Severe viral lower respiratory tract infections in Brazilian children: Clinical features of a national cohort.

BACKGROUND: The accurate etiological diagnosis of lower respiratory tract infections (LRTI) is essential for their effective clinical management. The extensive use of molecular methods during the COVID-19 pandemic has enabled massive data acquisition on viral lower respiratory tract infections. The current study aims to identify clinical features associated with eight viral agents among children presenting severe LRTI. METHODS: retrospective cohort study of data from the Brazilian Influenza Epidemiological Surveillance Information System. Patients under 20 years-old who had severe LRTI with etiological confirmation through RT-PCR between 2020 and 2022 were included. Binary logistic regressions were used to examine associations between pathogens and symptoms. RESULTS: 60,657 cases were assessed. The main viral agents detected were Sars-CoV-2 (COV2) (41.2%), Respiratory Syncytial Virus (29.1%), Human Rhinovirus (HRV) (12.1%), and Influenza (FLU) (5.5%). A general mortality rate of 4.3% was observed. The multivariate analysis evidenced that COV2 less likely presented with cough (OR: 0.34; 95%CI: 0.32-0.36), respiratory discomfort (Adjusted Odds Ratio (aOR): 0.61; 95%Confidence Interval (CI): 0.59-0.64), and desaturation (aOR: 0.71; 95%CI: 0.69-0.75). RSV strongly associated with cough (aOR: 2.59; 95%CI: 2.45-2.75) and respiratory discomfort (aOR: 1.54; 95%CI: 1.46-1.62), whereas FLU was linked to fever (aOR: 2.27; 95%CI: 2.06-2.50) and sore throat (aOR: 1.48; 95%CI: 1.34-1.64). CONCLUSIONS: The viral agents responsible for severe LRTI have distinct associations with clinical features in children.

Assessment of the risk of burnout and its associated factors in healthcare professionals during the COVID-19 pandemic: A prospective cohort study.

Introduction: The COVID-19 pandemic resulted in tremendous physical and psychological pressure on healthcare professionals, especially on those working in intensive care units (ICUs) and Emergency Departments (EDs). The present study intended to characterize the profile of these professionals which is associated with burnout and determine the potential predictors of such condition. Methods: A Prospective cohort study was carried out in a tertiary hospital between March 2020 and March 2021, in Salvador, Brazil. A standardized and validated version of the Oldenburg Burnout inventory (OLBI) was applied to assess risk of burnout together with data forms designed to collect information on sociodemographic characteristics and religious beliefs. ICU and ED healthcare professionals were evaluated during off-hours at two distinct periods of the COVID-19 pandemic, in 2020 and in 2021. Differences in the results obtained from each study participant between the timepoints were compared. A binary logistic regression analysis was performed to identify the predictors of burnout development independent of other confounding factors. Results: Seventy-seven healthcare professionals with a median age of 33 (interquartile range [IQR]: 31-37.5) years and predominantly female (72.7%; n = 56) were enrolled. There were 62 professionals at risk of developing burnout through the OLBI. Those had a median age of 33 (IQR: 31-37) and female predominance (71%, n = 44). Disengagement and burnout were the only features which frequencies significantly changed over time, with increasing detection at the latest timepoint. Alcohol consumption was found to be an important risk factor for burnout development [adjusted odds ratio (aOR): 10.8 (95% CI: 1.8-64.2)]. Importantly, working in the ICU [aOR: 0.04 (95%CI: 0.01-0.32)] and the habit of praying daily [aOR: 0.07 (95%CI: 0.01-0.41)] were characteristics linked to reduced odds of burnout. Discussion: Disengagement substantially increased during the COVID-19 pandemic in healthcare professionals. Alcohol consumption favors the onset of burnout whereas habit of praying daily and working in the ICU are protective against such outcome. Institutional policies aimed at minimizing etilism may positively impact mental health of these professionals.

Calibration and validation of the Pneumonia Shock Score in critically ill patients with SARS-CoV-2 infection, a multicenter prospective cohort study.

Background: Prognostic tools developed to stratify critically ill patients in Intensive Care Units (ICUs), are critical to predict those with higher risk of mortality in the first hours of admission. This study aims to evaluate the performance of the pShock score in critically ill patients admitted to the ICU with SARS-CoV-2 infection. Methods: Prospective observational analytical cohort study conducted between January 2020 and March 2021 in four general ICUs in Salvador, Brazil. Descriptive statistics were used to characterize the cohort and a logistic regression, followed by cross-validation, were performed to calibrate the score. A ROC curve analysis was used to assess accuracy of the models analyzed. Results: Six hundred five adult ICU patients were included in the study. The median age was 63 (IQR: 49-74) years with a mortality rate of 33.2% (201 patients). The calibrated pShock-CoV score performed well in prediction of ICU mortality (AUC of 0.80 [95% Confidence Interval (CI): 0.77-0.83; p-value < 0.0001]). Conclusions: The pShock-CoV score demonstrated robust discriminatory capacity and may assist in targeting scarce ICU resources during the COVID-19 pandemic to those critically ill patients most likely to benefit.

A prospective comparison between multidisciplinary healthcare providers' clinical examination and a validated pain scale.

Introduction: Unrecognized pain in the Intensive Care Unit (ICU), due to inadequate assessment and therapeutic management, is associated with increased morbidity and mortality. Despite the availability of validated pain monitoring tools, such as the Critical-Care Pain Observational Tool (CPOT), these scales are not commonly used in clinical practice, with healthcare professionals often relying on their clinical impression. Our study aims to determine the agreement between the pain examination performed by ICU professionals and the CPOT. Methods: Prospective cohort study that included critically ill patients and physicians, nurses and physiotherapists from an ICU in Bahia, Brazil. During bedside clinical rounds, the CPOT score was applied to assess the pain of hospitalized patients, and health professionals were interviewed to ascertain their perception of the patient's pain for a maximum of five consecutive days. Correlations were assessed using the Spearman rank tests. Hierarchical cluster analysis was employed to show the results of CPOT score and pain assessment by healthcare professionals at each study time. And the Kappa statistic was calculated to assess the agreement between the CPOT score vs. the pain assessment by healthcare providers. Results: One hundred one patients were included in the study with median age of 74 years (IQR 61.5-83.5), a predominance of women (55.4%) and a median SAPS 3 score of 45 (IQR 39.5-53.0). The correlation between the professional's pain assessment and the CPOT were mostly statistically significant, ranged from negligible to weak, being the highest index obtained in the evaluation of nurses on day 5 (Kappa index = 0.43, p = 0.005). Physician assessments were significant only in day 1. On the presence of pain, the professionals' assessments and CPOT revealed mild to a moderate agreement. Conclusion: Healthcare professional's pain assessment displayed a weak positive correlation with a validated pain scale and poor agreement amongst members of the ICU team, particularly when the pain was felt to be absent. Thus, this study highlights the importance of routine tools for pain assessment in the ICU for all members of multidisciplinary teams.

The impact of body mass index on the prognostic performance of the Simplified Acute Physiology Score 3: A prospective cohort study.

Objective: To assess the Simplified Acute Physiology Score 3 (SAPS3) prognostic score performance across different body mass index categories. Methods: A retrospective cohort study in a general ICU in Brazil. A secondary analysis of medical records was performed with clinical and epidemiological data. Patients were stratified according to their body mass index (BMI) category, and a binary logistic regression was then performed to identify factors independently associated with mortality. SAPS3 accuracy was determined using the area under the receiver operating characteristics curve and the Hosmer-Lemeshow test. A modified Kaplan-Meyer plot was employed to evaluate death probability according to BMI. ICU mortality was evaluated as the primary outcome. Results: A total of 2,179 patients (mean age of 67.9 years and female predominance (53.1%)) were enrolled. SAPS3 was found accurate in all groups except in the underweight (AUC: 0.694 95% CI 0.616-0.773; HL = 0.042). The patients in the underweight group tended to be older, have longer hospital stay, have worse functional status, and have a higher value on prognostic scores. After the adjustments, no statistically significant difference between the BMI groups was noted in relation to mortality, except for the low weight that presented a likelihood of death of 3.50 (95% CI, 1.43-8.58, p = 0.006). Conclusion: This research showed that SAPS3 had poor accuracy in predicting ICU mortality in underweight patients. This group was shown to be an independent risk factor for worse clinical outcomes.

Are prognostic tools losing accuracy? Development and performance of a novel age-calibrated severity scoring system for critically ill patients.

OBJECTIVE: This study aimed to assess the performance of a commonly used ICU severity score (SAPS3) and determine whether an alternative scoring system may be more accurate across all age strata. METHODS: Retrospective cohort study in a general ICU in Brazil. A secondary analysis was performed with clinical and epidemiological data, present in the first 24 hours of unit admission. Then, a binary logistic regression, followed by cross-validation, was made to develop a novel prognostic tool. ICU mortality was the primary outcome evaluated. RESULTS: A total of 3042 patients were included over the study period between August 2015 and July 2018 with a median age of 67 ± 18.4 years. SAPS3 performed fairly in prediction of ICU mortality, particularly in the 80 years or older subset. Multivariable regression identified variables independently associated with mortality that were used to develop the Age Calibrated ICU Score (ACIS) tool that performed similarly to SAPS3 across age categories, being slightly superior in the very elderly population (AUC 0.80 vs 0.72). CONCLUSIONS: The ACIS offers a robust and simple tool to predict ICU mortality, particularly in an increasingly elderly critical care population.

Factors Associated with Mortality in Critically Ill Patients Diagnosed with Hospital Acquired Infections.

OBJECTIVE: Evaluate host and pathogen factors associated with mortality in those with hospital acquired infections (HAI) in a tertiary intensive care unit in Brazil. METHODS: Observational and analytical cohort single center study in a general intensive care unit (ICU) in Northeastern Brazil between January 2016 and August 2018, including those over 18 years of age admitted to the ICU found to have a HAI. RESULTS: A total of 165 patients were included, with a mean age of 72 years and male predominance (53.3%) and observed mortality of 46%. Mortality in those with HAI was significantly associated with older age, increased ICU length of stay and readmission to the ICU in univariate analysis. Multivariate analysis revealed that development of septic shock and obtundation during ICU admission was significantly associated with an increased risk of death (OR: 6.94, 95% CI 1.23-39.27, OR: 2.48, 95% CI 1.17-5.29, respectively). A trend towards mortality risk was noted in those with increased age and prior cardiovascular disease. Surprisingly, mortality risk was independent of site of infection, type of pathogen and antibiotic resistance. Furthermore, having more than one HAI over the course of the ICU admission did not impact mortality. CONCLUSION: Risk of death in those with HAI is associated with obtundation and septic shock, in addition to vasopressor use. Host factors, rather than pathogen-specific characteristics or infecting site, impact risk of death related to HAI in the ICU.