Publications by authors named "S Antony Savarimuthu"
Background: A proposed new global definition of ARDS seeks to update the Berlin definition and account for nonintubated ARDS and ARDS diagnoses in resource-variable settings.
Research Question: How do ARDS epidemiologic characteristics change with operationalizing the new global definition of ARDS in a resource-limited setting?
Study Design And Methods: We performed a real-use retrospective cohort study among adult patients meeting criteria for the Berlin definition of ARDS or the global definition of ARDS at ICU admission in two public hospitals in the KwaZulu-Natal Department of Health, South Africa, from January 2017 through June 2022.
Results: Among 5,760 adults (aged ≥ 18 years) admitted to the ICU, 2,027 patients (35.
Little is known about the burden of silicosis in Africa, despite extensive mining and construction operations in the region putting numerous people at risk. The implementation experience and costs of case-finding for occupational lung disease in resource-limited settings are also currently unknown. We describe the first-ever silicosis case-finding project in rural Rwanda using chest X-ray, symptom questionnaires, and spirometry.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFBackground: Hospital adaptation and resiliency, required during public health emergencies to optimize outcomes, are understudied especially in resource-limited settings.
Research Question: What are the prepandemic and pandemic critical illness outcomes in a resource-limited setting and in the context of capacity strain?
Study Design And Methods: We performed a retrospective cohort study among patients admitted to ICUs at two public hospitals in the KwaZulu-Natal Department of Health in South Africa preceding and during the COVID-19 pandemic (2017-2022). We used multivariate logistic regression to analyze the association between three patient cohorts (prepandemic non-COVID-19, pandemic non-COVID-19, and pandemic COVID-19) and ICU capacity strain and the primary outcome of ICU mortality.
Article Synopsis
- Pulmonary hypertension (PH) in interstitial lung disease (ILD) leads to higher mortality and reduced physical capacity, with patients showing significantly lower six-minute walk distance and diffusing capacity compared to those with ILD alone.
- Right heart catheterization is the standard for diagnosing PH, but noninvasive methods, particularly gas-exchange derived pulmonary vascular capacitance (GX), have been identified as effective predictors for distinguishing PH-ILD from non-PH ILD.
- Using a combination of GX, estimated right ventricular systolic pressure (eRVSP), and FVC/DLCO ratio enhances the accuracy of identifying PH-ILD, achieving a predictive probability of up to 100% when certain thresholds are met.