Direct costs of multidrug-resistant Acinetobacter baumannii in the burn unit of a public teaching hospital

We conducted a case-control study to determine the attributable direct costs of multidrug-resistant Acinetobacter baumannii (MDRAB) in the burn unit of a public teaching hospital. The mean total hospital cost of patients who acquired MDRAB was 98,575 dollars higher than that of control patients who had identical burn severity of illness indices ( P <.01). These data should help infection control practitioners and others determine the cost-effectiveness of specific interventions designed to control this emerging nosocomial pathogen.     

Outcomes of Anticoagulation Therapy in Patients with Mental Health Conditions

Background

Patients with mental health conditions (MHCs) experience poor anticoagulation control when using warfarin, but we have limited knowledge of the association between specific mental illness and warfarin treatment outcomes.

Objective

To examine the relationship between the severity of MHCs and outcomes of anticoagulation therapy.

Design

Retrospective cohort analysis.

Participants

We studied 103,897 patients on warfarin for 6 or more months cared for by the Veterans Health Administration during fiscal years 2007–2008. We identified 28,216 patients with MHCs using ICD-9 codes: anxiety disorders, bipolar disorder, depression, post-traumatic stress disorder, schizophrenia, and other psychotic disorders.

Main Measures

Outcomes included anticoagulation control, as measured by percent time in the therapeutic range (TTR), as well as major hemorrhage. Predictors included different categories of MHC, Global Assessment of Functioning (GAF) scores, and psychiatric hospitalizations.

Key Results

Patients with bipolar disorder, depression, and other psychotic disorders experienced TTR decreases of 2.63 %, 2.26 %, and 2.92 %, respectively (p < 0.001), after controlling for covariates. Patients with psychotic disorders other than schizophrenia experienced increased hemorrhage after controlling for covariates [hazard ratio (HR) 1.24, p = 0.03]. Having any MHC was associated with a slightly increased hazard for hemorrhage (HR 1.19, p < 0.001) after controlling for covariates.

Conclusion

Patients with specific MHCs (bipolar disorder, depression, and other psychotic disorders) experienced slightly worse anticoagulation control. Patients with any MHC had a slightly increased hazard for major hemorrhage, but the magnitude of this difference is unlikely to be clinically significant. Overall, our results suggest that appropriately selected patients with MHCs can safely receive therapy with warfarin.

Electronic supplementary material

The online version of this article (doi:10.1007/s11606-014-2784-2) contains supplementary material, which is available to authorized users.KEY WORDS: anticoagulation, mental health, veterans, warfarin therapy, psychiatric conditions     

Trends in Depressive Symptom Burden Among Older Adults in the United States from 1998 to 2008

CONTEXT

Diagnosis and treatment of depression has increased over the past decade in the United States. Whether self-reported depressive symptoms among older adults have concomitantly declined is unknown.

OBJECTIVE

To examine trends in depressive symptoms among older adults in the US between 1998 and 2008.

DESIGN

Serial cross-sectional analysis of six biennial assessments.

SETTING

Health and Retirement Study (HRS), a nationally-representative survey. PATIENTS OR OTHER PARTICIPANTS Adults aged 55 and older (N?=?16,184 in 1998).

MAIN OUTCOME MEASURE

The eight-item Center for Epidemiologic Studies Depression scale (CES-D8) assessed three levels of depressive symptoms (none?=?0, elevated?=?4+, severe?=?6+), adjusting for demographic and clinical characteristics.

RESULTS

Having no depressive symptoms increased over the 10-year period from 40.9 % to 47.4 % (prevalence ratio [PR]: 1.16, 95 % CI: 1.13–1.19), with significant increases in those aged ≥ 60 relative to those aged 55–59. There was a 7 % prevalence reduction of elevated symptoms from 15.5 % to 14.2 % (PR: 0.93, 95 % CI: 0.88–0.98), which was most pronounced among those aged 80–84 in whom the prevalence of elevated symptoms declined from 14.3 % to 9.6 %. Prevalence of having severe depressive symptoms increased from 5.8 % to 6.8 % (PR: 1.17, 95 % CI: 1.06–1.28); however, this increase was limited to those aged 55–59, with the probability of severe symptoms increasing from 8.7 % to 11.8 %. No significant changes in severe symptoms were observed for those aged ≥ 60.

CONCLUSIONS

Overall late-life depressive symptom burden declined significantly from 1998 to 2008. This decrease appeared to be driven primarily by greater reductions in depressive symptoms in the oldest-old, and by an increase in those with no depressive symptoms. These changes in symptom burden were robust to physical, functional, demographic, and economic factors. Future research should examine whether this decrease in depressive symptoms is associated with improved treatment outcomes, and if there have been changes in the treatment received for the various age cohorts.     

Identifying the Risks of Anticoagulation in Patients with Substance Abuse

BACKGROUND

Warfarin is effective in preventing thromboembolic events, but concerns exist regarding its use in patients with substance abuse.

OBJECTIVE

Identify which patients with substance abuse who receive warfarin are at risk for poor outcomes.

DESIGN

Retrospective cohort study. Diagnostic codes, lab values, and other factors were examined to identify risk of adverse outcomes.

PATIENTS

Veterans AffaiRs Study to Improve Anticoagulation (VARIA) database of 103,897 patients receiving warfarin across 100 sites.

MAIN MEASURES

Outcomes included percent time in therapeutic range (TTR), a measure of anticoagulation control, and major hemorrhagic events by ICD-9 codes.

RESULTS

Nonusers had a higher mean TTR (62 %) than those abusing alcohol (53 %), drugs (50 %), or both (44 %, p?<?0.001). Among alcohol abusers, an increasing ratio of the serum hepatic transaminases aspartate aminotransferase/alanine aminotransferase (AST:ALT) correlated with inferior anticoagulation control; normal AST:ALT?≤ 1.5 predicted relatively modest decline in TTR (54 %, p?<?0.001), while elevated ratios (AST:ALT 1.50–2.0 and > 2.0) predicted progressively poorer anticoagulation control (49 % and 44 %, p?<?0.001 compared to nonusers). Age-adjusted hazard ratio for major hemorrhage was 1.93 in drug and 1.37 in alcohol abuse (p?<?0.001 compared to nonusers), and remained significant after also controlling for anticoagulation control and other bleeding risk factors (1.69 p?<?0.001 and 1.22 p?=?0.003). Among alcohol abusers, elevated AST:ALT >2.0 corresponded to more than three times the hemorrhages (HR 3.02, p?<?0.001 compared to nonusers), while a normal ratio AST:ALT ≤ 1.5 predicted a rate similar to nonusers (HR 1.19, p?<?0.05).

CONCLUSIONS

Anticoagulation control is particularly poor in patients with substance abuse. Major hemorrhages are more common in both alcohol and drug users. Among alcohol abusers, the ratio of AST/ALT holds promise for identifying those at highest risk for adverse events.     

Pigment gallstone composition in cirrhotic and noncirrhotic subjects

The composition of pigment gallstones from patients with and without cirrhosis was compared. Carbonate-containing pigment stones were distinguished from noncarbonate stones by infrared spectroscopy. Calcium was the major cation of each stone group. The major anion in noncarbonate pigment stones was bilirubinate or phosphate, but was carbonate in carbonate stones. The composition of pigment stones from cirrhotic and noncirrhotic patients was similar except that significantly less carbonate was present in carbonate stones, and less pigment (bilirubinate) was present in noncarbonate stones from noncirrhotics. These data suggest that irrespective of the presence of cirrhosis, the formation of noncarbonate pigment stones involves the selective precipitation of calcium bilirubinate and phosphate, whereas carbonate stone formation involves the selective precipitation of calcium carbonate.     

Eradication of polymerase chain reaction detectable immunoglobulin gene rearrangement in non-Hodgkin's lymphoma is associated with decreased relapse after autologous bone marrow transplantation

In B-cell non-Hodgkin's lymphoma (NHL), as in other B-cell malignancies, clonal rearrangement of the third complementarity determining region (CDR III) of the immunoglobulin heavy chain gene (IgH) provides a useful marker for the detection of minimal residual disease (MRD) after treatment. To determine the clinical utility of IgH polymerase chain reaction (PCR), we analyzed peripheral blood (PB) and bone marrow (BM) samples from 25 patients with NHL with no PCR detectable chromosomal rearrangement who have undergone autologous bone marrow transplantation (ABMT). Patients with histologic bone marrow infiltration at the time of bone marrow harvest were selected for study since this provided us with diagnostic tissue samples. As an initial strategy DNA was amplified using consensus variable (VH) and joining (JH) region primers. In those cases failing to amplify using consensus region primers, PCR was performed using a panel of VH family-specific framework region 1 (FR1) primers. The clonal products were directly sequenced. From the V-N-D region nucleotide sequences, clone specific probes were constructed and used for subsequent detection of MRD. A clonal PCR product could be PCR amplified and directly sequenced in 18 (72%, 90% confidence intervals 54%-86%) of these 25 patients, 8 with diffuse and 10 with follicular NHL. Eight of these 18 patients have relapsed after ABMT. All had detectable lymphoma cells before relapse and the sequence of the CDR III region at the time of relapse was identical to that obtained at the time of ABMT. All 10 patients who remain in complete remission from 18 to 36 months after ABMT had eradication of PCR detectable lymphoma cells after ABMT, although in three patients PCR detectable MRD was detected early after ABMT. We conclude that sequencing and the use of patient specific IgH CDR III oligonucleotides probes provides a simple and highly reliable method to determine the specificity of the IgH PCR technique. The clinical utility of this technique is demonstrated by the finding that eradication of PCR detectable lymphoma cells in these patients is associated with decreased relapse after ABMT (P = .0002).     

Analysis of VH genes used by neoplastic B cells in endemic Burkitt's lymphoma shows somatic hypermutation and intraclonal heterogeneity

Tumor cell lines from six typical cases of endemic Epstein-Barr virus (EBV) genome-positive Burkitt's lymphoma (BL) have been investigated for usage and mutational pattern of Ig VH genes. The neoplastic cells all had a t(8;14) (q24;q32) translocation involving the c-myc protooncogene. The VH genes were derived from VH1, VH3 and VH4, and both the IgM-positive (four cases) and IgG-positive (two cases) were extensively mutated from germline sequence. In two cases, early and late passage tumor cells were available, and the VH nucleotide sequences were identical, indicating that mutations had not accumulated in vitro. In a further case, there was evidence of sequence heterogeneity, which appeared to have been generated in vivo, indicating that the tumor cell VH gene was able to undergo posttranslocation somatic hypermutation. Analysis of the relatively nonpolymorphic VH4 genes for the pattern of replacement or silent mutations did not show a role for antigen selection in the expressed sequences.