Publications by authors named "Beatriz Lopez Barbeito"
The increasing burden on mental health has become a worldwide concern especially due to its substantial negative social and economic impact. The implementation of prevention actions and psychological interventions is crucial to mitigate these consequences, and evidence supporting its effectiveness would facilitate a more assertive response. Heart rate variability biofeedback (HRV-BF) has been proposed as a potential intervention to improve mental wellbeing through mechanisms in autonomic functioning.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFBackground And Objective: The Covid-19 pandemic continues challenging health systems globally, exposing healthcare workers to constant physical and psychological stressors. To date, several studies have already shown the catastrophic impact on the mental health of medical personnel during the early period of the pandemic. Nevertheless, literature evidences the dearth of works that evaluate the effect over time, understanding the pandemic as a sustained extreme stressor.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFObjectives: To analyze the frequency and clinical characteristics associated with erroneous initial classifications of noncardiac chest pain (NCP) in men and women.
Material And Methods: We analyzed all case records in which chest pain was initially classified as noncardiac in origin according to clinical signs and electrocardiograms evaluated in our emergency department between 2008 and 2017. We considered the initial evaluation of NCP to be in error if the final diagnosis was acute coronary syndrome.
Article Synopsis
- The study aimed to determine the relationship between troponin levels and the risk of major adverse cardiovascular events (MACE) in patients with rapid atrial fibrillation (RAF) and chest discomfort thought to be coronary-related.
- A total of 574 patients were followed over several years, revealing that increased troponin levels were independently linked to a higher risk for MACE, acute coronary syndrome (ACS), type I myocardial infarction, and stroke, but not to death or revascularization.
- The findings suggest that higher troponin levels correlate with increased cardiovascular risks, indicating that troponin could be an essential marker for risk assessment in similar patients.
Background And Objective: The Covid-19 pandemic continues challenging health systems globally, exposing healthcare workers to constant physical and psychological stressors. To date, several studies have already shown the catastrophic impact on the mental health of medical personnel during the early period of the pandemic. Nevertheless, literature evidences the dearth of works that evaluate the effect over time, understanding the pandemic as a sustained extreme stressor.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFIncidence, clinical presentation, management, and outcome of acute pericarditis and myopericarditis.
Eur Heart J Acute Cardiovasc Care
February 2022
Aims: Little is known about the epidemiology, clinical presentation, management, and outcome of acute pericarditis and myopericarditis.
Methods And Results: The final diagnoses of acute pericarditis, myopericarditis, and non-ST-segment elevation myocardial infarction (NSTEMI) of patients presenting to seven emergency departments in Switzerland with acute chest pain were centrally adjudicated by two independent cardiologists using all information including serial measurements of high-sensitivity cardiac troponin T. The overall incidence of pericarditis and myopericarditis was estimated relative to the established incidence of NSTEMI.
Introduction: The SARS-CoV-2 outbreak is posing unprecedented care scenarios, increasing the psychological distress among healthcare workers while reducing the efficiency of health systems. This work evaluated the psychological impact of the Covid-19 pandemic on Spanish frontline healthcare workers of two tertiary hospitals.
Material And Methods: Healthcare workers were recruited from the medical units designated for the care of Covid-19 patients.
Article Synopsis
- - The study investigates cardiac troponin levels in patients suspected of having non-ST-segment-elevation myocardial infarction (NSTEMI) to validate a proposed cutoff for further triage and improve patient assessment in emergency settings.
- - Out of 2,076 patients surveyed, 1,512 were either ruled out or ruled in for NSTEMI using existing guidelines, while 564 patients fell into an 'observe-zone,' revealing a prevalence of NSTEMI in that group.
- - A new criterion was derived from the results, suggesting that a 3-hour hs-cTnT concentration of less than 15 ng/L and a change of less than 4 ng/L could effectively rule out NSTEMI in 99.
Objectives: To develop a risk model to predict 30-day mortality after emergency department treatment for COVID-19.
Material And Methods: Observational retrospective cohort study including 2511 patients with COVID-19 who came to our emergency department between March 1 and April 30, 2020. We analyzed variables with Kaplan Meier survival and Cox regression analyses.
Objective: We investigated which factors predict late presentation (LP) to the emergency department (ED) in patients with non-traumatic chest pain (CP).
Methods: All CP cases attended at a single ED (2008-2017) were included. LP was considered if time from CP onset to ED arrival was>6 h.
Objectives: To analyze emergency department (ED) revisits from patients discharged with possible coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19).
Material And Methods: Retrospective observational study of consecutive patients who came to the ED over a period of 2 months and were diagnosed with possible COVID-19. We analyzed clinical and epidemiologic variables, treatments given in the ED, discharge destination, need to revisit, and reasons for revisits.
Article Synopsis
- This study aimed to assess the challenges of diagnosing acute coronary syndrome (ACS) in patients who have previously undergone coronary artery bypass grafting (CABG) when they present with chest pain (CP).
- The research involved 34,429 patients over 10 years, revealing that while CABG patients showed more common symptoms and ECG findings linked to ACS, their overall rates of ACS diagnosis were lower compared to non-CABG patients.
- The findings suggest that CABG impacts the reliability of symptoms and ECG results in diagnosing ACS, and longer emergency department stays for CABG patients are primarily due to their existing health conditions rather than the CABG status itself.
Caregiver burnout syndrome is an increasingly seen condition, although the subjective nature of self-administered psychometric tests and the lack of a consensual diagnostic tool might hinder a proper diagnosis. The availability of objective psychosomatic measures of stress might facilitate the early diagnosis and clinical management of these patients. For this reason, the aim of this work was to develop a quantitative tool to evaluate the stress level of caregivers in a noninvasive and repeatable manner.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFExternal validation of an emergency department triage algorithm for chest pain patients.
Eur Heart J Acute Cardiovasc Care
September 2020
Article Synopsis
- - The study aimed to validate an emergency department triage algorithm designed to identify low-risk chest pain patients using five key clinical variables, potentially allowing for delayed evaluation instead of immediate treatment.
- - Two separate cohorts were analyzed: a single-centre study with over 29,000 patients and an international multicentre study with around 4,000 patients, assessing how well the algorithm performed in predicting acute coronary syndrome.
- - Results showed that while the algorithm had very high sensitivity and negative predictive value in both studies, its effectiveness in classifying patients as low risk was low, suggesting that adjustments in the model could improve its efficacy.
Article Synopsis
- The study examines clinical features of acute pericarditis in patients visiting the emergency department, focusing on age differences and cases of myopericarditis over a decade (2008-2017).
- Younger patients typically reported sharp, positional chest pain, while older patients often experienced oppressive pain and had more cardiovascular issues, with a higher suspicion of coronary conditions.
- Factors linked to hospitalization included renal insufficiency, tachycardia, and electrocardiographic abnormalities, with specific indications for myopericarditis being significant in predicting admissions.
Article Synopsis
- The study aimed to analyze clinical and ECG findings in patients with nontraumatic chest pain (NTCP) to see how these relate to diagnoses of acute coronary syndrome (ACS).
- Over a decade, data from 34,552 patient visits were evaluated, focusing on 33 independent variables to determine their impact on initial and final ACS diagnoses.
- Results indicated that while many variables effectively identified ACS cases, some either overestimated or underestimated the risk, urging emergency physicians to consider these factors in their evaluations.
Article Synopsis
- The study examines changes in patients presenting with nontraumatic chest pain at a hospital's chest pain unit over a decade, noting a significant increase in visits, especially during weekdays and working hours.
- Over the 10-year period, there was a notable rise in the number of women and younger patients, alongside a decrease in cardiovascular risk factors and history of ischemic heart disease among patients.
- The rates of acute coronary syndrome (ACS) ruling out improved over time, but the time to final diagnosis increased, particularly for those ultimately diagnosed with ACS.
We report a case of electrocardiographic signature of the Brugada syndrome in a 39-year-old patient with an overdose of diphenhydramine. He was found unconscious and hypotensive. His serum potassium concentration was 8.
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