Characteristics of Asthma Exacerbations in Emergency Care in Switzerland-Demographics, Treatment, and Burden of Disease in Patients with Asthma Exacerbations Presenting to an Emergency Department in Switzerland (CARE-S).

Emergency care for asthma is provided by general practitioners, pulmonologists, and emergency departments (EDs). Although it is known that patients presenting to EDs with acute asthma exacerbations are a vulnerable population and that this mode of presentation is a risk marker for more severe complications, research on this population is scarce. We conducted a retrospective study on patients with asthma exacerbations who presented to the ED of the University Hospital Basel, Switzerland, during 2017-2020.

Prognosis for older people at presentation to emergency department based on frailty and aggregated vital signs.

Background: Risk stratification for older people based on aggregated vital signs lack the accuracy to predict mortality at presentation to the Emergency Department (ED). We aimed to develop and internally validate the Frailty adjusted Prognosis in ED tool (FaP-ED) for 30-day mortality combining frailty and aggregated vital signs.

Methods: Single-center prospective cohort of undifferentiated ED patients aged 65 or older, consecutively sampled upon ED presentation from a tertiary Emergency Center.

Inverse relationship between IL-6 and sodium levels in patients with COVID-19 and other respiratory tract infections: data from the COVIVA study.

Objective: Hyponatremia in COVID-19 is often due to the syndrome of inadequate antidiuresis (SIAD), possibly mediated by interleukin-6 (IL-6)-induced non-osmotic arginine vasopressin (AVP) secretion. We hypothesized an inverse association between IL-6 and plasma sodium concentration, stronger in COVID-19 compared to other respiratory infections.

Design: Secondary analysis of a prospective cohort study including patients with COVID-19 suspicion admitted to the Emergency Department, University Hospital of Basel, Switzerland, between March and July 2020.

The clinical frailty scale predicts 1-year mortality in emergency department patients aged 65 years and older.

Objective: To validate the Clinical Frailty Scale (CFS) for prediction of 1-year all-cause mortality in the emergency department (ED) and compare its performance to the Emergency Severity Index (ESI).

Methods: Prospective cohort study at the ED of a tertiary care center in Northwestern Switzerland. All patients aged ≥65 years were included from March 18 to May 20, 2019, after informed consent.

Mimics and chameleons of COVID-19: patient presentation and accuracy of triage during the first wave.

Study Aims: To quantify mimics and chameleons of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19), to analyse the diagnostic accuracy of the triage protocol, and to describe the resulting groups of mimics and chameleons - including their presenting symptoms and final diagnoses.

Methods: Diagnostic accuracy study including all adult patients tested for severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus type 2 (SARS-CoV-2) at the emergency department of the University Hospital Basel, Switzerland during the first wave of pandemic in spring 2020. Diagnostic accuracy of triage was determined by calculating sensitivity, specificity, positive and negative predictive value, and positive and negative likelihood ratio.