Searched for: department:Medicine. General Internal Medicine
recentyears:2
school:SOM
A Vital Layer of Support: One Safety Net Hospital's Palliative Care Response to the Pandemic
Xu, Yijie; Zhang, Luyi K; Smeltz, Robert L; Cohen, Susan E
PMID: 33555977
ISSN: 1557-7740
CID: 4780802
Assessing the extent of lumbosacral spinal urate deposition in patients with tophaceous and nontophaceous gout compared with non-gout controls using dual-energy ct (DECT) [Meeting Abstract]
Toprover, M; Mechlin, M; Slobodnick, A; Pike, V; Oh, C; Davis, C; Fields, T; Becce, F; Pillinger, M
Background/Purpose: Axial gout involvement was first reported in 1950 (1). Over 100 cases have subsequently been published. Reported cases have presented as acute back pain, cord compression, and/or neurologic symptoms, with diagnosis made by invasive procedure (surgical excision or biopsy). However, the true extent of MSU deposition in the spine of gout patients, including asymptomatic patients or those with non-specific symptoms, is unknown and likely higher. We used DECT to determine the extent of MSU deposition in the lumbosacral spines of patients with gout, with and without tophi, compared to controls without gout.
Method(s): We recruited controls, nontophaceous, and tophaceous gout patients, age 45-80. Individuals with CPPD disease, RA, spondyloarthropathy, active spinal malignancy, or on urate lowering treatment (ULT) >= 6 months were excluded. Gout subjects met 2015 ACR gout classification criteria, with entry serum urate (sU) of >6.8 mg/dL ( >6.0 mg/dL if on ULT for < 6 months). Demographics, gout history, Aberdeen back pain scale, sU, ESR, and CRP were collected. Subjects underwent DECT of the lumbosacral spine (LS) to assess for MSU deposition.
Result(s): 75 subjects were enrolled, and 72 completed the study (1 nontophaceous gout patient lost to follow-up prior to DECT, 2 tophaceous excluded after sU at time of DECT found to be < 6.0mg/dL). All groups were similar in age in years (controls 61.8+/-3.8, nontophaceous 64.0+/-6.1, tophaceous 60.4+/-11.0, p=0.81) but differed in BMI (controls 28.3+/-6.5 kg/m2, nontophaceous 34.1+/-7.2 kg/m2, tophaceous 29.5+/-4.5 kg/m2, p=0.03) and creatinine (controls 1.0+/-0.2 mg/dL, nontophaceous 1.4+/-0.7 mg/dL, tophaceous 1.4+/-0.6 mg/dL, p< 0.05). Mean sU and ESR were higher in gout subjects (sU-controls 5.3+/-1 mg/dL, nontophaceous 8.5+/-1.7 mg/dL, tophaceous 8.5+/-1.6 mg/dL, p< 0.05; ESR-controls 13.7+/-13.8 mm/h, nontophaceous 26.5+/-19.4 mm/h, tophaceous 25.1+/-15.7 mm/h, p< 0.05). Using standard DECT settings for MSU visualization, gout patients had larger MSU volumes than controls (controls 2.2+/-1.2 cm3, all gout 5.23+/-6.9 cm3; p =0.03). Tophaceous patients had numerically greater MSU deposition compared with nontophaceous (6.0+/-8.9 cm3, vs 4.4+/-4.3 cm3, ns). Reanalysis of a subset of scans using highly specific settings to eliminate artifact reduced the number of subjects with MSU signal but confirmed greater prevalence of deposition among gout patients (n=29; controls with deposition 0/9, nontophaceous with deposition 1/11, tophaceous with deposition 2/9). Back pain was also more common among gout patients. No subject had frank tophi on spinal DECT.
Conclusion(s): Gout patients have significantly greater intercritical inflammation and LS MSU deposition than controls, and trend toward greater deposition among patients with tophi. Preliminary results using the most stringent DECT threshold settings suggests MSU differences are not artifact. The complete data set is currently undergoing evaluation and the full results will be presented
PMCID:
EMBASE:637275438
ISSN: 2326-5205
CID: 5164702
Patients with More Severe IBD Get Clostridioides difficile Rather than Clostridioides difficile Increasing the Severity of IBD
Varma, Sanskriti; Faye, Adam S; Kannan, Adithya; Lawlor, Garrett; Verma, Abhishek; Axelrad, Jordan; Freedberg, Daniel E
BACKGROUND:Inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) patients who have Clostridioides difficile infection (CDI) have worse outcomes. AIMS/OBJECTIVE:We aimed to determine whether such outcomes are the result of CDI or whether CDI occurs in patients who have more severe IBD. METHODS:This was a retrospective study of patients hospitalized for ≥ 2 IBD flares from 2010 to 2019. The primary outcome was time to IBD flare between hospitalizations. First, time to flare was compared between patients who were hospitalized for a flare complicated by CDI and subsequently for a CDI-negative flare (cohort A, denoted +/-) versus patients who were hospitalized for two CDI-negative flares (cohort B, -/-). Second, time between flares was compared within the subset of cohort A patients who had three flares (cohort C, -/+/-) before and after CDI. RESULTS:Time between flares was a median of 4 months (IQR 1-9) among 51 cohort A patients versus 12 months (IQR 6-38) among 51 cohort B patients (log-rank P < 0.01). In contrast, the median time between flares was similar within cohort C before and after CDI (log-rank P = 0.54). At time of the second IBD flare, patients in cohort A (+/-) were more likely to have moderate or severe disease compared to patients in cohort B (-/-). CONCLUSIONS:Patients with prior CDI had shorter time to subsequent IBD flare relative to their CDI-negative counterparts. This is not likely due to CDI itself because there was no difference in time between flares before versus after acquiring CDI. Rather, patients who acquire CDI may have more severe IBD.
PMID: 32729015
ISSN: 1573-2568
CID: 4614962
Association between overcrowded households, multigenerational households, and COVID-19: a cohort study
Ghosh, A K; Venkatraman, S; Soroka, O; Reshetnyak, E; Rajan, M; An, A; Chae, J K; Gonzalez, C; Prince, J; DiMaggio, C; Ibrahim, S; Safford, M M; Hupert, N
OBJECTIVES/OBJECTIVE:The role of overcrowded and multigenerational households as a risk factor for COVID-19 remains unmeasured. The objective of this study is to examine and quantify the association between overcrowded and multigenerational households and COVID-19 in New York City (NYC). STUDY DESIGN/METHODS:Cohort study. METHODS:We conducted a Bayesian ecological time series analysis at the ZIP Code Tabulation Area (ZCTA) level in NYC to assess whether ZCTAs with higher proportions of overcrowded (defined as the proportion of the estimated number of housing units with more than one occupant per room) and multigenerational households (defined as the estimated percentage of residences occupied by a grandparent and a grandchild less than 18 years of age) were independently associated with higher suspected COVID-19 case rates (from NYC Department of Health Syndromic Surveillance data for March 1 to 30, 2020). Our main measure was an adjusted incidence rate ratio (IRR) of suspected COVID-19 cases per 10,000 population. Our final model controlled for ZCTA-level sociodemographic factors (median income, poverty status, White race, essential workers), the prevalence of clinical conditions related to COVID-19 severity (obesity, hypertension, coronary heart disease, diabetes, asthma, smoking status, and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease), and spatial clustering. RESULTS:Â =Â 0.99, 95% CI: 0.99-1.00). CONCLUSIONS:Overcrowdedness and multigenerational housing are independent risk factors for suspected COVID-19. In the early phase of the surge in COVID cases, social distancing measures that increase house-bound populations may inadvertently but temporarily increase SARS-CoV-2 transmission risk and COVID-19 disease in these populations.
PMID: 34492508
ISSN: 1476-5616
CID: 5011952
Canadian Internal Medicine Ultrasound (CIMUS) Expert Consensus Statement on the Use of Lung Ultrasound for the Assessment of Medical Inpatients With Known or Suspected Coronavirus Disease 2019
Ma, Irene W Y; Hussain, Arif; Wagner, Michael; Walker, Brandie; Chee, Alex; Arishenkoff, Shane; Buchanan, Brian; Liu, Rachel B; Mints, Gregory; Wong, Tanping; Noble, Vicki; Tonelli, Ana Claudia; Dumoulin, Elaine; Miller, Daniel J; Hergott, Christopher A; Liteplo, Andrew S
OBJECTIVES/OBJECTIVE:To develop a consensus statement on the use of lung ultrasound (LUS) in the assessment of symptomatic general medical inpatients with known or suspected coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19). METHODS:Our LUS expert panel consisted of 14 multidisciplinary international experts. Experts voted in 3 rounds on the strength of 26 recommendations as "strong," "weak," or "do not recommend." For recommendations that reached consensus for do not recommend, a fourth round was conducted to determine the strength of those recommendations, with 2 additional recommendations considered. RESULTS:Of the 26 recommendations, experts reached consensus on 6 in the first round, 13 in the second, and 7 in the third. Four recommendations were removed because of redundancy. In the fourth round, experts considered 4 recommendations that reached consensus for do not recommend and 2 additional scenarios; consensus was reached for 4 of these. Our final recommendations consist of 24 consensus statements; for 2 of these, the strength of the recommendations did not reach consensus. CONCLUSIONS:In symptomatic medical inpatients with known or suspected COVID-19, we recommend the use of LUS to: (1) support the diagnosis of pneumonitis but not diagnose COVID-19, (2) rule out concerning ultrasound features, (3) monitor patients with a change in the clinical status, and (4) avoid unnecessary additional imaging for patients whose pretest probability of an alternative or superimposed diagnosis is low. We do not recommend the use of LUS to guide admission and discharge decisions. We do not recommend routine serial LUS in patients without a change in their clinical condition.
PMID: 33274782
ISSN: 1550-9613
CID: 4694532
Interferon pathway lupus risk alleles modulate risk of death from acute covid-19 [Meeting Abstract]
Nln, I; Ruiz, R F; Muskardin, T W; Tuminello, S; Attur, M; Itturate, E; Petrilli, C; Abramson, S B; Chakravarti, A; Niewold, T
Background/Purpose: Type I interferon (IFN) is critical in our defense against viral infections. Increased type I IFN pathway activation is a genetic risk factor for systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE), and a number of common alleles contribute to the genetic high IFN trait. In this study, we examine whether these common gain-of-function alleles in the type I IFN pathway are associated with protection from mortality in acute COVID-19.
Method(s): We studied IFN pathway SLE risk genes in patients with acute COVID-19 admitted to NYU Langone hospitals (751 European-American and 398 African-American ancestry). The samples were genotyped using low depth sequencing and imputation, and we analyzed data from the following SNPs: IRF5 (rs2004640, rs3807306, rs10488631, rs2280714), IRF7/PHRF (rs1131665, rs4963128), IRF8 (rs17445836, rs12444486), and PRKG1 (rs7897633). Ancestral backgrounds were analyzed separately, and mortality after acute COVID-19 was the primary outcome.
Result(s): We observed specific IRF5 haplotypes that are protective against SLE risk were associated with increased risk of mortality in acute COVID-19 patients in European-American ancestry (OR=3.74, p=0.015). Alleles of PRKG1 were also associated with mortality from COVID-19 in the European-American ancestry cohort (OR=1.80, p=0.0057), and this risk factor was particularly strong in younger patients (OR=29.2, p=0.01 in ages 45-54). IRF8 genotype at rs1244486 was associated with protection from mortality in COVID-19 in African-American subjects aged 65 and older (OR=0.34, p=0.04).
Conclusion(s): We find that a number of type I IFN pathway genes associated with risk of SLE also modulate risk of death during acute COVID-19. Similar to their associations with SLE, these alleles are variably associated with COVID-19 mortality across ancestral backgrounds, suggesting ancestral differences in the genetic regulation of the IFN pathway. These data confirm the critical role of the IFN pathway in our defense against viral infections, and support the idea that some common SLE risk alleles exert protective effects in anti-viral immunity
PMCID:
EMBASE:637275920
ISSN: 2326-5205
CID: 5164662
Discharge Processes in a Skilled Nursing Facility affected by COVID-19 [Letter]
Weerahandi, Himali; Mak, Wingyun; Burack, Orah R; Canter, Benjamin E; Reinhardt, Joann P; Boockvar, Kenneth S
PMID: 33955557
ISSN: 1532-5415
CID: 4858962
Oncological and Functional Outcomes of Patients Undergoing Individualized Partial Gland Cryoablation of the Prostate: A Single-Institution Experience
Tan, Wei Phin; Chang, Andrew; Sze, Christina; Polascik, Thomas J
PMCID:8558074
PMID: 33559527
ISSN: 1557-900x
CID: 5149742
Clinical Trial Protocol for a Randomized Trial of Community Health Worker-led Decision Coaching to Promote Shared Decision-making on Prostate Cancer Screening Among Black Male Patients and Their Providers
Makarov, Danil V; Ciprut, Shannon; Martinez-Lopez, Natalia; Fagerlin, Angela; Thomas, Jerry; Shedlin, Michele; Gold, Heather T; Li, Huilin; Bhat, Sandeep; Warren, Rueben; Ubel, Peter; Ravenell, Joseph E
We propose a randomized controlled trial to evaluate the effectiveness of a community health worker-led decision-coaching program to facilitate shared decision-making for prostate cancer screening decisions by Black men at a primary care federally qualified health center.
PMID: 34426097
ISSN: 2405-4569
CID: 5061072
An organ systems-based review of outcomes associated with sleep apnea in hospitalized patients
Sheikh, Maaz; Kuperberg, Stephen
ABSTRACT/UNASSIGNED:The current global health crisis due to severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) has prompted the medical community to investigate the effects of underlying medical conditions, including sleep-disordered breathing, on inpatient care. Obstructive sleep apnea (OSA) is a common form of sleep-disordered breathing that may complicate numerous acquired conditions, particularly in inpatient and critical care settings. Viral pneumonia is a major contributor to intensive care unit (ICU) admissions and often presents more severely in patients with underlying pulmonary disease, especially those with obesity and OSA. This review summarizes the most recent data regarding complications of both OSA and obesity and highlights their impact on clinical outcomes in hospitalized patients. Additionally, it will highlight pertinent evidence for the complications of OSA in an organ-systems approach. Finally, this review will also discuss impatient treatment approaches for OSA, particularly in relation to the SARS-CoV-2 pandemic.
PMCID:8389950
PMID: 34449455
ISSN: 1536-5964
CID: 5064692