Chest
-
Randomized Controlled Trial Multicenter Study Clinical Trial
Using quality of life to predict hospitalization and mortality in patients with obstructive lung diseases.
Condition-specific measures of quality of life (QOL) for patients with COPD have been demonstrated to be highly reliable and valid, but they have not conclusively been shown to predict hospitalization or death. ⋯ Lower QOL is a powerful predictor of hospitalization and all-cause mortality. Brief, self-administered instruments such as the SOLDQ may provide an opportunity to identify patients who could benefit from preventive interventions.
-
Multicenter Study
Primary graft failure following lung transplantation: predictive factors of mortality.
To assess incidence, outcome, and early predictors of mortality for patients with primary graft failure (PGF) following lung transplantation (LTx), and to develop an injury severity score able to accurately predict ICU mortality for these patients. ⋯ PGF following LTx is a frequent event, with significant ICU morbidity and mortality. We demonstrate that four simple factors allow prediction of ICU mortality with good accuracy.
-
To describe the risk factors for the development of and mortality resulting from acute respiratory failure (ARF) in a large patient population. ⋯ The present study stresses that ARF is common in the ICU (56% of all patients) and that a number of extrapulmonary factors are related to the risk of development of ARF and to mortality rate in these patients.
-
Multicenter Study
Prognostic judgments and triage decisions for patients with acute congestive heart failure.
To determine how well triage physicians judge the probability of death or severe complications that require treatment only available in an ICU to maintain life for patients with acute congestive heart failure (CHF). ⋯ Physicians drastically overestimated the probability of a severe complication that would require critical care for patients with acute CHF who were candidates for ICU admission. Their judgments of this probability were associated with their triage decisions, as they should be according to several guidelines for ICU triage. Overestimation of the probability of severe complications may have lead to overutilization of scarce critical care resources. Current critical care triage guidelines should be revised to take this difficulty into account, and better predictive models for patients potentially requiring critical care should be developed.
-
Randomized Controlled Trial Multicenter Study Comparative Study Clinical Trial
Comparison of the efficacy, tolerability, and safety of formoterol dry powder and oral, slow-release theophylline in the treatment of COPD.
To compare the efficacy, tolerability, and safety of therapy with formoterol and oral slow-release theophylline (THEO) in patients with COPD. ⋯ Long-term treatment with inhaled formoterol dry powder is more effective and better tolerated than treatment with therapeutically appropriate doses of oral slow-release THEO in symptomatic patients with COPD.