Objective: To assess the effect of goal-directed mobilisation (GDM) on physical functioning in medical inpatients.
Design: Randomised, controlled, single-centre, parallel, superiority trial with a 3-month follow-up and blinded outcome assessment.
Setting: General internal medicine wards of a Swiss tertiary acute hospital, September 2021 to April 2023.
Introduction: The Swiss Eosinophilic Esophagitis Cohort Study (SEECS) is a national cohort that was established in 2015 with the aim of improving quality of care of affected adults with eosinophilic esophagitis (EoE). Between 2020 and 2022, paper questionnaires were gradually replaced by fully electronic data capture using Research Electronic Data Capture (REDCap) software. We aim to provide an update of the SEECS 8 years after its launch.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFBackground And Aims: Dysphagia is the hallmark symptom in eosinophilic esophagitis (EoE). However, data are limited regarding the overall prevalence and potential implications of atypical symptoms like odynophagia and retrosternal pain.
Methods: Patients enrolled into the Swiss EoE cohort study (SEECS) were analyzed regarding the presence of odynophagia and retrosternal pain.
Background: Only few previous cohort studies examined simultaneously predictors of chronic pain (CP) onset and recovery. Furthermore, these studies used various sociodemographic and pain-related characteristics, without standardized measures of sleep and depression. The present study aimed at expanding and strengthening these findings in a large Swiss population.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFBackground: Intrathecal morphine provides effective analgesia for a range of operations. However, widespread implementation into clinical practice is hampered by concerns for potential side-effects. We undertook a systematic review, meta-analysis, and meta-regression with the primary objective of determining whether a threshold dose for non-pulmonary complications could be defined and whether an association could be established between dose and complication rates when intrathecal morphine is administered for perioperative or obstetric analgesia.
View Article and Find Full Text PDF: Patients with perianal Crohn's (CD) fistula often need repetitive surgeries and none of the established techniques was shown to be superior or preferable. Furthermore, the long-term outcome of fistula Seton drainage is not well described. The aims of this study were to analyze the long-term healing and recurrence rate of CD perianal fistulas in a large patient cohort.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFBackground: Recommendations suggest favouring regional over general anaesthesia to reduce impact on postoperative sleep apnoea severity, but there is currently no evidence to support this. We compared the impact of general vs spinal anaesthesia on postoperative sleep apnoea severity and assessed the evolution of sleep apnoea severity up to the third postoperative night.
Methods: This post hoc analysis used pooled data from two previous randomised controlled trials in patients undergoing total hip arthroplasty under general or spinal anaesthesia (n=96), without performing a preliminary power analysis.
Importance: Thromboprophylaxis is recommended for medical inpatients at risk of venous thromboembolism (VTE). Risk assessment models (RAMs) have been developed to stratify VTE risk, but a prospective head-to-head comparison of validated RAMs is lacking.
Objectives: To prospectively validate an easy-to-use RAM, the simplified Geneva score, and compare its prognostic performance with previously validated RAMs.
Study Objective: Medial open wedge high tibial osteotomy (MOW HTO) is associated with moderate to severe postoperative pain. The proximal part of the tibia is innervated by branches from the femoral nerve anteriorly and the sciatic nerve posteriorly. There is a paucity of information regarding the optimal peripheral nerve block for postoperative analgesia with minimal impact on motor function.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFBackground: Pharmacologic thromboprophylaxis (pTPX) might exacerbate the risk of clinically relevant bleeding (CRB) and hospital-acquired anemia (HAA) in older multimorbid inpatients.
Objectives: We aimed to evaluate the association of pTPX use with CRB and HAA.
Methods: We used data from a prospective cohort study conducted in 3 Swiss university hospitals.
Background: There are conflicting data as to whether co-treatment with 5-aminosalicylic acid (5-ASA) in patients with inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) under azathioprine (AZA) or 6-mercaptopurine (6-MP) therapy may influence 6-thioguanine nucleotide (6-TGN) concentrations, and whether this combination puts patients at risk of side-effects. The aim of the study was to determine 6-TGN levels in patients treated with AZA/6-MP, either alone or in combination with 5-ASA.
Methods: Available blood samples from patients treated with AZA or 6-MP were retrieved from the Swiss IBD Cohort Study (SIBDCS).
Background: Forefoot surgery is associated with severe postoperative pain. Ankle and sciatic nerve blocks provide satisfactory postoperative analgesia after forefoot surgery, but little is known on their respective duration of analgesia.
Objective: This randomised controlled, single-blinded trial tested the hypothesis that after forefoot surgery in the setting of multimodal analgesia, an ankle block provides analgesia superior to that of a sciatic nerve block at the popliteal crease.
Introduction: It is still unknown whether eosinophilic esophagitis (EoE) patients with localized disease are different from those with extended disease.
Methods: We evaluated prospectively included patients in the Swiss EoE cohort. Data on all patients with active disease at baseline, no concomitant gastroesophageal reflux disease, no strictures at baseline, and at least one follow-up visit were analyzed.
Introduction: Pharmacological thromboprophylaxis slightly increases bleeding risk. The only risk assessment model to predict bleeding in medical inpatients, the IMPROVE bleeding risk score, has never been validated using prospectively collected outcome data.
Methods: We validated the IMPROVE bleeding risk score in a prospective multicenter cohort of medical inpatients.
Introduction: Previous trials favored a continuous interscalene brachial plexus block over a single injection for major shoulder surgery. However, these trials did not administer a multimodal analgesic regimen. This randomized, controlled unblinded trial tested the hypothesis that a continuous infusion of local anesthetic for an interscalene brachial plexus block still provides superior analgesia after major shoulder surgery when compared with a single injection in the setting of multimodal analgesia, inclusive of intravenous dexamethasone, magnesium, acetaminophen and ketorolac.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFIntroduction: The aim of this study was to evaluate the effectiveness of a real-life clinical physical activity program (DIAfit) on improving physical fitness, body composition, and cardiometabolic health in an unselected population with type 2 diabetes mellitus, and to compare the effects of two variants a different exercise frequencies on the same outcomes.
Research Design And Methods: This was a cluster randomized-controlled assessor-blind trial conducted in 11 clinical centres in Switzerland. All participants in the clinical program with type 2 diabetes were eligible and were randomized to either standard (3 sessions/week for 12 weeks) or alternative (1 session/week for the first four weeks, then 2 sessions/week for the rest of 16 weeks) physical activity program each consisting of 36 sessions of combined aerobic and resistance exercise.
Purpose: This study hypothesized that ratios of sonographic cross-sectional areas (CSAs) throughout the median nerve provide a more reliable tool for diagnosing carpal tunnel syndrome (CTS) than a single CSA value. We first tested this hypothesis in a retrospective cohort and subsequently confirmed it in a prospective blinded case-control series.
Methods: Seventy patients were included in the retrospective study, and 50 patients and matched controls were included for the prospective study.
Response to ADP P2Y receptor inhibition by clopidogrel can be evaluated by various techniques. Here, we compared a functional rapid point-of-care technique (PFA-P2Y) with the degree of biochemical inhibition assessed by the VASP/P2Y assay. Platelet response to clopidogrel was investigated in 173 patients undergoing elective intracerebral stenting (derivation cohort = 117; validation cohort = 56).
View Article and Find Full Text PDFIntroduction: There is a complex interrelationship between gastroesophageal reflux disease (GERD) and eosinophilic esophagitis (EoE) potentially promoting the occurrence and modulating severity of each other reciprocally. Presence of Barrett's esophagus (BE) is a defining factor for the diagnosis of GERD. While several studies investigated the potential impact of concomitant GERD on the presentation and course of EoE, little was known with regards to BE in EoE patients.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFBackground: Intravenous dexamethasone prolongs duration of analgesia or sensory block after injection of local anaesthetics close to peripheral nerves by an average of 8 h. Uncertainty remains on the potential increase in the duration of sensory block after spinal anaesthesia. The objective of this randomised controlled double-blinded trial was to investigate whether dexamethasone i.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFBackground: Little is known about the impact of ostomy formation in inflammatory bowel disease patients on course of disease, psychological well-being, quality of life and working capacity.
Methods: We analyzed patients over a follow-up of up to 16 years in the Swiss inflammatory bowel disease cohort study (SIBDCS) with prospective data collection. We compared Ulcerative colitis and Crohn's disease patients with and without ostomy as well as permanent and closed stoma formation before and after surgery, investigating disease activity, psychological wellbeing and working capacity in a case-control design.
Introduction: Given the lack of data, we aimed to assess the impact of the length of diagnostic delay on the natural history of ulcerative colitis (UC) in pediatric (diagnosed <18 years) and adult patients (diagnosed ≥18 years).
Methods: Data from the Swiss Inflammatory Bowel Disease Cohort Study were analyzed. Diagnostic delay was defined as the interval between the first appearance of UC-related symptoms until diagnosis.
Background: Third trimester fetal anthropometric parameters are known to predict neonatal complications. A better understanding of predictors of adverse fetal parameters might help to personalize the use and frequency of fetal ultrasound. The objectives of this study were: (a) to evaluate the utility of maternal sociodemographic, anthropometric and metabolic predictors to predict 3 trimester fetal anthropometric parameters in women with gestational diabetes mellitus (GDM), (b) to assess whether the impact of these maternal predictors is fetal sex-dependent, and (c) to provide a risk stratification for markers of fetal overgrowth (fetal weight centile (FWC) and fetal abdominal circumference centile (FACC) depending on prepregnancy BMI and gestational weight gain (GWG) until the 1 GDM visit.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFUnlabelled: Given the paucity of data, we aimed to assess the impact of obesity on disease activity, complications, and quality of life (QoL) in pediatric inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) patients.
Methods: Prospective analysis of pediatric IBD patients. Patients were categorized into 4 groups according to the World Health Organization (WHO) child growth standards: obese, overweight, normal weight, and underweight.