[Hospital readmission induced by adverse drug reaction: a pilot study in a post-emergency unit of a French university hospital].

Purpose: Adverse Drug Reactions (ADRs) leading to hospital admission was estimated to 3.6 to 21.7%.

Which adverse events are related to health care during hospitalization in elderly inpatients?

Background: Adverse events result in longer hospital stays and increase costs and mortality. We aimed to assess incidence of adverse events occurring during hospitalization in a post-emergency unit and to describe their characteristics.

Methods: All adverse events occurring in patients during their hospitalization in a post-emergency unit in a French university hospital (20 beds) were systematically and consecutively recorded from September 2009 to February 2011.

Cannabis-related hospitalizations: unexpected serious events identified through hospital databases.

Aims: Cannabis is the most prevalent illicit drug used worldwide and can be responsible for serious health defects in users. However, the risk related to cannabis consumption is not well established. The present study aimed to assess cannabis-related adverse events leading to hospitalization, and to estimate the corresponding annual risk for consumers.

Harmful effect of saline infusion in a patient with glycyrrhizic acid poisoning.

Alcohol-free licorice beverages contain glycyrrhizic acid. Excess glycyrrhizic acid is a well-known cause of excess mineralocorticoid syndrome. We report a case of glycyrrhizic acid poisoning in an abstinent alcoholic complicated by severe pulmonary edema following excessive hydration with intravenous normal saline.

Heat-related illnesses during the 2003 heat wave in an emergency service.

Introduction: This study describes patients admitted to an urban emergency service in France during the 2003 heat wave. Patients with heat-related illnesses were studied and comparison was made between those who died and survivors.

Methods: A retrospective study of about 760 records concerning 726 patients aged over 65 years admitted during August 2003 to a French emergency department.

Hospitalizations because of adverse drug reactions in elderly patients admitted through the emergency department: a prospective survey.

Background And Objectives: Several studies have been conducted to determine the frequency and characteristics of adverse drug reactions (ADRs) in elderly populations, focusing on those leading to hospital admission. However, most of these studies have been limited in their ability to assess risk factors, particularly the renal status of patients. Thus, the aim of this prospective study was to assess the incidence of ADRs and associated factors leading to hospital admissions in the elderly population.

Assessing the feasibility of using an adverse drug reaction preventability scale in clinical practice: a study in a French emergency department.

Objective: To assess the preventability of adverse drug reactions (ADRs) leading to hospital admissions and to investigate the feasibility of the use of a standardised preventability scale in clinical practice.

Design: The study was a prospective pharmacovigilance study. All patients more than 15 years old admitted to an emergency department during a period of 4 weeks were included.

[Preventability of adverse effects in a medical emergency service].

The aim of this prospective pharmacovigilance study was to assess the incidence and the preventability of adverse drug reactions (ADRs) leading to hospital admissions. All patients admitted to the Toulouse University Hospital through the medical admission ward during four non-consecutive weeks were included in the study. Characteristics of patients admitted for a suspected ADR (cases) were compared with those admitted for other reasons (controls).

[Pulmonary embolism in patients using estrogen-progestagen contraceptives].

Objectives: The risk of thromboembolism in patients taking estrogen-progestagen oral contraceptive drugs has apparently increased since the introduction of third-generation progestagens (desogestrel, gestodene). We examined the clinical features, risk factors and outcome of pulmonary embolism in this context.

Patients And Methods: We reviewed 11 cases of thromboembolism in patients on oral contraception and hospitalized in emergency situations in 1995 and 1996 for pulmonary embolism in order to determine the gravity of the thromboembolic event, risk factors and type of drug used.

[Systemic manifestations of primary Gougerot-Sjögren syndrome. Nature and incidence apropos of 34 cases].

Objectives: Assess the systemic manifestations observed in patients with primary Sjörgen's syndrome and the correlation between clinical findings and paraclinical data.

Methods: This retrospective study included patients who met the preliminary European criteria established in 1993.

Results: Among the 34 patients with primary Sjögren's syndrome (32 women, 2 men, mean age 54.

[Course of interstitial lung diseases associated with inflammatory myopathies. Apropos of 5 cases].

We describe five cases of polymyositis/dermatomyositis with interstitial lung disease, occurring in women, with a mean follow up of 28 months (15 to 51). One remained without respiratory symptoms, two had a chronic and relapsing course, and two an acute course, leading to death with respiratory failure in one. Anti-Jo1 antibody was found in two patients, without relation to the gravity of the respiratory illness.

[Kikuchi syndrome, Hashimoto thyroiditis and lupus serology. Apropos of a case].

Histiocytic necrotizing lymphadenitis (Kikuchi's disease) is an uncommon disease of the cervical lymph nodes occurring in young women, commonly associated with various auto-immune or infectious diseases. We describe the case of a 17 year-old girl who presented a Kikuchi's lymphadenitis occurring concomitantly with Hashimoto's thyroiditis and lupus serology as anti-nuclear, anti-DNA, anticardiolipid antibodies and hypocomplementemia. The patient was treated with prednisone and hydroxychloroquine.

[Specific respiratory manifestations associated with hemorrhagic rectocolitis. Analysis of a case and review of the literature].

Respiratory impairments occurring as systemic manifestations of ulcerative colitis are often misinterpreted. We report a case of chronic productive bronchitis associated with ulcerative colitis; symptoms appeared after colectomy. Clinical features distinguished it from common chronic bronchitis: it occurred in a woman without respiratory disease or smoking history, a chronic productive cough without bronchiectasis, negative infectious investigations, severe endoscopic and histologic lesions, and above all remarkable steroid efficacy.

Treatment of systemic vasculitis with cyclophosphamide and steroids: daily oral low-dose cyclophosphamide administration after failure of a pulse intravenous high-dose regimen in four patients.

The efficacy of cyclophosphamide (CY) in the treatment of severe systemic vasculitis has been demonstrated, but its optimal administration regimen remains to be defined. The four patients described participated in prospective therapeutic trials of polyarteritis nodosa (PAN) without hepatitis B infection markers, Churg-Strauss syndrome (CSS) and Wegener's granulomatosis (WG) and received daily oral low-dose CY after failure of a monthly pulse regimen. These patients were included in this study because of failure to induce clinical remission (two patients) and relapse during the course of treatment (two patients).

[Microscopic polyarteritis].

Microscopic polyarteritis is an idiopathic necrotising vascularitis of the small vessels. Manifestations include diffuse alveolar haemorrhage, segmentary necrotising glomerulonephritis, and a cutaneous, articular, neurological or digestive vascularitis. The absence of a histological granulomas and medium calibre vessel involvement distinguishes Wegener's syndrome from polyarteritis nodulosa.