Are vital sign abnormalities associated with poor outcomes after emergency department discharge?

To examine association between vital sign abnormalities in the emergency department (ED) and early death after ED discharge, we performed a matched case-control study. Conditional logistic regression showed that presence of any vital sign abnormality at ED discharge was significantly associated with over three-fold increase in likelihood of death within 15 days of ED discharge (OR: 3.06, 95%CI: 2.81-4.48). Even small changes were associated with increased risk: every additional beat increase in heart rate conferred additional risk (OR: 1.04, 95%CI: 1.02-1.06), while every additional oxygen saturation percentage point was protective (0.89, 0.80-0.98). However, none of these vital sign abnormalities was a good predictor of early death; there was poor discrimination and substantial overlap in values between cases and controls.

Knowledge, attitudes and beliefs about tuberculosis in urban Morocco

We sought to characterize conceptions of tuberculosis (TB) in an urban population in Morocco. Thus 301 subjects, some being treated for TB (patients) and some attending health facilities for other conditions (non-patients), in 2 Moroccan cities were surveyed. Most patients did not identify their illness as TB referring instead to a body region or symptom. Non-patients tended to cite causative factors related to living conditions, home and family. There was considerable stigma associated with TB. Most non-patients knew that TB was treatable, but few were aware that diagnosis and treatment were free. Popular understandings of TB etiology and transmission in this population differ from the biomedical view, highlighting the need for better communication about the disease.