Frailty as a predictor of mortality in COVID-19 patients receiving CPAP for respiratory insufficiency.

OBJECTIVE: Exploring the association between frailty and mortality in a cohort of patients with COVID-19 respiratory insufficiency treated with continuous positive airway pressure. METHODS: Frailty was measured using a Frailty Index (FI) created by using the baseline assessment data on comorbidities and body mass index and baseline blood test results (including pH, lactate dehydrogenase, renal and liver function, inflammatory indexes and anemia). FI > 0.25 identified frail individuals. RESULTS: Among the 159 included individuals (81% men, median age of 68) frailty was detected in 69% of the patients (median FI score 0.3 ± 0.08). Frailty was associated to an increased mortality (adjusted HR 1.99, 95% CI 1.02-3.88, p = 0.04). CONCLUSIONS: Frailty is highly prevalent among patients with COVID-19, predicts poorer outcomes independently of age. A personalization of care balancing the risk and benefit of treatments (especially the invasive ones) in such complex patients is pivotal.

COVID-19 second wave: appropriateness of admissions to the Emergency Department of a main metropolitan hospital in Milan.

BACKGROUND: In Europe, Italy and Lombardy, in autumn 2020, there was a steep increase in reported cases due to the second epidemic wave of SARS-Cov-2 infection. We aimed to evaluate the appropriateness of COVID-19 patients' admissions to the ED of the San Raffaele Hospital. METHODS: We compared data between the inter-wave period (IWP, from 1st to 30th September) and the second wave period (WP, 1st October to 15th November) focusing on the ED presentation, discharge priority colour code and outcomes. RESULTS: Out of 977 admissions with a SARS-Cov-2 positive swab, 6% were in the IWP and 94% in the WP. Red, yellow and white code increased (these latter from 1.8% to 5.4%) as well as self-presented in yellow and white code. Discharges home increased from 1.8% to 5.4%, while hospitalizations decreased from 63% to 51%. DISCUSSION: We found a rise in white codes (among self-presented patients), indicating inappropriateness of admissions. The increase in discharges suggests that several patients did not require hospitalization. CONCLUSIONS: The pandemic brought out the fundamental role of primary care to manage patients with low-intensity needs. The important increase in ED admissions of COVID-19 patients caused a reduction of NO-COVID-19 patients, with possible inadequate treatment.

Coagulation Derangements in Patients With Refractory Cardiac Arrest Treated With Extracorporeal Cardiopulmonary Resuscitation.

OBJECTIVE: Extracorporeal cardiopulmonary resuscitation (eCPR) with venoarterial extracorporeal membrane oxygenation (VA-ECMO) is gaining importance as a rescue therapy for refractory cardiac arrest. VA-ECMO, especially in the setting of eCPR, is plagued by hemorrhagic and thromboembolic complications. The authors' aims were to describe the coagulation profile in refractory cardiac arrest and assess its prognostic role. DESIGN: Single-center retrospective study. SETTING: Cardiac surgical intensive care unit of a university hospital. PARTICIPANTS: One hundred eighty-eight patients treated with eCPR for intra-hospital and out-of-hospital refractory cardiac arrest, between 2008 and 2017. INTERVENTIONS: The authors retrospectively analyzed data from the first blood sample drawn during cannulation for VA-ECMO to understand the association of coagulation parameters with survival to hospital discharge, number of blood components transfused, anticoagulation therapy, serum lactate levels, no-flow time, and low-flow time. MEASUREMENTS AND MAIN RESULTS: Platelet count was 126 ± 79 × 109/L and in 17% of the population it was lower than 50 × 109/L, prothrombin time was 3.22 ± 4.01, activated partial thromboplastin time was 117 ± 78 seconds, fibrinogen was 186 ± 148 mg/dL, antithrombin was 47 ± 16%, and D-dimer was ≥2-fold the normal upper limit in 95% of patients. Fifty percent of patients had a disseminated intravascular coagulation (DIC) score ≥6 (52% among out-of-hospital cardiac arrest, 33% among in-hospital cardiac arrest), according to the criteria of the Japanese Society on Thrombosis and Hemostasis (2016). The median DIC score was 5.5 points (interquartile range 4-8), significantly different between survivors and nonsurvivors (4 [3-6] v 6 [4-8], p = 0.007). Every DIC score point contributed to the mortality risk (OR 1.34, 95% CI 1.09-1.67, p = 0.006). Patients with overt DIC less frequently received anticoagulants (28.6% v 55.9%, p = 0.002), started anticoagulant therapy later (12 [10-23] v 8.5 [5-12] hours, p = 0.045), and received a larger quantity of blood products (11 [4-23] v 3 [0-8.5] units, p < 0.0001). CONCLUSION: Coagulation derangements are frequent in patients with refractory cardiac arrest and have important consequences for eCPR management for anticoagulant therapy and blood product transfusion. The presence of DIC diagnostic criteria should be considered among the prognostic factors in this population of patients.