Faculty Bibliography

BACKGROUND:Despite the financial incentives to improve patient experience, measured through the Hospital Consumer Assessment of Healthcare Providers and Systems (HCAHPS) survey, few interventions have led to sustained improvement. METHODS:A real-time survey (RTS) designed to capture multiple domains was conducted on medical inpatients in a tertiary care center from July 2017 to June 2018. Answers were reviewed by a multidisciplinary team, and interventions to improve experience were completed. RESULTS:A total of 235 RTSs resulted in 94 (40.0%) interventions. HCAHPS were compared 12 months pre-and postintervention, with an increase in the percentage of "always" for the responsiveness domain, 38.9% vs. 59.7%, p = 0.005. Several other domains showed an increase that did not reach statistical significance. CONCLUSION/CONCLUSIONS:Conducting RTSs may allow for a better understanding of patient experience and active service recovery.

OBJECTIVE:To investigate the incidence and spectrum of neuroimaging findings and their prognostic role in hospitalized COVID-19 patients in New York City. METHODS:This is a retrospective cohort study of 3218 COVID-19 confirmed patients admitted to a major healthcare system (three hospitals) in New York City between March 1, 2020 and April 13, 2020. Clinical data were extracted from electronic medical records, and particularly data of all neurological symptoms were extracted from the imaging reports. Four neuroradiologists evaluated all neuroimaging studies for acute neuroimaging findings related to COVID-19. RESULTS:14.1% of admitted COVID-19 patients had neuroimaging and this accounted for only 5.5% of the total imaging studies. Acute stroke was the most common finding on neuro-imaging, seen in 92.5% of patients with positive neuro-imaging studies, and present in 1.1% of hospitalized COVID-19 patients. Patients with acute large ischemic and hemorrhagic stroke had much higher mortality risk adjusted for age, BMI and hypertension compared to those COVID-19 patients without neuroimaging. (Odds Ratio 6.02 by LR; Hazard Ratio 2.28 by CRR). CONCLUSIONS:Our study demonstrates acute stroke is the most common neuroimaging finding among hospitalized COVID-19 patients. Detection of an acute stroke is a strong prognostic marker of poor outcome. Our study also highlights the fact there is limited use of neuroimaging in these patients due to multiple logistical constraints.

BACKGROUND:Inflammation is associated with coronary artery disease (CAD) and myocardial infarction (MI). Patients with gout are at increased risk of MI, and colchicine is associated with a reduced risk of MI. The objective of this study was to determine whether colchicine prevents incident development of CAD in patients with gout. METHODS:This retrospective study followed a cohort of male gout patients without known CAD at the time of gout diagnosis in the VA New York Harbor Healthcare System. The association between colchicine use and development of incident CAD, defined as evidence of ischemia or obstructive CAD on stress test or angiography, was determined using an inverse probability weighted (IPW) cox proportional hazard model. RESULTS:Among 178,877 patients, 1,638 met gout criteria, of whom 722 patients without known CAD at baseline (446 colchicine users and 276 non-users) were followed for a median of 96 months [57-117]. A trend toward association between colchicine use and reduced incident CAD was observed but not statistically significant (IPW HR 0.49 [0.23-1.05]). In patients without chronic kidney disease, colchicine use was associated with a lower rate of incident CAD (interaction p=0.005, IPW HR 0.31 [0.14-0.70]). Colchicine was also associated with a lower rate of the composite of incident CAD and MI (IPW HR 0.37 [0.16-0.83]). CONCLUSIONS:In male patients with gout and no known CAD, a trend of reduced incident CAD was observed with colchicine use that was not statistically significant. Larger, prospective studies will be required to definitively assess the primary prevention benefit of colchicine.

Delirium is a common symptom in patients admitted to our hospital with COVID-19, and in cases of hyperactive delirium we have frequently observed behaviors that pose a significant risk of disease transmission to health care providers. Managing this symptom has emerged as an important challenge, as our local health care system has been strained by providers becoming sick or quarantined. Preventative and non-pharmacologic interventions remain critical for managing delirium in such patients, though occasionally pharmacologic treatment is required. When use of an antipsychotic medication is indicated, we recommend that providers consider foregoing the lowest common dose and instead start with the next incrementally higher dose to more quickly and reliably ensure the safety of both patients and providers. We do not recommend initiating prophylactic treatment or escalating doses in a manner that conflicts with currently accepted guidelines without carefully considering the risks and benefits.

INTRODUCTION/BACKGROUND:Although metabolic syndrome (MetS) is less prevalent among normal-weight adults than among overweight and obese adults, it does occur. The objective of our study was to examine how mortality risks differed in weight categories stratified by presence/absence of MetS. METHODS:]) and presence/absence of MetS. After conducting unadjusted analyses, we used Cox proportional hazards models to evaluate mortality risk as multivariable hazard ratios among obesity-MetS categories while controlling for selected covariates. RESULTS:The analysis included 12,047 adults. The prevalence of MetS was 61.6% in the obese group, 33.2% in the overweight group, and 8.6% in the normal-weight group. The multivariate adjusted hazard ratio (95% confidence interval) for mortality among the obesity-MetS groups, compared with the normal-weight-no-MetS group, were as follows: normal-weight-MetS (1.70 [1.16-2.51]), overweight-no-MetS (0.99 [0.77-1.28]), overweight-MetS (1.10 [0.85-1.42]), obese-no-MetS (1.08 [0.76-1.54]), and obese-MetS (1.30 [1.07-1.60]); differences were significant only for the normal-weight-MetS group and obese-MetS group. CONCLUSION/CONCLUSIONS:MetS is a risk factor for mortality among normal-weight and obese adults. In our study, normal-weight adults with MetS had the highest mortality among the 6 groups studied, suggesting that interventions should also focus on MetS patients with normal weight.

OBJECTIVE:To describe outcomes of people admitted to hospital with coronavirus disease 2019 (covid-19) in the United States, and the clinical and laboratory characteristics associated with severity of illness. DESIGN/METHODS:Prospective cohort study. SETTING/METHODS:Single academic medical center in New York City and Long Island. PARTICIPANTS/METHODS:5279 patients with laboratory confirmed severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-Cov-2) infection between 1 March 2020 and 8 April 2020. The final date of follow up was 5 May 2020. MAIN OUTCOME MEASURES/METHODS:Outcomes were admission to hospital, critical illness (intensive care, mechanical ventilation, discharge to hospice care, or death), and discharge to hospice care or death. Predictors included patient characteristics, medical history, vital signs, and laboratory results. Multivariable logistic regression was conducted to identify risk factors for adverse outcomes, and competing risk survival analysis for mortality. RESULTS:Of 11 544 people tested for SARS-Cov-2, 5566 (48.2%) were positive. After exclusions, 5279 were included. 2741 of these 5279 (51.9%) were admitted to hospital, of whom 1904 (69.5%) were discharged alive without hospice care and 665 (24.3%) were discharged to hospice care or died. Of 647 (23.6%) patients requiring mechanical ventilation, 391 (60.4%) died and 170 (26.2%) were extubated or discharged. The strongest risk for hospital admission was associated with age, with an odds ratio of >2 for all age groups older than 44 years and 37.9 (95% confidence interval 26.1 to 56.0) for ages 75 years and older. Other risks were heart failure (4.4, 2.6 to 8.0), male sex (2.8, 2.4 to 3.2), chronic kidney disease (2.6, 1.9 to 3.6), and any increase in body mass index (BMI) (eg, for BMI >40: 2.5, 1.8 to 3.4). The strongest risks for critical illness besides age were associated with heart failure (1.9, 1.4 to 2.5), BMI >40 (1.5, 1.0 to 2.2), and male sex (1.5, 1.3 to 1.8). Admission oxygen saturation of <88% (3.7, 2.8 to 4.8), troponin level >1 (4.8, 2.1 to 10.9), C reactive protein level >200 (5.1, 2.8 to 9.2), and D-dimer level >2500 (3.9, 2.6 to 6.0) were, however, more strongly associated with critical illness than age or comorbidities. Risk of critical illness decreased significantly over the study period. Similar associations were found for mortality alone. CONCLUSIONS:Age and comorbidities were found to be strong predictors of hospital admission and to a lesser extent of critical illness and mortality in people with covid-19; however, impairment of oxygen on admission and markers of inflammation were most strongly associated with critical illness and mortality. Outcomes seem to be improving over time, potentially suggesting improvements in care.

Post-transplant cyclophosphamide (PTCy) has significantly increased the successful use of haploidentical donors with relatively low incidence of GVHD. Given its increasing use, we sought to determine risk factors for GVHD after haploidentical hematopoietic cell transplantation (haploHCT) using PTCy. Data from the Center for International Blood and Marrow Transplant Research on adult patients with AML, ALL, MDS, or CML who underwent PTCy-based haploHCT (2013-2016) were analyzed and categorized into 4 groups based on myeloablative (MA) or reduced intensity (RIC) conditioning and bone marrow (BM) or peripheral blood (PB) graft source. 646 patients were identified (MA-BM = 79, MA-PB = 183, RIC-BM = 192, RIC-PB = 192). The incidence of grade 2-4 aGVHD at 6 months was highest in MA-PB (44%), followed by RIC-PB (36%), MA-BM (36%), and RIC-BM (30%) (p=0.002). The incidence of chronic GVHD at 1 year was 40%, 34%, 24%, and 20%, respectively (p<0.001). In multivariable analysis, there was no impact of stem cell source or conditioning regimen on grade 2-4 acute GVHD; however, older donor age (30-49 versus <29 years) was significantly associated with higher rates of grade 2-4 acute GVHD (HR 1.53, 95% CI 1.11-2.12, p=0.01). In contrast, PB compared to BM as a stem cell source was a significant risk factor for the development of chronic GVHD (HR 1.70, 95% CI 1.11-2.62, p=0.01) in the RIC setting. There were no differences in relapse or overall survival between groups. Donor age and graft source are risk factors for acute and chronic GVHD, respectively, after PTCy-based haploHCT.  Our results indicate that in RIC haploHCT, the risk of chronic GVHD is higher with PB stem cells, without any difference in relapse or overall survival.

BACKGROUND AND PURPOSE/OBJECTIVE:With the spread of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) during the current worldwide pandemic, there is mounting evidence that patients affected by the illness may develop clinically significant coagulopathy with thromboembolic complications including ischemic stroke. However, there is limited data on the clinical characteristics, stroke mechanism, and outcomes of patients who have a stroke and COVID-19. METHODS:We conducted a retrospective cohort study of consecutive patients with ischemic stroke who were hospitalized between March 15, 2020, and April 19, 2020, within a major health system in New York, the current global epicenter of the pandemic. We compared the clinical characteristics of stroke patients with a concurrent diagnosis of COVID-19 to stroke patients without COVID-19 (contemporary controls). In addition, we compared patients to a historical cohort of patients with ischemic stroke discharged from our hospital system between March 15, 2019, and April 15, 2019 (historical controls). RESULTS:<0.001). When compared with contemporary controls, COVID-19 positive patients had higher admission National Institutes of Health Stroke Scale score and higher peak D-dimer levels. When compared with historical controls, COVID-19 positive patients were more likely to be younger men with elevated troponin, higher admission National Institutes of Health Stroke Scale score, and higher erythrocyte sedimentation rate. Patients with COVID-19 and stroke had significantly higher mortality than historical and contemporary controls. CONCLUSIONS:We observed a low rate of imaging-confirmed ischemic stroke in hospitalized patients with COVID-19. Most strokes were cryptogenic, possibly related to an acquired hypercoagulability, and mortality was increased. Studies are needed to determine the utility of therapeutic anticoagulation for stroke and other thrombotic event prevention in patients with COVID-19.

BACKGROUND:Hepatitis C affects racial minorities disproportionately and is greatest among the black population. The incidence of hepatocellular carcinoma has increased with the largest increase observed in black and Hispanic populations, but limited data remain on whether hepatitis C hepatocellular carcinoma in racial-ethnic minorities have the same utilization of services compared with the white population. METHODS:We used the database of the National Inpatient Sample to identify hepatitis C-hepatocellular carcinoma patients (N = 200,163) who underwent liver transplantation (n = 11,491), liver resection (n = 4,896), or ablation of liver lesions (n = 6,933) from 2005 to 2015. We estimated utilization over time and assessed differences in utilization and inpatient mortality across patient characteristics. RESULTS:In multivariate analysis, factors associated with utilization of services included treatment year, sex, race, insurance status, hospital type, and comorbidity burden, with black and Hispanic patients having statistically significantly decreased utilization. Factors associated with inpatient mortality included treatment year, sex, race, insurance status, hospital type, hospital region, and comorbidity burden, with black patients having a statistically significantly greater risk of inpatient mortality. CONCLUSION/CONCLUSIONS:We identified racial and socioeconomic factors which were associated with utilization of services and inpatient mortality for patients with hepatitis C hepatocellular carcinoma. Blacks were especially disadvantaged in the receipt of care. Further work to abrogate these findings is imperative to ensure equitable provision of surgical therapies.

Autologous stem cell transplantation (ASCT) remains the standard-of-care for transplant-eligible multiple myeloma (MM) patients. Bortezomib with lenalidomide and dexamethasone (VRD) is the most common triplet regimen for newly diagnosed MM in the US. Carfilzomib with lenalidomide and dexamethasone (KRD) has promising efficacy and may supplant VRD. We compared stem cell yields and autograft minimal residual disease (MRD)-negativity after VRD and KRD induction. Deeper responses (very good partial response or better) were more common with KRD. Pre-collection bone marrow cellularity, interval from the end of induction therapy to start of stem cell collection, and method of stem cell obilization were similar for the two cohorts. Days to complete collection was greater with KRD (VRD 1.81 vs. KRD 2.2 days), which more often required ≥3 days of apheresis. Pre-collection viable CD34+ cell content was greater with VRD, as was collection yield (VRD 11.11 × 106 vs. KRD 9.19 × 106). Collection failure (<2 × 106 CD34+ cells/kg) was more frequent with KRD (5.4%) than VRD (0.7%). The differences in stem cell yields between VRD and KRD associate with degree of lenalidomide exposure. Age ≥70 predicted poorer collection for both cohorts. Stem cell autograft purity/MRD-negativity was higher with KRD (81.4%) than VRD (57.1%). For both cohorts, MRD-negativity was attained in a larger fraction of autografts than pre-collection bone marrows. For patients proceeding to ASCT, time to neutrophil/platelet engraftment was comparable. In summary, KRD induces deeper clinical responses and greater autograft purity than VRD without compromising stem cell yield or post-transplant engraftment kinetics.