[Mobile cardiovascular screening and prevention in the population : useful in Switzerland?]

Mobile cardiovascular prevention interventions are still uncommon in Switzerland. Mobile clinics improve access to prevention and enable new diagnoses of hypertension or hypercholesterolemia to be identified in a cost-effective way and has shown benefits in health behaviors such as physical activity, smoking cessation and medication compliance. The Unisanté Bus Santé is a mobile clinic run by nurses that offers screening for cardiovascular risk factors, health advice and, if necessary, referral to medical care. Mobile health initiatives such as the Bus Santé could play a more important role in the Swiss healthcare system, bringing personalized preventive care closer to the population.

Ventilator-Associated Pneumonia in COVID-19 Patients: A Retrospective Cohort Study

INTRODUCTION

Aim of this study is to analyse the characteristics of ventilator-associated pneumonia (VAP) inpatients infected by severe acute respiratory syndrome-coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2).

MATERIALS AND METHODS

A retrospective study was conducted, including coronavirus infectious disease 2019 (COVID-19) patients who developed VAP from March to May 2020 (VAP COVID-19). They were compared to non-COVID-19 patients who developed VAP from January 2011 to December 2019 (VAP NO COVID-19) and COVID-19 patients who did not develop VAP (NO VAP COVID-19).

RESULTS

Overall, 42 patients were included in the VAP COVID-19group, 37 in the NO VAP COVID-19 group, and 188 in the VAP NO COVID-19 group. VAP COVID-19 had significantly higher rates of shock (71% vs. 48%, p = 0.009), death in ICU (52% vs. 30%, p = 0.011), VAP recurrence (28% vs. 4%, p < 0.0001), positive blood culture (26% vs. 13%, p = 0.038), and polymicrobial culture (28% vs. 13%, p = 0.011) than VAP NO COVID-19. At the multivariate analysis, death in patients with VAP was associated with shock (p = 0.032) and SARS-CoV-2 (p = 0.008) infection.

CONCLUSIONS

VAP in COVID-19 patients is associated with shock, bloodstream, and polymicrobial infections.

Clinical features and medical care factors associated with mortality in French nursing homes during the COVID-19 outbreak

Objectives

This study aimed to identify demographic, clinical and medical care factors associated with mortality in three nursing homes in France.

Methods

Two nursing homes were hospital-dependent, had connections with infection prevention and control departments, and had permanent physicians. A third nursing home had no direct connection with a general hospital, no infection control practitioner, and no permanent physician. The main outcome was death.

Results

During the first 3 months of the outbreak, 224 of 375 (59.7%) residents were classified as COVID-19 cases and 57 of 375 (15.2%) died. The hospital-dependent nursing homes had lower COVID-19 case fatality rates in comparison with the non-hospital-dependent nursing home (15 [6.6%] vs 38 [25.8%], OR 0.20 [0.11–0.38], p = 0.001). During the first 3 weeks of the outbreak, mortality in COVID-19 patients decreased if they had a daily clinical examination (OR: 0.09 [0.03–0.35], p = 0.01), three vital signs measurement per day (OR: 0.06 [0.01–0.30], p = 0.001) and prophylactic anticoagulation (OR: 0 [0.00–0.24], p = 0.001).

Conclusions

This study suggested that high mortality rates in some nursing homes during the COVID-19 outbreak might have been contributed by a lack of medical care management. Increasing human and material resources, encouraging presence of nursing home physicians and establishing a connection with general hospitals should be considered to deal with present and future health disasters in nursing homes.