Risk factors for complications and in-hospital mortality: An analysis of 19,834 open pelvic ring fractures

BackgroundOpen pelvic fractures are rare injuries, associated with high patient morbidity and mortality. Few studies have investigated the impact of patient demographics, comorbidities, and injury related factors on complication and mortality rates. The purpose of this study was to: (1) identify the overall incidence of complications and mortality after open pelvic fractures, (2) compare patient factors between those who did and did not develop complications, (3) identify perioperative independent risk factors for complications and mortality.MethodsA query was performed for patients with open pelvic fractures between 2007 and 2017 using the American College of Surgeons National Trauma Data Bank. Patient and injury specific variables were collected and complications were identified using International Classification of Disease Ninth and Tenth edition Codes. Patient demographic and perioperative data was compared using Fisher’s exact test and chi-square test for categorical variables, and Welch’s t-test for continuous variables. Using pooled data from multiple imputations, logistic regressions were used to calculate odds ratios and confidence intervals of independent risk factors for complications.ResultsA total of 19,834 open pelvic fracture cases were identified, with 9622 patients (48.5%) developing at least one complication. Patients who developed complications were older (35.0 vs 38.1 years), and had higher Injury Severity Scores (17.7 vs 26.5), lower Glasgow Coma Scores (14.2 vs 11.7), and a larger proportion presenting with hypotension (21% vs 6.9%). After pooled regression involving 19 factors, these were the strongest independent predictors of inpatient complication and mortality.ConclusionWe report a mortality rate of 14%, with an inclusive complication rate of 48.5%. Evaluating risk factors for morbidity and mortality for this devastating orthopaedic injury provides knowledge of an inherently sparse population.Level of EvidenceLevel II, Retrospective study.     

Increased Firearm Injury During the COVID-19 Pandemic: A Hidden Urban Burden

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Severity of pre-existing psychiatric illness and response to the Great East Japan Earthquake

Reports have described how psychiatric patients respond to disasters. However, previous reports on the response depending on diagnostic categories have provided no clear consensus. Here we analyzed response to the Great East Japan Earthquake of March 11, 2011, among psychiatric patients in light of severity of pre-existing psychiatric illness. We studied psychiatric change among a population of psychiatric outpatients in Tochigi prefecture, located ∼160 km (∼100 miles) southeast of the Fukushima nuclear power plant, in an area that suffered moderate damage from the earthquake and radiation. A total of 294 psychiatric outpatients was assessed using the Global Assessment of Functioning (GAF-F). A change of ≥10 points in the GAF-F score was counted as a change in symptoms. The data were stratified by disease category, gender, and GAF-F score and analyzed using the Fisher's exact test. In the 2 months after the earthquake, 5.4% of patients showed evidence of a change in symptoms, with 4.1% worsening and 1.4% improving. Compared with patients having a GAF-F score ≤50, significantly more patients with a score >50 showed evidence of worsening symptoms. No significant difference was found with respect to gender or diagnostic category for patients with worsened or improved symptoms. Our findings reveal that a relatively small percent of patients with pre-existing psychiatric diseases showed evidence of a change in symptoms and that patients with mild-to-moderate psychiatric illness are potentially vulnerable to the impacts of a natural disaster.     

Intra- and inter-rater agreement of the Genital Injury Severity Scale

IntroductionThe Genital Injury Severity Scale (GISS) is a clinimetrically-tested tool in use for quantifying and qualifying external genital injury after sexual intercourse.PurposeTo evaluate inter- and intra-rater agreement of the GISS amongst examiner/raters in an urban, ethnically diverse, emergency department based sexual assault center.MethodsThe study was conducted in three phases. Six examiners with various years of experience rated their own cases and each others' cases greater than one year after the initial exam. They rated the photographs and documentation of each case at least one year apart. Another six raters utilized a combination of the photos and documentation simultaneously from the same cases. The evaluation method was the completion of the GISS for each phase.ResultsBased on the experience level of the rater, the differences in overall agreement were not significant. Strength of agreement was highest with the combination of photos and documentation with W ranging from 0.60501 (substantial) to 0.91056 (almost perfect). The GISS variables with the highest level of agreement were tissue break type and toluidine blue uptake type, both with photo evaluation alone and combination of documentation and photos (W = 0.72051 and 0.74599, respectively).ConclusionThe Genital Injury Severity Scale is a reliable tool to quantify and qualify the severity of external genital injury when used to evaluate a combination of photos and documentation utilizing midlevel providers trained as sexual assault forensic examiners with various years of experience.     

The stratification of severity of acute radiation proctopathy after radiotherapy for cervical carcinoma using diffusion-weighted MRI

ObjectiveTo determine whether diffusion-weighted imaging (DWI) can be used for quantitatively evaluating severity of acute radiation proctopathy after radiotherapy for cervical carcinoma.Materials and methodsOne hundred and twenty-four patients with cervical carcinoma underwent MR examination including DWI before and after radiotherapy. Acute radiation proctopathy was classified into three groups (grade 0, grade I–II and grade III–IV) according to Toxicity Criteria of the Radiation Therapy Oncology Group (RTOG). The pretreatment ADC (ADC_pre), ADC after treatment (ADC_post) and ADC change (ΔADC) were compared among three groups. In addition, acute radiation proctopathy was classified into good-prognosis group and poor-prognosis group. ADC_pre, ADC_post and ΔADC were compared between two groups. For DWI parameter that had significant difference, discriminatory capability of the parameter was determined using receiver operating characteristics (ROC) analysis.ResultsADC_post and ΔADC were higher in grade I–II group than in grade 0 group (p < 0.05), yielding a sensitivity of 79.3% and specificity of 69.4% for ADC_post, and 85.1%, 72.3% for ΔADC for discrimination between two groups. ADC_post and ΔADC were higher in grade III–IV group than in grade I–II group (p < 0.05), yielding a sensitivity of 80.3% and specificity of 72.5% for ADC_post, and 84.1%, 74.5% for ΔADC for discrimination between two groups. ADC_post and ΔADC were higher in poor-prognosis group than in good-prognosis group (p < 0.05), yielding a sensitivity of 79.5% and specificity of 73.4% for ADC_post, and 87.2%, 78.3% for ΔADC for discrimination between two groups.ConclusionDiffusion-weighted MRI can be used for quantitative stratification of severity of acute radiation proctopathy, which serves as an important basis for appropriate timely adjustment of radiotherapy for cervical carcinoma in order to maximally reduce the radiation injury of rectum.     

Economic burden of psoriatic patients in Japan: Analysis from a single outpatient clinic

Topical and systemic agents have dramatically improved the treatment efficacy of psoriasis. Few reports, however, exist describing the economic burden in Japanese psoriatic patients. The aim of the study was to evaluate the total costs as well as cost versus efficacy of topical and systemic treatments of psoriatic patients under the Japanese health insurance system. The retrospective study was performed from the database of our clinic, which is located in Hokkaido Prefecture. Cost and effectiveness of psoriatic patients were evaluated during the 12‐month period from April 2015 to March 2016. Data were collected and calculated for the total cost per year, treatment efficacy and cost versus efficacy. The mean total cost of topical corticosteroid treatment was ¥18 184/year and was lowest among the treatments. The systemic treatment with biologics was most expensive and the costs were over ¥400 000/year. Among the topical treatments, calcipotriol/betamethasone dipropionate was most expensive (¥34 693/year). However, cost versus efficacy was not significantly different from that of topical corticosteroid treatments. The cost of secukinumab was highest among all the treatments (¥631 600/year). However, treatment day per cost was lowest of all the psoriasis treatments. Biologics showed the highest cost than topical or systemic treatments. However, they showed most marked efficacy in terms of improving the psoriatic skin lesions.     

原发性高血压与冠状动脉造影病变程度相关性的研究

目的:探讨原发性高血压与冠状动脉造影病变程度的相关性。方法:回顾总结920例行冠状动脉造影者的临床资料,其中原发性高血压606例(65.87%),冠心病728例(79.13%),排除冠心病患者192例(20.87%)。冠状动脉造影病变程度由三方面表示:造影是否诊断冠心病、冠状动脉病变支数,冠状动脉病变Gensini总积分。采用单因素和多因素分析方法,分析冠状动脉造影病变程度与原发高血压发生率的关系。结果:冠状动脉造影病变程度随高血压发生率增加而加重。结论:冠状动脉造影病变程度随原发高血压发生率的增加而加重,故有效地控制高血压在干预冠状动脉粥样硬化发生和发展中具有重要意义。积极处理冠心病的其他相关危险因素也十分重要。