There is growing evidence that racial and ethnic minorities bear a disproportionate burden from COVID-19. Temporal changes in the pandemic epidemiology and diversity in the clinical course require ...careful study to identify determinants of poor outcomes. We analyzed 6255 hospitalized individuals with PCR-confirmed SARS-CoV-2 infection from one of 5 hospitals in the University of Pennsylvania Health System between March 2020 and March 2021, using electronic health records to assess risk factors and outcomes through 8 weeks post-admission. Discharge, readmission and mortality outcomes were analyzed in a multi-state model with multivariable Cox models for each transition. Mortality varied markedly over time, with cumulative incidence (95% CI) 30 days post-admission of 19.1% (16.9, 21.3) in March-April 2020, 5.7% (4.2, 7.5) in July-October 2020 and 10.5% (9.1,12.0) in January-March 2021; 26% of deaths occurred after discharge. Average age (SD) at admission varied from 62.7 (17.6) to 54.8 (19.9) to 60.5 (18.1); mechanical ventilation use declined from 21.3% to 9-11%. Compared to Caucasian, Black race was associated with more severe disease at admission, higher rates of co-morbidities and residing in a low-income zip code. Between-race risk differences in mortality risk diminished in multivariable models; while admitting hospital, increasing age, admission early in the pandemic, and severe disease and low blood pressure at admission were associated with increased mortality hazard. Hispanic ethnicity was associated with fewer baseline co-morbidities and lower mortality hazard (0.57, 95% CI: 0.37, .087). Multi-state modeling allows for a unified framework to analyze multiple outcomes throughout the disease course. Morbidity and mortality for hospitalized COVID-19 patients varied over time but post-discharge mortality remained non-trivial. Black race was associated with more risk factors for morbidity and with treatment at hospitals with lower mortality. Multivariable models suggest there are not between-race differences in outcomes. Future work is needed to better understand the identified between-hospital differences in mortality.
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DOBA, IZUM, KILJ, NUK, PILJ, PNG, SAZU, SIK, UILJ, UKNU, UL, UM, UPUK
Cluster randomized trials are studies in which groups of individuals, for example those associated with specific clinics, families, or geographical areas, are randomized between an experimental ...intervention and a control. A stepped-wedge design is a type of cluster design in which the clusters are randomized to the order in which they receive the experimental regimen. All clusters begin the study with the control intervention, and by the end of the trial (assuming no unexpected and unacceptable safety issues arise), all clusters are receiving the experimental regimen.
This randomized trial showed no effect of early adenotonsillectomy, as compared with watchful waiting, on the primary outcome of attention and executive functioning in children with obstructive sleep ...apnea. Many secondary outcomes favored early surgery.
The childhood obstructive sleep apnea syndrome is associated with numerous adverse health outcomes, including cognitive and behavioral deficits.
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The most commonly identified risk factor for the childhood obstructive sleep apnea syndrome is adenotonsillar hypertrophy. Thus, the primary treatment is adenotonsillectomy, which accounts for more than 500,000 procedures annually in the United States alone.
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Nevertheless, there has been no controlled study evaluating the benefits and risks of adenotonsillectomy, as compared with watchful waiting, for the management of the obstructive sleep apnea syndrome.
The Childhood Adenotonsillectomy Trial (CHAT) was designed to evaluate the efficacy of early adenotonsillectomy versus watchful waiting with supportive . . .
Summary Background Acute kidney injury often goes unrecognised in its early stages when effective treatment options might be available. We aimed to determine whether an automated electronic alert for ...acute kidney injury would reduce the severity of such injury and improve clinical outcomes in patients in hospital. Methods In this investigator-masked, parallel-group, randomised controlled trial, patients were recruited from the hospital of the University of Pennsylvania in Philadelphia, PA, USA. Eligible participants were adults aged 18 years or older who were in hospital with stage 1 or greater acute kidney injury as defined by Kidney Disease Improving Global Outcomes creatinine-based criteria. Exclusion criteria were initial hospital creatinine 4·0 mg/dL (to convert to μmol/L, multiply by 88·4) or greater, fewer than two creatinine values measured, inability to determine the covering provider, admission to hospice or the observation unit, previous randomisation, or end-stage renal disease. Patients were randomly assigned (1:1) via a computer-generated sequence to receive an acute kidney injury alert (a text-based alert sent to the covering provider and unit pharmacist indicating new acute kidney injury) or usual care, stratified by medical versus surgical admission and intensive care unit versus non-intensive care unit location in blocks of 4–8 participants. The primary outcome was a composite of relative maximum change in creatinine, dialysis, and death at 7 days after randomisation. All analyses were by intention to treat. This study is registered with ClinicalTrials.gov , number NCT01862419. Findings Between Sept 17, 2013, and April 14, 2014, 23 664 patients were screened. 1201 eligible participants were assigned to the acute kidney injury alert group and 1192 were assigned to the usual care group. Composite relative maximum change in creatinine, dialysis, and death at 7 days did not differ between the alert group and the usual care group (p=0·88), or within any of the four randomisation strata (all p>0·05). At 7 days after randomisation, median maximum relative change in creatinine concentrations was 0·0% (IQR 0·0–18·4) in the alert group and 0·6% (0·0–17·5) in the usual care group (p=0·81); 87 (7·2%) patients in the alert group and 70 (5·9%) patients in usual care group had received dialysis (odds ratio 1·25 95% CI 0·90–1·74; p=0·18); and 71 (5·9%) patients in the alert group and 61 (5·1%) patients in the usual care group had died (1·16 0·81–1·68; p=0·40). Interpretation An electronic alert system for acute kidney injury did not improve clinical outcomes among patients in hospital. Funding Penn Center for Healthcare Improvement and Patient Safety.
The first rumblings about a new coronavirus spreading in China were heard in January 2020. By the end of that month, the World Health Organization, recognizing the severity of the disease and the ...potential for global spread, had declared a public health emergency. By February 2020, cases had been identified in multiple countries, clinical trials of treatments with some biological plausibility had begun in China, and the initial steps of vaccine development were underway. In mid-March, by which time countries around the world were experiencing rapidly increasing numbers of cases and deaths, the World Health Organization categorized the outbreak as a pandemic. This new coronavirus was designated SARS-COV-2 in recognition of its similarity to the coronavirus responsible for the severe acute respiratory syndrome outbreak in 2002–2003. The race is on to develop treatments that can mitigate the severe consequences of infection and vaccines that can prevent infection and/or diminish the severity of disease in those who do get infected. Many challenges face these development efforts. Some are similar to those faced in the past; others are new. The urgency of finding ways to treat, and ultimately prevent, the consequences of this new and potentially deadly infection has led to unprecedented focus on clinical trials.
Randomized clinical trials require a mechanism to safeguard the enrolled patients from harm that could result from participation. This article reviews the role of data monitoring committees in the ...performance of randomized clinical trials.
In the five decades since the completion of the Greenberg Report recommendations in 1967 (which were later published
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), independent groups of experts have monitored the progress of many clinical trials for early definitive evidence of benefit, convincing evidence of harm, or sufficient evidence of no potential benefit to render continuation of the trial to be futile. Such monitoring is motivated primarily by an ethical imperative; for trials of treatments intended to prevent or delay serious outcomes, one would want to stop the trial and make the superior treatment available as soon as the evidence was definitive. The assessment of . . .
IMPORTANCE: As men age, they experience decreased serum testosterone concentrations, decreased bone mineral density (BMD), and increased risk of fracture. OBJECTIVE: To determine whether testosterone ...treatment of older men with low testosterone increases volumetric BMD (vBMD) and estimated bone strength. DESIGN, SETTING, AND PARTICIPANTS: Placebo-controlled, double-blind trial with treatment allocation by minimization at 9 US academic medical centers of men 65 years or older with 2 testosterone concentrations averaging less than 275 ng/L participating in the Testosterone Trials from December 2011 to June 2014. The analysis was a modified intent-to-treat comparison of treatment groups by multivariable linear regression adjusted for balancing factors as required by minimization. INTERVENTIONS: Testosterone gel, adjusted to maintain the testosterone level within the normal range for young men, or placebo gel for 1 year. MAIN OUTCOMES AND MEASURES: Spine and hip vBMD was determined by quantitative computed tomography at baseline and 12 months. Bone strength was estimated by finite element analysis of quantitative computed tomography data. Areal BMD was assessed by dual energy x-ray absorptiometry at baseline and 12 months. RESULTS: There were 211 participants (mean SD age, 72.3 5.9 years; 86% white; mean SD body mass index, 31.2 3.4). Testosterone treatment was associated with significantly greater increases than placebo in mean spine trabecular vBMD (7.5%; 95% CI, 4.8% to 10.3% vs 0.8%; 95% CI, −1.9% to 3.4%; treatment effect, 6.8%; 95% CI, 4.8%-8.7%; P < .001), spine peripheral vBMD, hip trabecular and peripheral vBMD, and mean estimated strength of spine trabecular bone (10.8%; 95% CI, 7.4% to 14.3% vs 2.4%; 95% CI, −1.0% to 5.7%; treatment effect, 8.5%; 95% CI, 6.0%-10.9%; P < .001), spine peripheral bone, and hip trabecular and peripheral bone. The estimated strength increases were greater in trabecular than peripheral bone and greater in the spine than hip. Testosterone treatment increased spine areal BMD but less than vBMD. CONCLUSIONS AND RELEVANCE: Testosterone treatment for 1 year of older men with low testosterone significantly increased vBMD and estimated bone strength, more in trabecular than peripheral bone and more in the spine than hip. A larger, longer trial could determine whether this treatment also reduces fracture risk. TRIAL REGISTRATION: clinicaltrials.gov Identifier: NCT00799617
The world has experienced three global pandemics over the last half‐century: HIV/AIDS, H1N1, and COVID‐19. HIV/AIDS and COVID‐19 are still with us and have wrought extensive havoc worldwide. There ...are many differences between these two infections and their global impacts, but one thing they have in common is the mobilization of scientific resources to both understand the infection and develop ways to combat it. As was the case with HIV, statisticians have been in the forefront of scientists working to understand transmission dynamics and the natural history of infection, determine prognostic factors for severe disease, and develop optimal study designs to assess therapeutics and vaccines.
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