Adherence to antithrombotic therapy guidelines and atrial fibrillation in a rural hospital: a clinical audit.

INTRODUCTION: Atrial fibrillation (AF) is a major risk factor for ischaemic stroke and a common presentation in general practice. Scoring systems to guide antithrombotic treatment have been available since 1996, with the CHA2DS2-VASC in current use; however, little is known about adherence to guidelines in rural general practice. The purpose of this study was to determine whether patients in a rural population and with documented history of AF are prescribed antithrombotic treatment according to recognised guidelines. METHODS: A retrospective cohort study of inpatients was performed at a rural country hospital in South Australia. All patients with an ICD-10 CM code at the time of discharge were selected from June 2008 to July 2013. This included both newly diagnosed AF as well cases with existing history of AF. RESULTS: Among the 59 patients studied, 77% of patients received appropriate anticoagulation according to CHADS2 score and 83% according to CHA2DS2-VASC score. CONCLUSIONS: This study confirms that the guidelines are routinely followed in clinical practice in this rural population.

Biphasic Positive Airway Pressure or Continuous Positive Airway Pressure: A Randomized Trial.

BACKGROUND: There is currently no clear evidence that nasal-biphasic positive airway pressure (n-BiPAP) confers any advantage over nasal-continuous positive airway pressure (n-CPAP). Our hypothesis was that preterm infants born before 30 weeks' gestation and <2 weeks old when extubated onto n-BiPAP will have a lower risk of extubation failure than infants extubated onto n-CPAP at equivalent mean airway pressure. METHODS: We conducted an unblinded multicenter randomized trial comparing n-CPAP with n-BiPAP in infants born <30 weeks' gestation and <2 weeks old. The primary outcome variable was the rate of extubation failure within 48 hours after the first attempt at extubation. Block randomization stratified by center and gestation (<28 weeks or ≥28 weeks) was performed. RESULTS: A total of 540 infants (270 in each group) were eligible to be included in the statistical analysis; 57 (21%) of n-BiPAP group and 55 (20%) of n-CPAP group failed extubation at 48 hours postextubation (adjusted odds ratio 1.01; 95% confidence interval 0.65-1.56; P = .97). Subgroup analysis of infants born before and after 28 weeks' gestation showed no significant differences between the 2 groups. There were no significant differences between arms in death; oxygen requirement at 28 days; oxygen requirement at 36 weeks' corrected gestation; or intraventricular hemorrhage, necrotizing enterocolitis requiring surgery, or pneumothorax. CONCLUSIONS: This trial shows that there is no added benefit to using n-BIPAP over n-CPAP at equivalent mean airway pressure in preventing extubation failures in infants born before 30 weeks' gestation and <2 weeks old.

Neurological involvement in patients with falciparum malaria; frequency and prognostic value.

OBJECTIVE: The objective of this study was to evaluate the prognostic significance of neurological manifestations in falciparum malaria. METHODS: We analyzed adult patients with malaria admitted from 2001 to 2003, diagnosed by asexual forms of Plasmodium falciparum in peripheral blood films and identified cases of malaria with neurological involvement. A patient was classified as having neurological involvement if they reported or had one or more of the following symptoms; headache, altered mental status, seizures, neck rigidity, brisk reflexes, cranial neuropathy and hyper or hypotonia. RESULTS: A total of 454 patients were included in the study. Out of these, 123 (27%) were diagnosed as complicated (severe) malaria and 331 (73%) as uncomplicated malaria at admission. Overall 70 (15.4%) patients had evidence of neurological involvement at initial evaluation. Twenty-seven patients out of 123 (22%) with complicated malaria and 43 patients out of 331 (13%) with uncomplicated malaria had neurological involvement. Over all, 16 (4%) patients died, 13 (11%) had complicated malaria (n=123) and 3 (1%) had uncomplicated malaria (n=381). Mortality in patients having neurological involvement (n=70) was 9 (13%) as compared to 7 (2%) in patients with malaria having no neurological involvement (n=384). This difference was statistically significant (p=0.012). Seizure was identified as predictor of mortality on Univariate analysis [OR 5.091 (1.835-14.121)]. CONCLUSION: Fifteen percent of patients with falciparum malaria admitted to our hospital had neurological symptoms and neurological involvement was associated with increased mortality.