used to search Medline, ERIC, PsychINFO, and CINHAL databases for articles published between 1966 and February 2005, combining the domains of "resuscitation orders," "decision making," and "internship and residency." All quantitative and qualitative studies examining residents' EOL decision making with adult hospitalized patients were included. The authors developed and applied a scoring system for relevance and quality, performed data abstraction and quality assessment independently and in duplicate, then met to collate findings and identify factors in residents' EOL decision making. RESULTS: The searches yielded 884 articles, of which 26 were included. Variable methodologies precluded meta-analysis. In these studies, residents felt unprepared to handle patient EOL decision making, although exposure to EOL discussions helped them gain confidence. Residents' attitudes, skills, and knowledge were key determinants of whether EOL decisions were addressed. Many misinterpreted the terms "DNR" and "futility." Residents' understanding of the patient EOL decision-making process could be extremely variable, and their do-not-resuscitate discussions suboptimal. Residents' lived practice experience of the patient EOL decision-making process was often at odds with what they were taught in formal curricula. CONCLUSIONS: Educational strategies aimed at changing residents' knowledge, skills and attitude should address the hidden curriculum for the patient EOL decision-making process that is part of the experienced culture of every day practice. Future studies of this experienced culture would inform specific educational interventions.
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OBJECTIVE: To evaluate efficacy and safety of aggressive correction of hypophosphatemia with intravenous potassium phosphate in the ICU. DESIGN AND SETTING: Randomized interventional prospective study in the medical and surgical ICU of a tertiary university hospital. PATIENTS: Critically ill patients with hypophosphatemia between June and November 1998. MEASUREMENTS AND RESULTS: Patients with moderate hypophosphatemia (<0.65 and >0.40 mmol/l; n=37) were randomized into two groups: group 1 received 30 mmol potassium phosphate intravenously in 50 ml saline over 2 h, and group 2 received 30 mmol potassium phosphate in 100 ml saline over 4 h. Patients with severe hypophosphatemia (<0.40 mmol/l; n=10) were also randomized into two groups: group 3 received 45 mmol potassium phosphate intravenously in 100 ml saline over 3 h, and group 4 received 45 mmol potassium phosphate in 100 ml saline over 6 h. Electrolytes, blood gas, renal function were monitored until day 3; urine was collected during and until 6 h after infusions. The overall efficacy of the protocols was 98% by the end of the infusion. There was no statistical difference in phosphate values between groups at the end of infusion or at 24 h. No adverse events were noted; one patient had an increase in serum potassium to 6.1 mmol/l. Phosphaturia in all groups was elevated as evidenced by fractional excretion above 20%. CONCLUSIONS: More rapid administration of large potassium phosphate boluses is effective and safe for correcting hypophosphatemia in ICU patients with preserved renal function if baseline serum potassium is below 4 mmol/l.
Delirium in the intensive care unit is a serious problem that has recently attracted much attention. User-friendly and reliable tools, such as the Confusion Assessment Method for the Intensive Care Unit (CAM-ICU), offer the clinician the opportunity to identify delirium in patients better. Diagnosis of delirium in a critical care population is often a difficult task because classical psychiatric evaluation is impossible for a number of reasons. The CAM-ICU makes use of nonverbal assessments to evaluate the cardinal features of delirium (i.e. acute or fluctuating onset, inattention, disorganized thinking and altered level of consciousness). Its development for use in the critical care setting represents a significant advance that could lead to better care for such patients.
OBJECTIVE: To evaluate patient comfort, skin breakdown and eye irritation when comparing a prototype face mask (PM) and conventional face masks (CMs) during non-invasive ventilation. SETTING AND DESIGN: Eight centers (intensive or intermediate care units). Multicenter randomized study. POPULATIONS: Patients with acute respiratory failure of different etiologies. INTERVENTIONS: Patients were randomized to CMs or PM when ventilation was expected to last at least 12 consecutive hours a day for two consecutive days. Patient comfort, skin breakdown and eye irritation, assessed by means of standardized scoring systems, were measured after 24 and 48 h and before discontinuing ventilation. RESULTS: Hundred ninety-four patients were randomized. Forty-seven patients were finally enrolled: PM (24) and CMs (23). Ventilator settings were similar in the two groups at the beginning of the treatment and after 24 and 48 h. Skin breakdown was significantly higher in the CMs group over the study period ( p<0.001). Patient comfort was higher in the PM group after 24 and 48 h ( p=0.008 and p<0.001, respectively). Eye irritation was absent in both groups after 24 h and did not differ significantly after 48 h (p=0.539). Before ventilation was discontinued skin breakdown and patient comfort were significantly higher in the CMs group, when compared to the PM group ( p<0.001 and p=0.003, respectively). Eye irritation was slightly higher in the PM versus CMs group ( p=0.21). The time on ventilation was not significantly different between the two groups ( p=0.830). CONCLUSION: The PM significantly reduced skin breakdown while improving patient comfort, compared to the CMs.
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