Publications by authors named "Alejandro Lopez-Escobar"

Article Synopsis
  • Researchers developed a machine learning model using Gradient Boosting Decision Trees (GBDT) to predict mortality in COVID-19 hospitalized patients, utilizing data from the Spanish SEMI-COVID-19 registry which included over 24,000 cases.
  • The model employed advanced classifiers like CatBoost and BorutaShap to identify key indicators and risk levels for mortality, achieving a notable AUC performance of 84.76 in a test group likely containing vaccinated individuals.
  • The study highlights the model's high predictive capacity despite needing a significant number of predictors, indicating its potential utility in clinical settings for managing COVID-19 patient care.
View Article and Find Full Text PDF

The significant impact of COVID-19 worldwide has made it necessary to develop tools to identify patients at high risk of severe disease and death. This work aims to validate the RIM Score-COVID in the SEMI-COVID-19 Registry. The RIM Score-COVID is a simple nomogram with high predictive capacity for in-hospital death due to COVID-19 designed using clinical and analytical parameters of patients diagnosed in the first wave of the pandemic.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

Aim: The rapid spread of a novel human coronavirus SARS-CoV-2 led to drastic measures world-wide. Most countries were forced to declare a national lockdown. We studied the effect of lockdown measures on the level of asthma control and maintenance treatment in children with recurrent wheezing and asthma during the first wave of COVID-19 in Spain.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

Introduction: Lumbar puncture (LP) is a frequent procedure during the neonatal period. Correctly performing this technique can avoid many of its complications.

Objective: To evaluate the LP procedure in neonates in Spanish hospitals, studying the type of material and the sedation-analgesia used.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

Background: The vast impact of COVID-19 call for the identification of clinical parameter that can help predict a torpid evolution. Among these, endothelial injury has been proposed as one of the main pathophysiological mechanisms underlying the disease, promoting a hyperinflammatory and prothrombotic state leading to worse clinical outcomes. Leukocytes and platelets play a key role in inflammation and thrombogenesis, hence the objective of the current study was to study whether neutrophil-to-lymphocyte ratio (NLR), platelets-to-lymphocyte ratio (PLR), the systemic immune-inflammation index (SII) as well as the new parameter neutrophil-to-platelet ratio (NPR), could help identify patients who at risk of admission at Intensive Care Units.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

Aims And Objectives: We aimed to determine the impact of COVID-19 related home confinement on the paediatric population by focusing on anxiety, behavioural disturbances and somatic symptoms.

Background: To limit the spread of the COVID-19 outbreak, governments have imposed nationwide lockdowns to prevent direct contact; this has affected everyday lives and activities such as attending school classes. Such isolation may have impacted children's anxiety levels.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

The clinical impact of COVID-19 disease calls for the identification of routine variables to identify patients at increased risk of death. Current understanding of moderate-to-severe COVID-19 pathophysiology points toward an underlying cytokine release driving a hyperinflammatory and procoagulant state. In this scenario, white blood cells and platelets play a direct role as effectors of such inflammation and thrombotic response.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

Infection by SARS-CoV2 has devastating consequences on health care systems. It is a global health priority to identify patients at risk of fatal outcomes. 1955 patients admitted to HM-Hospitales from 1 March to 10 June 2020 due to COVID-19, were were divided into two groups, 1310 belonged to the training cohort and 645 to validation cohort.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

This study aimed to create an individualized analysis model of the risk of intensive care unit (ICU) admission or death for coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) patients as a tool for the rapid clinical management of hospitalized patients in order to achieve a resilience of medical resources. This is an observational, analytical, retrospective cohort study with longitudinal follow-up. Data were collected from the medical records of 3489 patients diagnosed with COVID-19 using RT-qPCR in the period of highest community transmission recorded in Europe to date: February-June 2020.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

Introduction: Lumbar puncture (LP) is a frequent procedure during the neonatal period. Correctly performing this technique can avoid many of its complications.

Objective: To evaluate the LP procedure in neonates in Spanish hospitals, studying the type of material and the sedation-analgesia used.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

Background: The clinical presentation of COVID-19 ranges from a mild, self-limiting disease, to multiple organ failure and death. Most severe COVID-19 cases present low lymphocytes counts and high leukocytes counts, and accumulated evidence suggests that in a subgroup of patients presenting severe COVID-19, there may be a hyperinflammatory response driving a severe hypercytokinaemia which may be, at least in part, signalling the presence of an underlying endothelial dysfunction. In this context, available data suggest a prognostic role of neutrophil-lymphocyte ratio (NLR) in various inflammatory diseases and oncological processes.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

Purpose: To investigate the metabolic impact of currently used therapies in polycystic ovary syndrome (PCOS).

Methods: This is an observational, retrospective and transversal protocol. A small cohort of 133 patients, aged 14-48 years, diagnosed with PCOS was divided into four experimental groups: 1) untreated PCOS patients (n = 51); 2) PCOS patients treated with one of the following therapies (n = 82): a) combined oral contraceptives (COC, n = 35); b) metformin (n = 11); and c) inositols (n = 36).

View Article and Find Full Text PDF