Influence of the COPD Assessment Test respiratory item score on the decision to hospitalize patients with disease exacerbation in a hospital emergency department.

Objectives: The COPD Assessment Test (CAT) measures quality of life in patients with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) as well as disease impact on activities of daily living. The questionnaire consists of 8 items related to breathing (cough, phlegm, chest tightness, and breathlessness) and other symptoms (low energy level, sleep disturbances, limitations on daily activities, and confidence when leaving the home). We investigated the relative impact of respiratory versus nonrespiratory scoring on the total CAT score at different moments in the course of COPD exacerbations: baseline (24 hours before an exacerbation), during the exacerbation, 15 days later, and 2 months later.

Modelling the risk of hospital admission of lab confirmed SARS-CoV-2-infected patients in primary care: a population-based study.

The objectives of this study are to develop a predictive model of hospital admission for COVID-19 to help in the activation of emergency services, early referrals from primary care, and the improvement of clinical decision-making in emergency room services. The method is the retrospective cohort study of 49,750 patients with microbiological confirmation of SARS-CoV-2 infection. The sample was randomly divided into two subsamples, for the purposes of derivation and validation of the prediction rule (60% and 40%, respectively).

Chronic obstructive pulmonary disease assessment test: usefulness for monitoring recovery and predicting poor course of disease after exacerbations.

Objectives: To assess the usefulness of the chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) assessment test (CAT) for evaluating recovery from an acute exacerbation of chronic COPD. To assess whether the CAT score used along with a COPD exacerbation severity scale can better predict risk of a poor course of disease.

Methods: Prospective multicenter cohort study enrolling patients who attended hospital emergency departments with symptoms of exacerbated COPD.

[Quality of life in exacerbated chronic obstructive pulmonary disease emergencies: influence on the decision to admit patients and relation to poor outcome at 2 months].

Objectives: To study the influence of quality of life on the decision to admit patients attended for exacerbated chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) in a hospital emergency department (ED) and to explore the association with poor outcome at 2 months.

Material And Methods: Prospective study of a cohort of patients with exacerbated COPD attended in an ED between November 2011 and September 2012. We collected sociodemographic and clinical data as well as scores on the COPD Assessment Test (CAT), the modified scale of the Medical Research Council, and the Borg scale for Perceived Dyspnea at the following times: baseline (clinically stable) (t0), on exacerbation (emergency) (t1), 15 days later or on discharge (t2), and 2 months after the emergency (t3).

Appropriateness of diagnostic effort in hospital emergency room attention for episodes of COPD exacerbation.

Rationale, Aims And Objectives: To assess the adequacy of diagnostic effort in the emergency departments of Spanish hospitals with respect to episodes of exacerbation of chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD).

Methods: A descriptive cross-sectional study, conducted between 2007 and 2010 in 15 hospitals in Andalusia, Catalonia, Madrid and the Basque Country. The study population included cases of COPD exacerbation attended at the emergency departments of the participating hospitals.

Opioid use at the end of life and survival in a Hospital at Home unit.

Background And Significance: Although opioids are commonly used to treat pain, dyspnea, and other symptoms at the end of life, little information is available on the safety and efficacy of the use of these medications in terminally ill patients in the home care setting.

Objectives: To explore whether high doses of opioids, or increasing doses, influence survival in patients with terminal cancer in a Hospital at Home unit.

Methodology: A retrospective cohort study.