Accuracy of anemia screening by point-of-care hemoglobin testing in patients seeking abortion.

OBJECTIVE: Accurate and timely diagnosis of anemia in pregnancy is necessary for safe management of abortion care. Screening for anemia in abortion care is often accomplished using commercially-available point-of-care tests from capillary blood, but the validity of this test has not been investigated in the context of abortion care. We sought to determine the accuracy of a capillary hemoglobin (Hb) among pregnant patients seeking induced abortion. STUDY DESIGN: We conducted a retrospective study of patients seeking abortion care at the University of Illinois at Chicago. We identified 108 subjects with paired capillary Hb and venous complete blood count (CBC) hemoglobin measurements within 7 days of each other and within 14 days before abortion. Agreement analysis was performed using Passing-Bablok regression and Bland-Altman plots. RESULTS: More patients were deemed anemic by capillary than by venous Hb measurement (32% vs 19%, p = 0.030). Capillary Hb correlated with venous Hb (r = 0.85, p < 0.001). The average bias for capillary Hb was -1.1 ± 1.0 g/dL. Step-wise, multivariable linear regression identified venous Hb as the only determinant of capillary Hb, and failed to identify any other predictors of bias. The agreement analysis between capillary and venous Hb by Passing-Bablok regression demonstrated systematic and proportional differences. CONCLUSION: Results from capillary Hb may be biased toward diagnosing anemia and should be interpreted with caution. IMPLICATIONS: Misdiagnosing anemia in abortion care can have several consequences and may prevent timely medical abortion or cause delayed procedural abortion. Clinical correlation, and possibly confirmation by venous complete blood count measurement, should be considered before clinical decision-making based solely upon the capillary point-of-care assay.

A National Survey of Motor Vehicle Crashes Among General Surgery Residents.

OBJECTIVES: Evaluate the frequency of self-reported, post-call hazardous driving events in a national cohort of general surgery residents and determine the associations between duty hour policy violations, psychiatric well-being, and hazardous driving events. SUMMARY OF BACKGROUND DATA: MVCs are a leading cause of resident mortality. Extended work shifts and poor psychiatric well-being are risk factors for MVCs, placing general surgery residents at risk. METHODS: General surgery residents from US programs were surveyed after the 2017 American Board of Surgery In-Training Examination. Outcomes included self-reported nodding off while driving, near-miss MVCs, and MVCs. Group-adjusted cluster Chi-square and hierarchical regression models with program-level intercepts measured associations between resident- and program-level factors and outcomes. RESULTS: Among 7391 general surgery residents from 260 programs (response rate 99.3%), 34.7% reported nodding off while driving, 26.6% a near-miss MVC, and 5.0% an MVC over the preceding 6 months. More frequent 80-hour rule violations were associated with all hazardous driving events: nodding off while driving {59.8% with ≥5 months with violations vs 27.2% with 0, adjusted odds ratio (AOR) 2.86 [95% confidence interval (CI) 2.21-3.69]}, near-miss MVCs, [53.6% vs 19.2%, AOR 3.28 (95% CI 2.53-4.24)], and MVCs [14.0% vs 3.5%, AOR 2.46 (95% CI 1.65-3.67)]. Similarly, poor psychiatric well-being was associated with all 3 outcomes [eg, 8.0% with poor psychiatric well-being reported MVCs vs 2.6% without, odds ratio 2.55 (95% CI 2.00-3.24)]. CONCLUSIONS: Hazardous driving events are prevalent among general surgery residents and associated with frequent duty hour violations and poor psychiatric well-being. Greater adherence to duty hour standards and efforts to improve well-being may improve driving safety.

Microbial Colonization of Germ-Free Mice Restores Neointimal Hyperplasia Development After Arterial Injury.

Background The potential role of the gut microbiome in cardiovascular diseases is increasingly evident. Arterial restenosis attributable to neointimal hyperplasia after cardiovascular procedures such as balloon angioplasty, stenting, and bypass surgery is a common cause of treatment failure, yet whether gut microbiota participate in the development of neointimal hyperplasia remains largely unknown. Methods and Results We performed fecal microbial transplantation from conventionally raised male C57BL/6 mice to age-, sex-, and strain-matched germ-free mice. Five weeks after inoculation, all mice underwent unilateral carotid ligation. Neointimal hyperplasia development was quantified after 4 weeks. Conventionally raised and germ-free cohorts served as comparison groups. Conclusions Germ-free mice have significantly attenuated neointimal hyperplasia development compared with conventionally raised mice. The arterial remodeling response is restored by fecal transplantation. Our results describe a causative role of gut microbiota in contributing to the pathogenesis of neointimal hyperplasia.