Infection detection in patients with systemic lupus erythematosus using a hospital administrative database

Objective: To estimate the frequency of infections and to describe the pattern of these infections among patients diagnosed with Systemic Lupus Erythematous (SLE) treated at the Central Military Hospital (HOMIL). Methods: A descriptive study was carried out using an administrative database of the military hospital, we used a validated algorithm that classifies patients as having SLE in administrative databases. Infection was defined as an event with main diagnosis using the International Statistical Classification of Diseases and Related Health Problems (ICD-10) coding algorithm or by searching the antibiotics prescription database, additionally, we abstracted some variables related to SLE status in the group of patients in whom infections were documented during the infection event. Results: 237 SLE patients were identified. The mean age was 41.9 years (CI 29.0-54.3), 80% were female, 97.7% used conventional disease-modifying anti-rheumatic drugs (DMARDs). Of these 237 patients, 22 (9.4%) met the operative definition of infection, in this group the mean age was 44.3 years (SD 16.4). All the 22 patients received conventional DMARDs and none of them had concomitant biologic therapy. In this group of patients, the most common type of infection was bacterial (72.7%), followed by viral (9.1%) including a patient with SARS-CoV-2 infection. Conclusion: Hospital administrative databases can be a useful source of information for monitoring outcomes that generate significant morbidity and mortality in patients with SLE, in the group of patients in whom infections were documented, bacterial infections were the most frequent. The most documented clinical findings were leukopenia, systemic steroid therapy, and concomitant disease activity.

Objetivo: Estimar la frecuencia de las infecciones y describir su patrón de presentación en pacientes con diagnóstico de lupus eritematoso sistémico (LES) atendidos en el Hospital Militar Central (Homil) en Bogotá, Colombia. Métodos: Se realizó un estudio descriptivo en el que se utilizó una base de datos administrativa del Hospital Military se empleó un algoritmo validado que clasificó a los pacientes con LES en las bases de datos administrativas. La infección se definió a partir de los códigos CIE-10 o por la búsqueda en la base de datos de la prescripción de antibióticos; adicionalmente, en las historias clínicas del grupo de pacientes en los que se documentaron infecciones, se revisaron algunas variables relacionadas con el estado de LES durante el evento de la infección. Resultados: Se identificaron 237 pacientes con LES, cuya edad media fue de 41,9 años (IC 29,0-54.3), el 80% eran mujeres y el 97,7% usaba medicamentos antirreumáticos modificadores de la enfermedad (DMARD) convencionales. De estos 237 pacientes, 22 (9,4%) cumplieron con la definición operativa de infección; en este grupo la edad media fue de 44,3 anos (DE = 16.4). Los 22 pacientes recibieron DMARD convencionales y ninguno recibió terapia biológica concomitante. En este grupo, el tipo de infección más común fue la bacteriana (72,7%), seguida de la viral (9,1%), incluido un paciente con infección por SARS-CoV-2. Conclusiones: Las bases de datos administrativas hospitalarias pueden ser una fuente útil de información para el seguimiento de los eventos que generan una morbimortalidad significativa en los pacientes con LES. En el grupo de pacientes en los que se documentaron infecciones, las infecciones bacterianas fueron las más frecuentes y los hallazgos clínicos más comúnmente documentados fueron la leucopenia, la terapia con esteroides sistémicos y la actividad de la enfermedad concomitante.

Síndrome antifosfolípido (SAF): diferencias clínicas e inmunoserológicas entre SAF primario y secundario en una cohorte colombiana / Antiphospholipid syndrome (APS): Clinical and immunoserological differences between primary and secondary APS in a Colombian cohort

RESUMEN Introducción: El síndrome antifosfolípido (SAF) es una enfermedad autoinmune sistémica, caracterizada por trombosis recurrente, que puede afectar la circulación arterial y venosa. Objetivo: Analizar las diferencias inmunológicas y farmacológicas, así como los desenlaces clínicos de una cohorte de pacientes con SAF primario y secundario. Materiales y métodos: Estudio de corte transversal que incluyó 352 pacientes con diagnóstico de SAF atendidos entre los arios 2014 y 2018. Se analizaron variables sociodemográficas, clínicas e inmunológicas y se realizó un análisis univariado y un análisis bivariado mediante la prueba chi-cuadrado para determinar diferencias entre los pacientes con SAF primario y SAF secundario. Finalmente, se hizo un análisis multivariado para buscar asociaciones con los desenlaces clínicos trombóticos en los pacientes con SAF. Resultados: La edad promedio de la población fue de 42,4 ± 14 años; el 84,6% correspondió a sexo femenino. El 67,6% de los pacientes tenía diagnóstico de SAF primario y un 32,4% de SAF secundario, siendo el lupus eritematoso sistémico (LES) la enfermedad asociada en un 84%. Dentro de los eventos trombóticos, el más frecuente fue la trombosis venosa profunda (17,3%), seguida por el ataque cerebrovascular (9,9%). En los eventos obstétricos existió una prevalencia del 39,4% para abortos. No se encontraron diferencias en el perfil sociodemográfico ni en el perfil inmunoserológico entre los pacientes con diagnóstico de SAF primario y aquellos con SAF secundario. Los eventos trombóticos tuvieron mayor frecuencia en el grupo de SAF primario, pero solo la tromboembolia pulmonar alcanzó significación estadís tica. Eventos obstétricos como los abortos no fueron diferentes entre ambos grupos. Dentro de los factores asociados a los eventos trombóticos, se encontró que el sexo femenino tiene una probabilidad 5 veces mayor de accidente cerebrovascular y 3 veces mayor de trombosis venosa profunda. Los anti- β2GPI tipo IgM aumentaron alrededor de 3 veces la probabilidad de presentar abortos en mujeres con SAF. Conclusión: Se presenta una de las cohortes colombianas más grandes de pacientes con SAF reportadas hasta el momento en la literatura. La población es comparable clínica y sociodemográficamente con lo encontrado en otros estudios, aunque la prevalencia de SAF primario fue mayor y las complicaciones trombóticas fueron menores. La tromboembolia pulmonar fue significativamente mayor en el grupo de SAF primario.

ABSTRACT Introduction: Antiphospholipid syndrome (APS) is a systemic autoimmune disease charac terized by recurrent thrombosis that can affect the arterial and venous circulation. Objective: To analyze the immunological and pharmacological differences, as well as the clinical outcomes of a cohort of patients with primary APS and secondary APS. Materials and methods: A retrospective cohort study was conducted that included 352 records of patients diagnosed with APS and treated between 2014 and 2018. A description is pre sented of the sociodemographic, clinical, and immunological profile of the population. A bivariate analysis performed using the chi-squared test to determine differences between groups with primary APS and secondary APS, and finally a multivariate analysis to search for associations with thrombotic clinical outcomes in patients with APS. Results: The mean age was 42.4 ± 14 years, and 84.6% were females. Two-thirds (67.6%) of the patients had a diagnosis of primary APS, and 32.4% of secondary APS, of which 84% were associated with systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE). Among the thrombotic events, the most frequent were deep vein thrombosis (17.3%) and stroke (9.9%). Obstetric events were frequent, with a prevalence of 39.4% for miscarriages. No differences were found in the sociodemographic or immunoserological profile when comparing the group of primary vs. secondary APS. Thrombotic events were more frequent in the primary APS group, although only pulmonary embolism reached statistical significance. There were no differences bet ween the two groups as regards obstetric events, such as miscarriages. Women were found to be 5 times more likely to have a stroke and 3 times more to have deep vein thrombosis. The anti-β2GPI type IgM increased the probability of presenting miscarriages about 3 times in women with APS. Conclusion: The study contains one of the largest Colombian cohorts with APS reported so far, and although it is both clinically and sociodemographically similar to other cohorts, there is a higher prevalence of primary APS. There was a lower frequency of thrombotic complications compared to other cohorts. Patients with primary APS had a tendency to develop thrombosis, as has already been reported in the literature.

XML Data and Knowledge-Encoding Structure for a Web-Based and Mobile Antenatal Clinical Decision Support System: Development Study.

BACKGROUND: Displeasure with the functionality of clinical decision support systems (CDSSs) is considered the primary challenge in CDSS development. A major difficulty in CDSS design is matching the functionality to the desired and actual clinical workflow. Computer-interpretable guidelines (CIGs) are used to formalize medical knowledge in clinical practice guidelines (CPGs) in a computable language. However, existing CIG frameworks require a specific interpreter for each CIG language, hindering the ease of implementation and interoperability. OBJECTIVE: This paper aims to describe a different approach to the representation of clinical knowledge and data. We intended to change the clinician's perception of a CDSS with sufficient expressivity of the representation while maintaining a small communication and software footprint for both a web application and a mobile app. This approach was originally intended to create a readable and minimal syntax for a web CDSS and future mobile app for antenatal care guidelines with improved human-computer interaction and enhanced usability by aligning the system behavior with clinical workflow. METHODS: We designed and implemented an architecture design for our CDSS, which uses the model-view-controller (MVC) architecture and a knowledge engine in the MVC architecture based on XML. The knowledge engine design also integrated the requirement of matching clinical care workflow that was desired in the CDSS. For this component of the design task, we used a work ontology analysis of the CPGs for antenatal care in our particular target clinical settings. RESULTS: In comparison to other common CIGs used for CDSSs, our XML approach can be used to take advantage of the flexible format of XML to facilitate the electronic sharing of structured data. More importantly, we can take advantage of its flexibility to standardize CIG structure design in a low-level specification language that is ubiquitous, universal, computationally efficient, integrable with web technologies, and human readable. CONCLUSIONS: Our knowledge representation framework incorporates fundamental elements of other CIGs used in CDSSs in medicine and proved adequate to encode a number of antenatal health care CPGs and their associated clinical workflows. The framework appears general enough to be used with other CPGs in medicine. XML proved to be a language expressive enough to describe planning problems in a computable form and restrictive and expressive enough to implement in a clinical system. It can also be effective for mobile apps, where intermittent communication requires a small footprint and an autonomous app. This approach can be used to incorporate overlapping capabilities of more specialized CIGs in medicine.

Acute effects of high-intensity interval training session and endurance exercise on pulmonary function and cardiorespiratory coupling.

The aim of this study was to determine the acute effects of high-intensity interval training (HIIT) exercise and endurance exercise (EE) on pulmonary function, sympathetic/parasympathetic balance, and cardiorespiratory coupling (CRC) in healthy participants. Using a crossover repeated-measurements design, four females and four males were exposed to EE (20 min at 80% maximal heart rate [HR]), HIIT (1 min of exercise at 90% maximal HR per 1 min of rest, 10 times), or control condition (resting). Pulmonary function, HR, CRC, and heart rate variability (HRV) were assessed before and after the interventions. Results revealed no significant effects of EE or HIIT on pulmonary function. The EE, but not HIIT, significantly increased CRC. In contrast, HRV was markedly changed by HIIT, not by EE. Indeed, both the low-frequency (LFHRV ) and high-frequency (HFHRV ) components of HRV were increased and decreased, respectively, after HIIT. The increase in LFHRV was greater after HIIT than after EE. Therefore, a single bout of HIIT or EE has no effects on pulmonary function. Moreover, CRC and cardiac autonomic regulation are targeted differently by the two exercise modalities.

Clinical Profile of Levamisole-Adulterated Cocaine-Induced Vasculitis/Vasculopathy: A 30-Case Series.

OBJECTIVES: The aims of this study were to describe clinical and laboratory manifestations of patients with levamisole-adulterated cocaine-induced vasculitis/vasculopathy and to propose a skin classification according to the distribution and severity of lesions. METHODS: We report the characteristics of 30 patients admitted with levamisole-adulterated cocaine-induced vasculitis/vasculopathy in 4 high-complexity institutions in Colombia, from December 2010 to May 2017. We compare our findings with the main published series. RESULTS: Median age was 31 years (interquartile range, 27-38 years) with a male-to-female ratio of 5:1. Eighty-three percent of the patients had retiform purpura affecting the limbs, buttocks, face, or abdomen; 73% had ear necrosis, 50% cutaneous ulcers, 17% genital necrosis, 13% oral ulcers, and 10% digital necrosis. Cutaneous involvement was classified according to the frequency of the compromised corporal area, and purpuric lesions were stratified in 4 grades of severity. Anti-neutrophil cytoplasmic autoantibodies were positive in 85% of the cases, lupus anticoagulant in 73%, and antinuclear autoantibodies in 57%; rheumatoid factor was negative in all cases. We found nephritis in 17 cases (57%). Prednisolone was used in most of the patients (70%), with other immunosuppressive agents being used in a lower percentage. Improvement was observed in 93% of the patients, but symptoms recurred in 40%, attributed to relapses in consumption. End-stage chronic renal disease developed in 10% of the cases, and 1 patient died. CONCLUSIONS: Because of rising cocaine consumption and levamisole adulteration frequency, levamisole-adulterated cocaine-induced vasculitis/vasculopathy is becoming more common. Detailed characterization of skin involvement coupled with multiple antibody positivity is essential for a diagnosis. Renal involvement is frequent, clinically and histologically heterogeneous, and potentially serious.

First Latin American clinical practice guidelines for the treatment of systemic lupus erythematosus: Latin American Group for the Study of Lupus (GLADEL, Grupo Latino Americano de Estudio del Lupus)-Pan-American League of Associations of Rheumatology (PANLAR).

Systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE), a complex and heterogeneous autoimmune disease, represents a significant challenge for both diagnosis and treatment. Patients with SLE in Latin America face special problems that should be considered when therapeutic guidelines are developed. The objective of the study is to develop clinical practice guidelines for Latin American patients with lupus. Two independent teams (rheumatologists with experience in lupus management and methodologists) had an initial meeting in Panama City, Panama, in April 2016. They selected a list of questions for the clinical problems most commonly seen in Latin American patients with SLE. These were addressed with the best available evidence and summarised in a standardised format following the Grading of Recommendations Assessment, Development and Evaluation approach. All preliminary findings were discussed in a second face-to-face meeting in Washington, DC, in November 2016. As a result, nine organ/system sections are presented with the main findings; an 'overarching' treatment approach was added. Special emphasis was made on regional implementation issues. Best pharmacologic options were examined for musculoskeletal, mucocutaneous, kidney, cardiac, pulmonary, neuropsychiatric, haematological manifestations and the antiphospholipid syndrome. The roles of main therapeutic options (ie, glucocorticoids, antimalarials, immunosuppressant agents, therapeutic plasma exchange, belimumab, rituximab, abatacept, low-dose aspirin and anticoagulants) were summarised in each section. In all cases, benefits and harms, certainty of the evidence, values and preferences, feasibility, acceptability and equity issues were considered to produce a recommendation with special focus on ethnic and socioeconomic aspects. Guidelines for Latin American patients with lupus have been developed and could be used in similar settings.

El síndrome de Löfgren como presentación aguda de la sarcoidosis / Löfgren syndrome as an acute presentation of sarcoidoisis

RESUMEN La sarcoidosis es una enfermedad granulomatosa crónica, que se ha relacionado con la exposición a antígenos ambientales entre los que se incluye el contacto previo con agentes infecciosos y variedad de partículas orgánicas e inorgánicas. Existe una forma de presentación aguda de esta enfermedad que cursa con hallazgos clínicos estereotípicos denominada síndrome de Löfgren. Nosotros presentamos un caso de una paciente con todos los hallazgos característicos de este síndrome.

ABSTRACT Sarcoidosis is a chronic granulomatous disease that has been linked to exposure to certain environmental antigens, including previous contact with infectious agents, and a variety of other organic and inorganic particles. There is an acute form of presentation of this disease that courses with stereotypical clinical findings known as Löfgren's syndrome. A case is presented of a female patient with all the characteristic features of this syndrome.

Daño de órgano en una cohorte de pacientes colombianos con lupus eritematoso sistémico: caracterización y factores asociados / Organ damage in a cohort of Colombian patients with systemic lupus erythematosus: Characterization and associated factors

RESUMEN El daño irreversible de órgano es predictor de morbilidad, mortalidad, mayor acúmulo de daño y mala calidad de vida en los pacientes con lupus eritematoso sistémico. Objetivos: Caracterizar el daño y los factores que mejor lo explican, en una población de pacientes colombianos con lupus eritematoso sistémico. Métodos: Estudio retrospectivo de seguimiento a una cohorte. El daño se midió con el SLICC/ACR (índice de Systemic Lupus International Collaborating Clinics y del American College of Rheumatology) y la actividad de la enfermedad por SELENA SLEDAI. La caracterización del daño se hizo mediante estadística descriptiva, los factores asociados con el desenlace se evaluaron con Chi2 de Pearson o Fisher, t de Student o U de Mann-Whitney; la proporción de pacientes que acumularon daño se evaluó con el test de Friedman y el puntaje acumulado con el test de Wilcoxon. La determinación de los factores asociados independientemente con el desenlace se hizo con una regresión logística. Resultados: Se incluyeron 161 pacientes con diagnóstico de novo y seguimiento mínimo de un año; el 28,9% sufrió daño. Los dominios más representados fueron el neuropsiquiátrico, renal y vascular. Los anticuerpos antifosfolípido, las dosis promedio de prednisolona mayores a 12,5 mg/día y presentar 2 o más recaídas se asociaron independientemente al daño orgánico. Conclusiones: Los anticuerpos antifosfolípido, la dosis de esteroides y la frecuencia de recaídas se asocian al daño orgánico en una población colombiana de pacientes con lupus eritematoso sistémico.

ABSTRACT Irreversible organ damage is a predictive factor of morbidity, mortality, increased accumulation of damage, and poor quality of life in patients with systemic lupus erythematosus. Objectives: To describe the damage, and the factors that best explain it, in a population of Colombian patients. Methods: A retrospective follow-up study of a patient cohort. The damage was measured using the Systemic Lupus International Collaborating Clinics (SLICC) and the American College of Rheumatology (ACR) index, and disease activity by SELENA SLEDAI. Descriptive statistics were used to describe the damage. The factors associated with the outcome were evaluated with Pearson's or Fisher's Chi2, Student's t or Mann-Whitney's U. The proportion of patients that accumulated damage was evaluated with the Friedman test, and the cumulative score with the Wilcoxon test. The determination of the factors independently associated with the outcome was performed using logistic regression. Results: A total of 161 patients with recent diagnosis, and followed for one year or more, were included, 28.9% of whom had suffered damage. The most represented domains were neuropsychiatric, renal and vascular. Anti-phospholipid antibodies, mean doses of prednisolone greater than 12.5 mg/day, and suffering 2 or more relapses were independently associated with organ damage. Conclusions: Anti-phospholipid antibodies, steroid doses and frequency of relapses are associated with organ damage in a Colombian population of patients with systemic lupus erythematosus.

Sarcoidosis y amiloidosis secundaria, una rara asociación / Sarcoidosis and secondary Amyloidosis, an uncommon association

Resumen La sarcoidosis es una enfermedad granulomatosa crónica relacionada frecuentemente con antígenos ambientales e infecciones. Sin embargo, no se ha logrado identificar una causa clara en todos los escenarios. Por su parte, la amiloidosis secundaria se caracteriza por el depósito de proteína amiloide AA en los diferentes tejidos, la cual se asocia a procesos inflamatorios crónicos. Es supremamente infrecuente coincidir con estas dos enfermedades ya que no existe una relación de causalidad directa. A continuación presentamos un caso de un paciente con hallazgos de esta rara asociación.

Abstract Sarcoidosis is a chronic granulomatous disease, frequently attributed to environmental antigens (organic and inorganic) and infections. However, it is quite common not to find a clear cause behind this pathology. Alternatively, secondary amyloidosis is characterized my Amyloid AA protein deposition in different tissues, which is associated with chronic inflammation. Nonetheless, it is extremely uncommon to find both sarcoidosis and secondary AA amyloidosis simultaneously provided that there is no a clear causality relationship between both. We present an interesting case of a patient with this uncommon duality.

Manifestaciones clínicas de la esclerosis de Monckeberg. Reporte de caso y revisión de la literatura / Clinical manifestations of Monckeberg's sclerosis. Report of case and literature review

Resumen La esclerosis de Monckeberg es una enfermedad de baja prevalencia y causa desconocida, en la cual arterias de mediano y pequeño calibre sufren calcificación de la capa media generándose una reducción de la luz. Suele manifestarse por la aparición de úlceras de tipo arterial en la piel de extremidades superiores e inferiores. Su diagnóstico requiere de estudios histopatológicos, con diagnósticos diferenciales como la poliarteritis nodosa y la arteritis de células gigantes. No existen guías de tratamiento, se han propuesto quelantes de calcio como el tiosulfato de sodio, pero los pocos estudios disponibles no han logrado demostrar resultados significativos.

Abstract Monckeberg's sclerosis is a rare and low prevalence disease of unknown cause in which small and medium size arteries suffer calcification of the middle layer, leading to a reduction in calibre. Clinically, the disease manifests by the appearance of arterial type ulcers on the skin of upper and lower extremities. Its diagnosis is difficult, and requires histopathological studies. Some rheumatic conditions, such as polyarteritis nodosa and giant cell arteritis may mimic this process. Treatment of the disease is not well established. Although the use of calcium chelators such as sodium thiosulfate has been proposed, the few available studies have failed to show significant results.

Hepatitis tóxica por albendazol / Albendazole-induced toxic hepatitis

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Granulomatosis con poliangeítis, doble positividad de anticuerpos contra el citoplasma de neutrófilos y granuloma renal / Granulomatosis with polyangiitis with antibodies to neutrophil cytoplasm, anti-proteinase 3, and anti-myeloperoxidase, plus an unusual finding of a renal granuloma

Las vasculitis sistémicas idiopáticas se caracterizan por inflamación y necrosis de lasparedes de los vasos de origen desconocido1; se han propuesto medicamentos e infeccionescomo posibles disparadores de estas enfermedades2. A continuación se presenta el caso deun paciente con diagnóstico de granulomatosis con poliangeítis, con anticuerpos contrael citoplasma de neutrófilos tanto antiproteinasa 3  como antimieloperoxidasa y con elhallazgo poco usual de granuloma renal...

Idiopathic systemic vasculitis is characterized by inflammation and necrosis of the vessel walls of unknown origin. Medications and infections have been proposed as potential triggers of these diseases. The case is presented on a patient diagnosed with granulomatosis with polyangiitis with antibodies to neutrophil cytoplasm, as well as anti-proteinase 3 and anti-myeloperoxidase, plus the unusual finding of renal granuloma...

Cirugía resectiva electiva de la enfermedad diverticular del colon / Elective resective surgery of the colon diverticular disease

Se estudia en forma retrospectiva 38 pacientes resecados electivamente por enfermedad diverticular del colon (EDC). Las indicaciones de cirugía fueron el antecedente de perforación en 18 casos (47 porciento), diverticulitis recurrente en 9 (26 porciento), fístula colovesical o entérica en 7 (18 porciento) y otras causas en 4. Se realizaron 55 operaciones, 35 sigmoidectomías (más 4 cistorrafias y 2 resecciones de intestino delgado), 2 hemocolectomías izquierdas y 2 derechas. Además 16 cierres de colostomías transversas. No hubo mortalidad operatoria y la morbilidad operatoria relacionada con la cirugía consistió en 2 fístulas estercoráceas del cierre de colostomía transversa, que cicatrizaron espontáneamente. La histopatología mostró un 82 porciento de inflamación en las piezas resecadas. El seguimiento a largo plazo se logró en el 95 porciento sin recurrencias sintomáticas por EDC. Se concluye que la sigmoidectomía es la intervención de elección en la EDC. Que la indicación más importante para la resección es la complicación y que la anatomía patológica no siempre es concordante

Cancer pulmonar / Lung cancer

El cáncer pulmonar constituye un problema importante de salud. Su frecuencia ha aumentado significativamente en las últimas décadas. La tasa de mortalidad es elevada, tanto en hombres como mujeres y se duplica cada 15 años. En este artículo se revisan aspectos epidemiológicos de este carcinoma y se exponen sus diferentes tipos histológicos. Se menciona las manifestaciones clínicas y el estudio diagnóstico de la enfermedad. Se hace referencia a las clasificaciones y al tratamiento en los distintos estadios de esta neoplasia