Frailty in severe COVID-19 survivors after ICU admission. A prospective and multicenter study in Mexico.

OBJECTIVE: To analyze the presence of frailty in survivors of severe COVID-19 admitted in the Intensive Care Unit (ICU) and followed six months after discharge. DESIGN: An observational, prospective and multicenter, nation-wide study. SETTING: Eight adult ICU across eight academic acute care hospitals in Mexico. PATIENTS: All consecutive adult COVID-19 patients admitted in the ICU with acute respiratory failure between March 8, 2020 to February 28, 2021 were included. Frailty was defined according to the FRAIL scale, and was obtained at ICU admission and 6-month after hospital discharge. INTERVENTIONS: None. MAIN VARIABLES OF INTEREST: The primary endpoint was the frailty status 6-months after discharge. A regression model was used to evaluate the predictors during ICU stay associated with frailty. RESULTS: 196 ICU survivors were evaluated for basal frailty at ICU admission and were included in this analysis. After 6-months from discharge, 164 patients were evaluated for frailty: 40 patients (20.4%) were classified as non-frail, 67 patients (34.2%) as pre-frail and 57 patients (29.1%) as frail. After adjustment, the need of invasive mechanical ventilation was the only factor independently associated with frailty at 6 month follow-up (Odds Ratio [OR] 3.70, 95% confidence interval 1.40-9.81, P = .008). CONCLUSIONS: Deterioration of frailty was reported frequently among ICU survivors with severe COVID-19 at 6-months. The need of invasive mechanical ventilation in ICU survivors was the only predictor independently associated with frailty.

Postoperative outcomes of minimally invasive adrenalectomy: do body mass index and tumor size matter? A single-center experience.

BACKGROUND: Since Gagner performed the first laparoscopic adrenalectomy in 1992, laparoscopy has become the gold-standard procedure in the treatment of adrenal surgical diseases. A review of the literature indicates that the rate of intra- and postoperative complications are not negligible. This study aims to describe the single-center experience of adrenalectomies; and explore the associations between body mass index (BMI) and tumor volume in main postoperative outcomes. METHODS: Retrospective observational study with a prospective database in which we described patients who underwent adrenalectomy between January 2015 and December 2020. Operative time, intraoperative blood loss, conversion rate, complications, length of hospital stay, and comparison of the number of antihypertensive drugs used before and after surgery were analyzed. Analysis of BMI and tumor volume with postoperative outcomes such as anti-hypertensive change (AHC) in drug usage and pre-operative conditions were performed. RESULTS: Forty-five adrenalectomies were performed, and all of them were carried out laparoscopically. Four were performed as a robot-assisted laparoscopy approach. Nineteen were women and 26 were men. Mean age was 54.9 ± 13.8 years. Mean tumor volume was 95.698 mm3 (3.75-1010.87). Mean operative time was shorter in right tumors (2.64 ± 0.75 h) than in left tumors (3.33 ± 2.73 h). Pearson correlation was performed to assess the relationship between BMI and AHC showing a direct relationship between increased BMI and higher change in anti-hypertensive drug usage at postoperative period r(45) = 0.92, p > 0.05 CI 95%. Higher tumor volume showed a longer operative time, r(45) = 0.6 (p = 0.000 CI 95%). CONCLUSIONS: Obese patients could have an increased impact with surgery with an increased change in postoperative anti-hypertensive management. Tumor volume is associated with increased operative time and blood loss, our data suggest that it could be associated with increased rates of morbidity. However, further prospective studies with larger sample sizes are needed to validate our results.