Articles: chronic.
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The coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic forced health systems to offer video and telephone visits as in-person visit alternatives. Although video visits offer some benefits compared with telephone visits, they require complex setup, which may disadvantage some patients due to the "digital divide." Our objective was to determine patient and neighborhood characteristics associated with visit modality. ⋯ Telemedicine access differences may compound disparities in chronic disease and COVID-19 outcomes. Institutions should monitor video visit use across demographics and equip patients, clinicians, and practices to promote telemedicine equity.
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Background: Deceased organ donation work-up typically takes 24 hours or more. Clinicians may thus discount the possibility of donation when the potential donor is physiologically unstable or family requirements do not allow this length of time. This may lead to loss of transplantable organs. ⋯ Of the two lung recipients, one died at day 622 of chronic rejection. Conclusions: Expedited pathway donation is feasible with acceptable donation outcomes. Clinicians should consider donation even when physiological instability or family requirements preclude standard organ donation work-up times.
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Objective: During the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic, baseline demographics and comorbidities of patients with COVID-19 have been presented, but there are limited data on outcomes of severely ill patients. We aimed to examine the association between patient characteristics and 30-day mortality among patients with COVID-19 treated in the intensive care unit (ICU). Design: Population-based cohort study. ⋯ In the multivariable Cox regression model, age (hazard ratio [HR] 1.06; 95% CI, 1.04-1.07 per year), the presence of one or more comorbidities (HR, 1.80; 95% CI, 1.20-2.68), chronic obstructive pulmonary disease or asthma (HR, 1.68; 95% CI, 1.12-2.50), hypertension (HR, 1.41; 95% CI, 1.01-1.99), and acute illness severity (SAPS 3 excluding age and comorbidity) (HR, 1.06; 95% CI, 1.04-1.09) were associated with 30-day mortality. Conclusions: This population-based cohort study presents 30-day mortality of 604 ICU patients with COVID-19. The higher mortality was explained by older age, the presence chronic illness, and acute illness severity.