[Study of unexpectedly detected repolarization in a group of black athletes]. / Etude de la repolarisation chez les sportifs de race noire.

INTRODUCTION: Sudden death that occurs during sporting activity affects patients with ignored heart disease. Black athlete's ECG has been little studied and the features of this ethnic group have been discussed. This study aims to study the epidemiological profile and the peculiarities of repolarization of black athletes. METHODS: We conducted a descriptive study of black athletes selected among all the athletes followed in the sectoral Center of Sports Science and Medicine in Sousse over a period of 8 months from March to October 2014. Data were collected using a medical questionnaire. RESULTS: Data on 35 athletes were collected, with a male predominance (94,28%), with an average age of 24,34 years. Four athletes had left ventricular hypertrophy on cardiac ultrasound. There were 8 athletes with atrioventricular block degree I and 8 athletes with electrical type of left ventricular hypertrophy (LVH). ST segment changes were more marked at the level of precordial leads. Five athletes (14.2%) had inverted T waves in V2 and V3. These were the same athletes who ST-segment depression in these same leads. Early repolarization was found in 3 athletes. All these cases had notch signaling. CONCLUSION: Black athletes have quite specific electrical modifications which are important to know. However, our sample is not sufficiently large to certify these results. A comparative study of white athletes would be very interesting.

Smoking dependence and anxio-depressive disorders in Tunisian smokers attending the smoking cessation clinic in a university hospital.

BACKGROUND: Smokers with comorbid anxio-depressive disorders are more prone to progress to a more severe level of dependence and to experience more severe nicotine withdrawal symptoms than smokers without anxio-depressive disorders. AIM OF THE STUDY: To determine the relationship between tobacco dependence and anxio-depressive disorders as well as assessing their impact on the withdrawal. METHODS: We conducted a cross-sectional study among attendees of the smoking cessation clinic of Sahloul University Hospital, Sousse, Tunisia, from December 2009 to May 2015. The monitoring of the attendees was performed through retrieving the records until May 2016 in order to verify their smoking cessation status at 1 year. RESULTS: Overall, 534 smokers were included. We identified 315 smokers (59%) presenting an anxio-depressive disorder. Based on the HAD scale, we found 231 patients (43.4%) with anxiety disorders, 200 (37.6%) patients with depressive disorders, and 116 (21.8%) patients with anxio-depressive disorder. In multivariate analysis, only a high number of consultation was associated with a better rate of tobacco cessation at 6 months. However, no factor was found linked to the relapse at 1 year. CONCLUSION: According to our results, only a high number of consultation was revealed as an independent factor of withdrawal for anxio-depressed smokers. It is necessary to simultaneously use the nicotinic substitutions and anxio-depressive treatment to ensure the tobacco cessation.

[Incidence of adverse events associated with the peripheral venous catheter in a Tunisian university hospital]. / Incidence des événements indésirables associés au cathéter veineux périphérique dans un service de cardiologie, Tunisie.

OBJECTIVE: To determine the incidence of peripheral venous catheters-related adverse events (PVCAEs). METHODS: We conducted a prospective observational study in the cardiology department over a period of 3 months. All inserted PVCs were monitored (every 12 hours) from insertion to up to 48 hours after removal. RESULTS: Data were analyzed for 148 patients with a mean age of 63.37±12.26 years and male predominance (n=76, 51.4%). The most common medical history was high blood pressure (56.1%) followed by obesity (39.2%). Intake of antibiotics was noted in 16.2% of cases where amoxicillin-clavulanic acid was the most prescribed molecule (4.1%). A total of 210 PVCs was studied (794 PVC-days). The mean maintenance time was 5.36±3.95 days. 38 PVCs resulted in 70 AEs with an incidence of 33.33 % (8.81 per 1000 PVC-days). The most common complication was pain (n=35, 50%), followed by mechanical PVCAEs (n=22, 31.42%). CONCLUSION: The incidence of PVCAEs remains high. The analysis of the main risk factors for these AEs would make better the identification of the preventive actions that should be undertaken.