Faculty Bibliography

Electronic nicotine delivery system use contributes to the epidemic of youth vaping. Regulations to curtail or prohibit the sale of flavored nicotine products aim to disrupt initiation of child nicotine use by reducing access to enticing nicotine flavorings. A total of 6 states and >300 localities have restricted or banned flavored nicotine product sales. In this case study, we outline the use of a localized town-based strategy, which offered 2 potential bills to incrementally restrict or prohibit sale of flavored vape products when county or state legislation was not politically feasible. Over the course of 18 months, these bills reduced the number of municipalities where these products could be sold or advertised until county, city, and statewide bans were effectively in place, ultimately making the passage of a bill in the statehouse palatable. Strong partnerships with officials who had expertise in local town government, local American Academy of Pediatrics chapter physician champions, and a diverse coalition were instrumental in motivating smaller governments, which often pass legislation faster than larger legislatures, to create child-protective tobacco policies.

BACKGROUND:COVID-19 is an ongoing threat to society. Patients who develop the most severe forms of the disease have high mortality. The interleukin-6 inhibitor tocilizumab has the potential to improve outcomes in these patients by preventing the development of cytokine release storm. AIMS:To evaluate the outcomes of patients with severe COVID-19 disease treated with the interleukin-6 inhibitor tocilizumab. METHODS:We conducted a retrospective, case-control, single-center study in patients with severe to critical COVID-19 disease treated with tocilizumab. Disease severity was defined based on the amount of oxygen supplementation required. The primary endpoint was the overall mortality. Secondary endpoints were mortality in non-intubated patients and mortality in intubated patients. RESULTS:A total of 193 patients were included in the study. Ninety-six patients received tocilizumab, while 97 served as the control group. The mean age was 60 years. Patients over 65 years represented 43% of the population. More patients in the tocilizumab group reported fever, cough and shortness of breath (83%, 80% and 96% vs. 73%, 69% and 71%, respectively). There was a non-statistically significant lower mortality in the treatment group (52% vs. 62.1%, P = 0.09). When excluding intubated patients, there was statistically significant lower mortality in patients treated with tocilizumab (6% vs. 27%, P = 0.024). Bacteremia was more common in the control group (24% vs. 13%, P = 0.43), while fungemia was similar for both (3% vs. 4%, P = 0.72). CONCLUSION:Our study showed a non-statistically significant lower mortality in patients with severe to critical COVID-19 disease who received tocilizumab. When intubated patients were excluded, the use of tocilizumab was associated with lower mortality.