Multimorbidity and Evidence Generation

Most people with a chronic disease actually have more than one, a condition known as multimorbidity. Despite this, the evidence base to prevent adverse disease outcomes has taken a disease-specific approach. Drawing on a conference, Improving Guidelines for Multimorbid Patients, the goal of this paper is to identify challenges to the generation of evidence to support the care of people with multimorbidity and to make recommendations for improvement. We identified three broad categories of challenges: 1) challenges to defining and measuring multimorbidity; 2) challenges related to the effects of multimorbidity on study design, implementation and analysis; and 3) challenges inherent in studying heterogeneity of treatment effects in patients with differing comorbid conditions. We propose a set of recommendations for consideration by investigators and others (reviewers, editors, funding agencies, policymaking organizations) involved in the creation of evidence for this common type of person that address each of these challenges. The recommendations reflect a general approach that emphasizes broader inclusion (recruitment and retention) of patients with multimorbidity, coupled with more rigorous efforts to measure comorbidity and comorbidity burden and the influence of multimorbidity on outcomes and the effects of therapy. More rigorous examination of heterogeneity of treatment effects requires careful attention to prioritizing the most important comorbid-related questions, and also requires studies that provide greater statistical power than conventional trials have provided. Relatively modest changes in the orientation of current research along these lines can be helpful in pointing to and partially addressing selected knowledge gaps. However, producing a robust evidence base to support patient-centered decision making in complex individuals with multimorbidity, exposed to many different combinations of potentially interacting factors that can modify the risks and benefits of therapies, is likely to require a clinical research enterprise fundamentally restructured to be more fully integrated with routine clinical practice.     

Humeral fracture in non-ambulant infants—a possible accidental mechanism

Background

Humeral fracture in a non-ambulant infant younger than 1 year is suspicious for a non-accidental injury unless there is a credible accidental explanation. A previously unrecognised accidental mechanism was described in 1996 whereby a 5-month-old infant was rolled by a 3-year-old sibling from a prone to a supine position.

Objective

To investigate the widely accepted view that an infant with limited mobility cannot sustain a fracture of the humerus by his or her own actions in the absence of the intervention of an external party.

Materials and methods

We present seven cases of non-ambulant infants between 4 and 7 months of age in whom an isolated humeral fracture was the only injury present.

Results

In each case the caregiver described the fracture occurring when the child rolled over, trapping the dependent arm, without the intervention of another party.

Conclusion

There is no proof for this mechanism in the form of an independent witness or video recording. However, we propose that this mechanism is worthy of further consideration as a rare and unusual cause for the injury. Further study is required.     

Three-year clinical outcome with the Endeavor™ zotarolimus-eluting stent in primary percutaneous coronary intervention for ST elevation myocardial infarction: the Endeavor™ primary PCI study (E-PPCI)

Primary percutaneous coronary intervention (PPCI) is superior to thrombolysis in STEMI (ST segment elevation myocardial infarction) patients. Data on late stent thrombosis (ST) have raised concerns regarding the use of drug-eluting stents during PPCI. We report the first 3-year clinical evaluation of the zotarolimus-eluting stent (ZES) in patients undergoing PPCI for STEMI, a single-center, prospective cohort study of consecutive patients admitted with STEMI. All underwent PPCI within 12 hours of symptoms; each received one or more ZES in one or more target lesions. All patients received aspirin 300 mg, clopidogrel 600 mg, abciximab, and unfractionated heparin. A total of 102 STEMI patients (76 male, mean 62 years) received 162 ZES (mean 1.6 stents/patient). Median call-to-balloon time was 123 (102-152) minutes. Thirty-day combined major adverse cardiovascular event (MACE) rate was 3.9% (n = 4). Subacute ST occurred in 2 patients (1.96%). Combined MACE rates at 12 months and 3 years were 7.8% (n = 8) and 13.7% (n = 14). Late ST occurred in 1 patient (1%) with no occurrence of very late ST. This is the first 3-year report of the use of the ZES in an unselected, consecutive PPCI population. Overall 3-year incidence of MACE and target lesion revascularization (5.9%) was low, and was comparable to that seen with sirolimus- and paclitaxel-eluting stents in randomized controlled trials. At 3 years there was no occurrence of very late ST.     

Effect of dexamethasone on respiratory syncytial virus-induced lung inflammation in children: results of a randomized, placebo controlled clinical trial

Inflammatory mediators play a major role in the pathogenesis of respiratory syncytial virus (RSV) infection. The objective of this study was to evaluate the effect of i.v. dexamethasone on cytokine concentrations in tracheal aspirates (TA) of children with severe RSV disease and to correlate them with disease severity. Twenty-five cytokines were measured in TA obtained from children <2 yr old intubated for severe RSV disease, and enrolled in a double-blind study of i.v. dexamethasone (0.5 mg/kg; n = 22) vs. placebo (n = 19). Cytokine concentrations, measured at baseline and days 1 and 5 post-randomization using a multiplex assay, were compared within both treatment groups and correlated with: (i) tracheal white blood cell counts, (ii) tracheal RSV loads by culture and (iii) parameters of disease severity, including number of days of requirement for mechanical ventilation, intensive care unit (ICU), and hospitalization. At baseline interleukin (IL)-13 and IL-15 concentrations were significantly higher in the dexamethasone treatment group. On day 1 post-treatment, only MCP-1, eotaxin and IL-6 concentrations were significantly different but higher in the placebo group. On day 5: IL-13, IL-7, IL-8 and MIP-1α concentrations were higher in dexamethasone-treated patients. In both groups MIP-1β inversely correlated with the days of ventilator support; MIP-1α, MIP-1β and eotaxin inversely correlated with ICU days; and IL-6 inversely correlated with hospitalization regardless of the treatment assigned. Systemic administration of dexamethasone did not have a consistent effect on TA concentrations of pro-inflammatory cytokines. This may help explain, at least in part, the lack of clinical benefit of steroid treatment in children with severe RSV bronchiolitis.