Indian Guidelines on Nebulization Therapy.

Inhalational therapy, today, happens to be the mainstay of treatment in obstructive airway diseases (OADs), such as asthma, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD), and is also in the present, used in a variety of other pulmonary and even non-pulmonary disorders. Hand-held inhalation devices may often be difficult to use, particularly for children, elderly, debilitated or distressed patients. Nebulization therapy emerges as a good option in these cases besides being useful in the home care, emergency room and critical care settings. With so many advancements taking place in nebulizer technology; availability of a plethora of drug formulations for its use, and the widening scope of this therapy; medical practitioners, respiratory therapists, and other health care personnel face the challenge of choosing appropriate inhalation devices and drug formulations, besides their rational application and use in different clinical situations. Adequate maintenance of nebulizer equipment including their disinfection and storage are the other relevant issues requiring guidance. Injudicious and improper use of nebulizers and their poor maintenance can sometimes lead to serious health hazards, nosocomial infections, transmission of infection, and other adverse outcomes. Thus, it is imperative to have a proper national guideline on nebulization practices to bridge the knowledge gaps amongst various health care personnel involved in this practice. It will also serve as an educational and scientific resource for healthcare professionals, as well as promote future research by identifying neglected and ignored areas in this field. Such comprehensive guidelines on this subject have not been available in the country and the only available proper international guidelines were released in 1997 which have not been updated for a noticeably long period of over two decades, though many changes and advancements have taken place in this technology in the recent past. Much of nebulization practices in the present may not be evidence-based and even some of these, the way they are currently used, may be ineffective or even harmful. Recognizing the knowledge deficit and paucity of guidelines on the usage of nebulizers in various settings such as inpatient, out-patient, emergency room, critical care, and domiciliary use in India in a wide variety of indications to standardize nebulization practices and to address many other related issues; National College of Chest Physicians (India), commissioned a National task force consisting of eminent experts in the field of Pulmonary Medicine from different backgrounds and different parts of the country to review the available evidence from the medical literature on the scientific principles and clinical practices of nebulization therapy and to formulate evidence-based guidelines on it. The guideline is based on all possible literature that could be explored with the best available evidence and incorporating expert opinions. To support the guideline with high-quality evidence, a systematic search of the electronic databases was performed to identify the relevant studies, position papers, consensus reports, and recommendations published. Rating of the level of the quality of evidence and the strength of recommendation was done using the GRADE system. Six topics were identified, each given to one group of experts comprising of advisors, chairpersons, convenor and members, and such six groups (A-F) were formed and the consensus recommendations of each group was included as a section in the guidelines (Sections I to VI). The topics included were: A. Introduction, basic principles and technical aspects of nebulization, types of equipment, their choice, use, and maintenance B. Nebulization therapy in obstructive airway diseases C. Nebulization therapy in the intensive care unit D. Use of various drugs (other than bronchodilators and inhaled corticosteroids) by nebulized route and miscellaneous uses of nebulization therapy E. Domiciliary/Home/Maintenance nebulization therapy; public & health care workers education, and F. Nebulization therapy in COVID-19 pandemic and in patients of other contagious viral respiratory infections (included later considering the crisis created due to COVID-19 pandemic). Various issues in different sections have been discussed in the form of questions, followed by point-wise evidence statements based on the existing knowledge, and recommendations have been formulated.

Evaluation of Sleep Architecture using 24-hour Polysomnography in Patients Recovering from Critical Illness in an Intensive Care Unit and High Dependency Unit: a Longitudinal, Prospective, and Observational Study.

BACKGROUND AND OBJECTIVE: The sleep architecture of critically ill patients being treated in Intensive Care Units (ICU) and High Dependency Units (HDU) is frequently unsettled and inadequate both qualitatively and quantitatively. The study aimed to investigate and elucidate factors influencing sleep architecture and quality in ICU and HDU in a limited resource setting with financial constraints, lacking human resources and technology for routine monitoring of noise, light and sleep promotion strategies in ICU. METHODS: The study was longitudinal, prospective, hospital-based, analytic, and observational. Insomnia Severity Index (ISI) and the Epworth Sleepiness Scale (ESS) pre hospitalisation scores were recorded. Patients underwent 24-hour polysomnography (PSG) with the simultaneous monitoring of noise and light in their environments. Patients stabilised in ICU were transferred to HDU, where the 24-hour PSG with the simultaneous monitoring of noise and light in their environments was repeated. Following PSG, the Richards-Campbell Sleep Questionnaire (RCSQ) was employed to rate patients' sleep in both the ICU and HDU. RESULTS: Of 46 screened patients, 26 patients were treated in the ICU and then transferred to the HDU. The mean (SD) of the study population's mean (SD) age was 35.96 (11.6) years with a predominantly male population (53.2% (n=14)). The mean (SD) of the ISI and ESS scores were 6.88 (2.58) and 4.92 (1.99), respectively. The comparative analysis of PSG data recording from the ICU and HDU showed a statistically significant reduction in N1, N2 and an increase in N3 stages of sleep (p<0.05). Mean (SD) of RCSQ in the ICU and the HDU were 54.65 (7.70) and 60.19 (10.85) (p-value = 0.04) respectively. The disease severity (APACHE II) has a weak correlation with the arousal index but failed to reach statistical significance (coeff= 0.347, p= 0.083). CONCLUSION: Sleep in ICU is disturbed and persisting during the recovery period in critically ill. However, during recovery, sleep architecture shows signs of restoration.

The study of association of Vitamin B12 deficiency in type 2 diabetes mellitus with and without diabetic nephropathy in North Indian Population.

AIM: Diabetic Mellitus is the chronic metabolic disorder associated with various complications of heart, eyes, nerves, kidney etc. Diabetic Nephropathy is one of the leading causes of death in diabetic patient. We hypothesized that decrease Vitamin B12 levels is associated with Diabetic Nephropathy. Aim of our study is to study the serum Vitamin B12 levels in type 2 diabetes mellitus patients with and without nephropathy. METHODS: Our study population consist of 100 subjects out of which 50 cases of Diabetes Mellitus without Diabetic Nephropathy and 50 cases of Diabetes Mellitus with Diabetic Nephropathy. We measured various routine lab parameters, apart from it, we measured spot urinary albumin to creatinine ratio to assess diabetic nephropathy and in special investigation we measured serum Vitamin B12 by chemiluminesence based immunoassay. RESULT: Serum Vitamin B12 level in the group with nephropathy (181.6±17.6pg/dl) was significantly lower than in the group without nephropathy (286±30.1pg/dl) (p=0.03). CONCLUSION: Our study points towards the decrease levels of serum Vitamin B12 levels associated with the complication of diabetic mellitus such as diabetic nephropathy. So treatment of Vitamin B12 deficiency by supplementing could prevent the development and progression of diabetic nephropathy and improves the overall management of diabetic patient.

Thrombocytopenia in HIV patients coinfected with tuberculosis.

Thrombocytopenia is one of the most common hematological manifestations seen in HIV patients with approximately 40% of the patients developing thrombocytopenia during their course of illness. Opportunistic infection like tuberculosis is a rare but curative cause of thrombocytopenia in these patients. Clinically, it is a challenge to determine the exact cause and decide the treatment of thrombocytopenia in these patients as both infections can lead to significant thrombocytopenia by varied mechanisms. The treatment options are limited by drug antitubercular treatment highly active antiretroviral therapy (ATT and HAART)-induced thrombocytopenia. A 25-year-old male patient presented with low grade, intermittent fever with left-sided pleuritic chest pain for 2 months along with dry cough, weight loss, malaise, and lethargy. Hematological examination showed anemia, leukopenia, and thrombocytopenia. The patient was found to be HIV reactive. Chest X-ray revealed nonhomogenous opacity with cavitation in the left upper and middle zone suggestive of tuberculosis. He received multiple units of blood and platelets and was started on isoniazid, rifampicin, pyrazinamide, and ethambutol. HAART was initiated 2 weeks after starting ATT. Patient's hematological parameters improved and he was discharged on ATT and HAART with recovery of the platelet counts. Thrombocytopenia is a complication associated with both HIV and tuberculosis and hence determining the cause and deciding the appropriate treatment is challenging. Decision about whom and when to treat has to be taken cautiously considering all possible contributors and treatment has to be individualized.

The Association of Folic Acid Deficiency and Diabetic Nephropathy in Patients with Type 2 Diabetes Mellitus.

INTRODUCTION: Diabetic Mellitus is the chronic metabolic illness characterised by hyperglycemia and various complications of heart, eyes, nerves, kidney etc. Diabetic Nephropathy is the leading causes of morbidity and mortality in diabetic patient. We hypothesized that decreased serum folic acid levels are associated with Diabetic Nephropathy. MATERIALS AND METHOD: Our study population consist of 100 subjects out of which 50 cases of Diabetes Mellitus are without Diabetic Nephropathy and 50 cases of Diabetes Mellitus with Diabetic Nephropathy. We measured various routine lab parameters, apart from that, we measured spot urinary albumin to creatinine ratio to assess diabetic nephropathy and we used chemiluminesence based immunoassay to measure serum folic acid. RESULT: Serum folic acid in the group with nephropathy was significantly lower than that of the group without nephropathy (4.9 ± 0.4 ng/dl) vs (6.8 ± 0.5 ng/dl) p = 0.05. We found that serum folic acid was negatively correlated with spot urinary albumin ratio and on multivariate logistic regression analysis we found that decrease in folic acid significantly (p < 0.05) increases the chances of diabetes with nephropathy by 19.9 %. CONCLUSION: Our study tilt toward the deficiency of serum folic acid levels in diabetes mellitus patient with nephropathy. So if we would correct folic acid deficiency in diabetic patient then we could prevent the development of various complication associated with diabetes and help in reducing the morbidity and mortality of diabetic patient.