Chest
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To determine the impact of body mass index (BMI) on outcomes in critically ill patients. ⋯ Low BMI, but not high BMI, is associated with increased mortality and worsened hospital discharge functional status. LOS is increased in severely obese patients and, to a lesser extent, in underweight patients. Patients in the overweight and obese BMI groups may have improved mortality and discharge functional status.
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The physical and psychological effects of caregiving have been examined in several populations. To date, no one has examined the effects of caregiving on caregivers of patients receiving long-term mechanical ventilation (LTV) [patients who required > 4 days of continuous in-hospital mechanical ventilation] who reside in a home or institutional setting after hospital discharge. The purpose of this study was to describe the characteristics and examine depression, burden, overload, and physical health in this caregiver population over a 6-month period after hospital discharge. ⋯ Caregivers of patients receiving LTV in our sample have similar characteristics to other caregiving populations. However, our sample had higher depression scores than those reported for many other caregiver groups.
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Multicenter Study
Nonspecific interstitial pneumonia associated with polymyositis and dermatomyositis: serial high-resolution CT findings and functional correlation.
We described the features seen on serial high-resolution CT scans of nonspecific interstitial pneumonia (NSIP) that was associated with polymyositis (PM) and dermatomyositis (DM), and we correlated the changes in the CT scan findings with those of pulmonary function test results. ⋯ With treatment, serial CT scans of PM/DM patients with NSIP showed significant improvement in the abnormal opacities, and radiographic progression of lung fibrosis was limited. The CT scan features and clinical course of NSIP in PM/DM patients were relatively uniform, and this constitutes a subset of NSIP.