A phase II dose evaluation pilot feasibility randomized controlled trial of cholecalciferol in critically ill children with vitamin D deficiency (VITdAL-PICU study)

BACKGROUND

Vitamin D deficiency (VDD) is highly prevalent in the pediatric intensive care unit (ICU) and associated with worse clinical course. Trials in adult ICU demonstrate rapid restoration of vitamin D status using an enteral loading dose is safe and may improve outcomes. There have been no published trials of rapid normalization of VDD in the pediatric ICU.

METHODS

We conducted a multicenter placebo-controlled phase II pilot feasibility randomized clinical trial from 2016 to 2017. We randomized 67 critically ill children with VDD from ICUs in Canada, Chile and Austria using a 2:1 randomization ratio to receive a loading dose of enteral cholecalciferol (10,000 IU/kg, maximum of 400,000 IU) or placebo. Participants, care givers, and outcomes assessors were blinded. The primary objective was to determine whether the loading dose normalized vitamin D status (25(OH)D > 75 nmol/L). Secondary objectives were to evaluate for adverse events and assess the feasibility of a phase III trial.

RESULTS

Of 67 randomized participants, one was withdrawn and seven received more than one dose of cholecalciferol before the protocol was amended to a single loading dose, leaving 59 participants in the primary analyses (40 treatment, 19 placebo). Thirty-one/38 (81.6%) participants in the treatment arm achieved a plasma 25(OH)D concentration > 75 nmol/L versus 1/18 (5.6%) the placebo arm. The mean 25(OH)D concentration in the treatment arm was 125.9 nmol/L (SD 63.4). There was no evidence of vitamin D toxicity and no major drug or safety protocol violations. The accrual rate was 3.4 patients/month, supporting feasibility of a larger trial. A day 7 blood sample was collected for 84% of patients. A survey administered to 40 participating families showed that health-related quality of life (HRQL) was the most important outcome for families for the main trial (30, 75%).

CONCLUSIONS

A single 10,000 IU/kg dose can rapidly and safely normalize plasma 25(OH)D concentrations in critically ill children with VDD, but with significant variability in 25(OH)D concentrations. We established that a phase III multicentre trial is feasible. Using an outcome collected after hospital discharge (HRQL) will require strategies to minimize loss-to-follow-up.

TRIAL REGISTRATION

CLINICALTRIALS

gov NCT02452762 Registered 25/05/2015.

Extreme heat and paediatric emergency department visits in Southwestern Ontario

Objective

The risk of adverse health events is expected to increase with hotter temperatures, particularly among the most vulnerable groups such as elderly persons and children. The objective of this study was to assess the association between extreme heat and daily emergency department visits among children (0 to 17 years) in Southwestern Ontario.

Methods

We examined the average maximum temperature, relative humidity, and daily paediatric emergency department visits in June through August of 2002 to 2019. We reviewed emergency department visits from two academic hospitals. Daily meteorological data from the local weather station were obtained from Environment and Climate Change Canada.

Results

Extreme heat, defined as the 99th percentile of the maximum temperature distribution, occurred at 33.1°C and was associated with an overall 22% increase in emergency department visits, compared to the reference temperature of 21°C. This association was mostly found between the second and fifth day after the exposure, suggesting a slightly delayed effect. The results of the sub-group analysis indicate that the risk of an emergency department visit due to infectious disease increases by 35% and the most pronounced association was noted in children aged 1 to 12 years.

Conclusions

Extreme heat is associated with an increased incidence of emergency department visits in children. As temperatures continue to increase, strategies to mitigate heat-related health risks among children should be developed.

1 Paediatric Transport Safety Collaborative (PTSIC): Critical Events with Family Presence During Paediatric Critical Care Transport

Background

Health care of children in Canada is regionalized; thus, critically ill paediatric patients require transfer to a tertiary care centre for definitive medical and surgical management. There are risks inherent to transporting critically ill patients, and there is a body of literature looking to mitigate risk, which includes tracking and benchmarking quality metrics. One accepted metric is family accompaniment of a child during transport, with some studies suggesting that family accompaniment could compromise care. Currently, there has been no research that examines patient safety and outcomes during paediatric critical care transport with family presence.

Objectives

The primary objective of this study was to compare the rate of critical events (CEs) during the transport of paediatric patients by a specialized paediatric critical care transport team on transports with parental/caregiver accompaniment (P/CA) to those without P/CA. Secondary objectives included whether peak heart rate (HR), systolic blood pressure (SBP), and clinically relevant patient outcomes varied between groups.

Design/Methods

We conducted a retrospective cohort study of all patients (<18 years old) who were admitted to a Paediatric Critical Care Unit and transported by the local neonatal paediatric transport team between April 1st, 2018 and June 1st, 2019, inclusive. The primary outcome was CE occurrence using the composite definition of CE that was previously identified and defined by a national consensus process, which included patient-, transport provider-, laboratory- and system/vehicle- related safety factors. Secondary outcomes included peak and trough HR/SBP, and clinically relevant outcomes (including length of stay, mechanical ventilation free days, and severity of illness and organ dysfunction scores).

Results

There were a total of 178 transports eligible for analysis, and of those, 55 were with P/CA and 123 were without P/CA. The occurrence of CE was not significantly different between transports with and without P/CA (66% vs. 65%, respectively). Similarly, patient HR, SBP, and all measured clinical patient outcomes did not vary significantly between groups.

Conclusion

This study is the first to objectively measure CEs and relate them to patient clinical outcomes with regard to presence of P/CA during paediatric critical care transport. There was no identified increased risk to the patient or crew if parents/caregivers accompanied their child during transport. Areas of future study include whether parental/caregiver presence during transport affects patient anxiety and well-being.

Social Medicine, New Medicine? A curricular integration driving deeper learning with the social drivers of patient care

This article was migrated. The article was marked as recommended. In response to a curricular vision of improved social accountability, our Doctor of Medicine program launched a year-long integrated Social Medicine course designed and implemented for Year 1 medical school students. Our school is a moderate sized medical school serving a region of close to 2 M people in central Canada. The Schulich School of Medicine & Dentistry Doctor of Medicine Program at Western University, London, Ontario Canada, is grounded in a four-year curriculum, each year comprised of up to 171 students with a clinical clerkship in Year 3. Our curriculum is delivered in a distributed fashion between two campuses approximately 200 km apart: London (133) and Windsor (38) learners.The vision of our leadership and learner partners was to provide students with an opportunity to concentrate early in their career on the impact of social, cultural and economic forces on medicine and patient care. Under the umbrella of this new Social Medicine course, we incorporated previous courses in population health, epidemiology, ethics and service learning to provide an exposure to cultural and societal roots; social inequalities; factors impacting treatment outcomes; ethical challenges and experiential community learning opportunities. This article, based upon our Short Communication, "Social Medicine, New Medicine? Redefining Social Medicine for Year 1 medical students", presented at AMEE in Barcelona, 2016, will discuss the origins of our course design as well as the rationale, objectives and caveats of this particular course.

Gemcitabine-related pulmonary toxicity

BACKGROUND

Gemcitabine is an increasingly used and generally well tolerated anticancer drug. Rarely, it leads to potentially fatal pulmonary toxicity.

CASE DESCRIPTIONS AND RESULTS

We describe the clinical features of 5 patients with gemcitabine-related pulmonary toxicity. Due to early diagnosis, prompt discontinuation of the drug, and treatment with steroids, toxicity was reversible in all cases.

CONCLUSION

Early recognition of gemcitabine-related pulmonary toxicity is mandatory.

Gemcitabine-related pulmonary toxicity

BACKGROUND

Gemcitabine is an increasingly used and generally well tolerated anticancer drug. Rarely, it leads to potentially fatal pulmonary toxicity.

CASE DESCRIPTIONS AND RESULTS

We describe the clinical features of 5 patients with gemcitabine-related pulmonary toxicity. Due to early diagnosis, prompt discontinuation of the drug, and treatment with steroids, toxicity was reversible in all cases.

CONCLUSION

Early recognition of gemcitabine-related pulmonary toxicity is mandatory.

Deactivation of macrophages with interleukin-4 is the key to the isolation of Tropheryma whippelii

Whipple's disease is a systemic illness caused by a specific agent. Despite recognition of bacteria in lesions, efforts to isolate the causative agent remained futile. A novel strategy was devised to culture Whipple bacilli in deactivated mononuclear phagocytes. Infected tissue was inoculated into human phagocytes deactivated with interleukin (IL)-4, IL-10, and dexamethasone. Within 8-10 days, diastase-resistant periodic acid-Schiff-positive inclusions appeared, corresponding to intact and degenerating bacteria shown to be Tropheryma whippelii by electron microscopy and molecular analyses. T. whippelii was passaged several times in deactivated monocytes and a monoblastic cell line. Time-kinetics growth studies and comparative polymerase chain reaction analysis documented multiplication of T. whippelii in deactivated macrophages. Complementary studies showed that IL-4 rendered phagocytes permissive for T. whippelii, a strong indication that host factors contribute to the pathogenesis of Whipple's disease. The propagation of T. whippelii will permit microbiologic, immunologic, seroepidemiologic, and therapeutic studies of this pathogen.