Gender differences and woman-specific trends in acute stroke: results from a hospital-based registry (1986-2009).

OBJECTIVE: We assessed gender differences and women-specific secular trends in stroke. METHODS: Data from 2318 women and 2274 men with first-ever stroke collected from the Sagrat Cor Hospital Stroke Registry of Barcelona between 1986 and 2009 were analyzed. RESULTS: Patient's age increased significantly from a mean of 74.5 years in 1986-1992 to 81.2 years in 2004-2009 (P < 0.001). Patients aged ≥ 85 years increased from 18.5% to 38.5% (P = 0.0001) as were patients with hypertension, atrial fibrillation, and cardioembolic stroke. The in-hospital death decreased from 17.6% to 11% (P = 0.02), median length of hospital from 14 to 9 days (P = 0.0001) and prolonged hospital stay (> 12 days) from 59.7% to 33.7% (P = 0.0001). Lacunar infarction was more frequent in men (21.5% vs. 16.2%, P = 0.0003) and cardioembolic infarction in women (26% vs. 15.6%, P = 0.0001). Acute stroke in women continues to be a severe disease with high risk of death in the immediate post-stroke phase (13.5%) and low probability of early full neurological recovery (13.9% vs. 11.8%, P = 0.029). CONCLUSION: Women differ from men in the distribution of risk factors and stroke subtype, stroke severity, and outcome. An increase in the patient's age, hypertension, atrial fibrillation and cardioembolic infarction, as well as a decrease mortality and length of hospitalization over a 24-year period was recorded.

Current and potential usefulness of pneumococcal urinary antigen detection in hospitalized patients with community-acquired pneumonia to guide antimicrobial therapy.

BACKGROUND: The role of pneumococcal urinary antigen detection in the treatment of adults with community-acquired pneumonia (CAP) is not well defined. We assessed the usefulness of pneumococcal urinary antigen detection in the diagnosis and antimicrobial guidance in patients hospitalized with CAP. METHODS: A prospective study of all adults hospitalized with CAP was performed from February 2007 through January 2008. To evaluate the accuracy of the test, we calculated its sensitivity, specificity, positive and negative predictive values, and positive and negative likelihood ratios. The gold standard used for diagnosis of pneumococcal pneumonia was isolation in blood or pleural fluid (definite diagnosis) and isolation in sputum (probable diagnosis). Antibiotic modifications, complications, and mortality were analyzed. RESULTS: A total of 474 episodes of CAP were included. Streptococcus pneumoniae was the causative pathogen in 171 cases (36.1%). It was detected exclusively by urinary antigen test in 75 cases (43.8%). Sixty-nine patients had CAP caused by a pathogen other than S pneumoniae. Specificity was 96%, positive predictive value ranged from 88.8% to 96.5%, and the positive likelihood ratio ranged from 14.6 to 19.9. The results of the test led the clinicians to reduce the spectrum of antibiotics in 41 patients. Pneumonia was cured in all of them. Potentially, this optimization would be possible in the 75 patients diagnosed exclusively by the test. CONCLUSION: When its findings are positive, the pneumococcal urinary antigen test is a useful tool in the treatment of hospitalized adult patients with CAP because it may allow the clinician to optimize antimicrobial therapy with good clinical outcomes.

Respuesta de los autores: Algunas consideraciones sobre el estudio comparativo de pruebas diagnósticas para infecciones por metapneumovirus humano / Author’s reply: Some considerations about the comparative study of diagnostic techniques for infections due to human metapneumovirus

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Estudio comparativo de inmunofluorescencia directa, enzimoinmunoanálisis y cultivo para el diagnóstico de las infecciones por metapneumovirus humano / A comparative study of direct immunofluorescence, enzyme immunoassay, and culture for diagnosing metapneumovirus infection

Introducción: El metapneumovirus humano (hMPV) es el causante de un número importante de infecciones en pediatría, entre un 14 y un 22% de las infecciones respiratorias víricas con diagnóstico etiológico establecido. Se presenta un estudio comparativo entre una técnica de inmunofluorescencia directa (IFD), una de enzimoinmunoanálisis (EIA) y el cultivo según la técnica de shell vial. Métodos: Se procesaron 124 aspirados nasofaríngeos pertenecientes a 108 lactantes con infecciones respiratorias de vías bajas. Durante su recepción se los procesó para la IFD, para lo que se utilizó un anticuerpo anti-hMPV comercial (Diagnostic Hybrids Inc.) y se sembró en la línea celular LLC-MK2 (sólo 76 muestras) para fijarse y teñirse a las 48h con el mismo suero citado. El resto de la muestra se procesó según la rutina diagnóstica habitual y se congeló en alícuotas para posterior estudio con EIA (Biotrin®).Resultados: Veinte muestras (16,12%) fueron positivas al hMPV mediante la IFD, 27 muestras (21,77%) fueron positivas mediante el EIA y 15 muestras (19,73%) fueron positivas mediante cultivo. La IFD y el EIA coincidieron en un 92,73% de las 124 muestras. Al considerar las 3 pruebas (76 muestras) se consiguió una concordancia del 90,78%. Al considerar sólo las primeras muestras de cada enfermo (fase aguda), la sensibilidad, los valores predictivos y el índice Kappa de la IFD mejoraron y se acercaron a los obtenidos con el EIA. Conclusión: Ambas pruebas de detección de antígeno son útiles en el diagnóstico de la infección aguda por hMPV en aquellos hospitales pediátricos que no dispongan de las técnicas de amplificación para este virus y necesiten un diagnóstico etiológico con urgencia, con la salvedad de que la IFD está indicada sólo en la fase inicial de la infección (AU)

Introduction: Human metapneumovirus (hMPV) is an important cause of lower respiratory tract infections in children, accounting for 14% to 24% of all viral respiratory infections with an etiological diagnosis. This study compares a direct fluorescent antibody (DFA) test, enzyme immunoassay (EIA), and shell-vial culture for diagnosing acute bronchiolitis in infants.Methods: A total of 124 nasopharyngeal aspirates from 108 infants with lower respiratory tract infection were analyzed. Incoming samples were processed for DFA using a commercial anti-hMPV antibody (Diagnostic Hybrids Inc.®); 76 were inoculated in an LLC-MK2 cell line, and after an incubation period of 48h, were stained and fixed with the aforementioned serum. The remaining sample was processed according to the routine diagnostic procedure and aliquots were frozen for EIA analysis (Biotrin®).Results: Twenty (16.12%) samples were positive for hMPV by DFA, 27 (21.77%) by EIA, and 15 (19.73%) by culture. DFA and EIA results were consistent in 92.73% of the 124 samples. Considering the 3 techniques, the same results were obtained in 90.78% of the 76 specimens. Considering only the first specimen from each patient (acute phase), the sensitivity, predictive values, and Kappa index for DFA improved and were very close to the EIA values.Conclusion: DFA and EIA are useful for antigen detection in the diagnosis of acute hMPV infection, particularly in pediatric hospitals that do not have amplification techniques for this virus, and when a rapid diagnosis is required. It should be kept in mind that DFA analysis is a suitable test for this purpose only in the acute phase of the infection (AU)

[A comparative study of direct immunofluorescence, enzyme immunoassay, and culture for diagnosing metapneumovirus infection]. / Estudio comparativo de inmunofluorescencia directa, enzimoinmunoanálisis y cultivo para el diagnóstico de las infecciones por metapneumovirus humano.

INTRODUCTION: Human metapneumovirus (hMPV) is an important cause of lower respiratory tract infections in children, accounting for 14% to 24% of all viral respiratory infections with an etiological diagnosis. This study compares a direct fluorescent antibody (DFA) test, enzyme immunoassay (EIA), and shell-vial culture for diagnosing acute bronchiolitis in infants. METHODS: A total of 124 nasopharyngeal aspirates from 108 infants with lower respiratory tract infection were analyzed. Incoming samples were processed for DFA using a commercial anti-hMPV antibody (Diagnostic Hybrids Inc.); 76 were inoculated in an LLC-MK2 cell line, and after an incubation period of 48 h, were stained and fixed with the aforementioned serum. The remaining sample was processed according to the routine diagnostic procedure and aliquots were frozen for EIA analysis (Biotrin). RESULTS: Twenty (16.12%) samples were positive for hMPV by DFA, 27 (21.77%) by EIA, and 15 (19.73%) by culture. DFA and EIA results were consistent in 92.73% of the 124 samples. Considering the 3 techniques, the same results were obtained in 90.78% of the 76 specimens. Considering only the first specimen from each patient (acute phase), the sensitivity, predictive values, and Kappa index for DFA improved and were very close to the EIA values. CONCLUSION: DFA and EIA are useful for antigen detection in the diagnosis of acute hMPV infection, particularly in pediatric hospitals that do not have amplification techniques for this virus, and when a rapid diagnosis is required. It should be kept in mind that DFA analysis is a suitable test for this purpose only in the acute phase of the infection.