OBJECTIVE

To determine the prevalence of rectal colonization with carbapenem-resistant organisms (CRO) among PGH neonatal intensive care unit (NICU) patients.

A prospective single-center observational study conducted over a 1-month period included all NICU 3 and cohort area patients admitted on April 24, 2024. Rectal swabs were collected for multidrug-resistant organism (MDRO) screening and repeated weekly for 1 month while admitted. Swabs were inoculated on chromogenic media, and isolates were identified and tested for antimicrobial sensitivity by disk diffusion. Clinical characteristics and outcomes were collected for 30 days from initial MDRO screening. Descriptive statistics were used to summarize the data.

The point prevalence of CRO colonization was 37% (14 of 38) at initial screening. There were 14 incident colonizations, hence the 4-week period prevalence of CRO colonization was 72.5% (29 of 40). The patients were mostly very preterm, very low birth weight neonates, majority were tested within the first 2 weeks of life, and half were exposed to meropenem at initial screening. Nosocomial infection developed in 29% and 64%, and 30-day mortality rate was 8% and 21% among initially non-CRO-colonized and CRO-colonized patients respectively. Despite high CRO colonization, no culture-proven CRO infection was observed. Surveillance screening documented persistent CRO colonization in 37%, but no decolonization. Escherichia coli, Klebsiella spp. and Serratia spp. were the most common colonizers.

The high prevalence of rectal CRO colonization in the NICU emphasizes the burden of antimicrobial resistance, but despite the high CRO colonization, no CRO infection was documented from the limited sample and study period.

BACKGROUND

The use of ceftazidime-avibactam (CAZ-AVI) has been recently introduced to combat multidrug-resistant organisms (MDROs) in the pediatric population. Case reports have documented the successful off-label use of CAZ-AVI in the treatment of MDRO sepsis in neonates; however, data remains to be limited, especially in the Philippines.

This study aims to explore the effects of CAZ-AVI on clinical outcomes including mortality rate, length of hospital stay since treatment initiation, and bacteriological eradication among patients admitted at the NICU with MDR Klebsiella hospital-acquired sepsis. Other objectives include comparing these outcomes betwee those who received CAZ-AVI (in combination with aztreonam, ATM) and those who received other 2nd line MDR-antibiotic regimens used for carbapenem-resistant Klebsiella growths, as well as exploring the association of factors such as gestational age and age at sepsis diagnosis of patients with their outcomes post-treatment with CAZ-AVI± ATM.

This is a retrospective cohort study of admitted patients in a neonatal intensive care unit of a tertiary hospital with MDR Klebsiella hospital-acquired sepsis across a two-year period. A review of medical records was done, and data were collected and analyzed.

There were a total 11 patients treated with CAZ-AVI ± ATM compared with 11 patients given other 2nd line antibiotic treatment regimens. The use of CAZ-AVI ± ATM exhibited a trend towards a decreased mortality rate (54.5%, p = 0.17), shorter length of hospital stays from treatment initiation (30.7 days, p = 0.50), and increased bacteriological eradication rates (63.6%, p < 0.05), compared with other 2nd line antibiotic treatment regimens, regardless of gestational age and age at sepsis diagnosis.

The use of CAZ-AVI ± ATM showed a more favorable trend compared with other 2nd line antimicrobials for with MDR Klebsiella hospital-acquired sepsis. These observations, however, require further confirmation with a prospective study, a longer study period, and an increase in sample size.

Human ; Infant, Newborn ; Mass Screening ; Neonatal Screening ; Censuses

Infant, Newborn ; Mass Screening ; Neonatal Screening

BACKGROUND: Congenital heart disease (CHD) is a leading cause of birth defect-related mortality. However, more recent CHD mortality data for China are lacking. Additionally, limited studies have evaluated sex, rural-urban, and region-specific disparities of CHD mortality in China. METHODS: We designed a population-based study using data from the Dataset of National Mortality Surveillance in China between 2008 and 2021. We calculated age-adjusted CHD mortality using the sixth census data of China in 2010 as the standard population. We assessed the temporal trends in CHD mortality by age, sex, area, and region from 2008 to 2021 using the joinpoint regression model. RESULTS: From 2008 to 2021, 33,534 deaths were attributed to CHD. The period witnessed a two-fold decrease in the age-adjusted CHD mortality from 1.61 to 0.76 per 100,000 persons (average annual percent change [AAPC] = -5.90%). Females tended to have lower age-adjusted CHD mortality than males, but with a similar decline rate from 2008 to 2021 (females: AAPC = -6.15%; males: AAPC = -5.84%). Similar AAPC values were observed among people living in urban (AAPC = -6.64%) and rural (AAPC = -6.12%) areas. Eastern regions experienced a more pronounced decrease in the age-adjusted CHD mortality (AAPC = -7.86%) than central (AAPC = -5.83%) and western regions (AAPC = -3.71%) between 2008 and 2021. Approximately half of the deaths (46.19%) due to CHD occurred during infancy. The CHD mortality rates in 2021 were lower than those in 2008 for people aged 0-39 years, with the largest decrease observed among children aged 1-4 years (AAPC = -8.26%), followed by infants (AAPC = -7.01%). CONCLUSIONS CHD mortality in China has dramatically decreased from 2008 to 2021. The slower decrease in CHD mortality in the central and western regions than in the eastern regions suggested that public health policymakers should pay more attention to health resources and health education for central and western regions.
Humans ; Heart Defects, Congenital/mortality* ; Male ; Female ; China/epidemiology* ; Infant ; Child, Preschool ; Adult ; Child ; Adolescent ; Infant, Newborn ; Middle Aged ; Young Adult ; Aged ; Rural Population

BACKGROUND: Asthma, one of the most widespread chronic respiratory diseases, has placed a considerable economic and social stress on China. This study examines the burden of asthma in China from 1990 to 2021 and forecasts future trends, providing guidance for establishing focused preventive and regulatory strategies. METHODS: Utilizing data from the Global Burden of Disease Database 2021, the analysis of trends in asthma burden was conducted for China from 1990 to 2021. Key indicators such as incidence, prevalence, mortality, and disability-adjusted life years (DALYs) were analysed. The investigation applied the estimated annual percentage change (EAPC), average annual percentage change (AAPC), and age-period-cohort model (APCM) to evaluate these trends. Furthermore, predictions for incidence and mortality in 2035 were generated using the Bayesian APCM and the Nordpred model. RESULTS: In 2021, there were 25,015,668 prevalent asthma cases in China, alongside 3,934,875 new cases and 26,233 deaths. The age-standardized incidence rate and age-standardized death rate for 2021 were 364.17 (95% uncertainty interval [95% UI]: 283.22-494.1) per 100,000 population and 1.47 (95% UI: 1.15-1.79) per 100,000 population, respectively. The age-standardized rates (ASRs) for incidence were detected to be elevated in the 0-4 years age group, and the prevalence was significantly higher in the 5-9 years age group compared to other cohorts. ASR for incidence and prevalence of asthma in China were lower than that in the global average. Between 1990 and 2021, the ASR of incidence, prevalence, mortality, and DALYs demonstrated a downward trajectory, with EAPC values of -1.17, -1.57, -4.69, and -2.98, respectively. People aged 0-9 years and over 60 years experienced a disproportionately higher disease burden. Projections indicate that the ASRs for incidence will continue to rise, whereas the death will continue to decline by 2035. CONCLUSIONS Between 1990 and 2021, a general reduction in the asthma burden in China was observed. However, the burden remains particularly high among people aged 0-9 years and over 60 years, underscoring the need for targeted interventions and policies to address the ongoing challenges of asthma.
Humans ; Asthma/mortality* ; China/epidemiology* ; Global Burden of Disease ; Incidence ; Disability-Adjusted Life Years ; Male ; Adult ; Middle Aged ; Child ; Adolescent ; Female ; Prevalence ; Child, Preschool ; Infant ; Aged ; Young Adult ; Infant, Newborn ; Bayes Theorem

OBJECTIVE: This study described bronchiectasis profiles at the Philippine Children’s Medical Center (2021-2023). MATERIALS AND METHODS: A retrospective chart review at PCMC analyzed the demographic profile, imaging, management and outcome of patients with bronchiectasis enrolled in the Chronic Lung Disease Program from 2021-2023. Results: Twenty seven patients were included in this study. Most patients were diagnosed after the age of six and showed female predominance. The most common symptom at the time of diagnosis was chronic cough (81.5%) with pulmonary tuberculosis (51.9%) as the most common etiology. All patients were treated with cyclic azithromycin. Pseudomonas aeruginosa was the prevalent microorganism isolated in the sputum and tracheal aspirate samples of the patients (56.5%). Conclusion Patients with bronchiectasis were more commonly diagnosed in children past age of six with more prevalence in females. The most common symptom was chronic cough followed by fever, dyspnea and weight loss. Pulmonary tuberculosis and recurrent respiratory infections were noted to be the most common etiology with the left lower lobe most affected in HRCT. The most common phenotype seen was cystic, which is irreversible and a sign of progressive bronchiectasis, which may point to a late diagnosis. This emphasizes the need for physicians to have a high index of suspicion in patients with chronic or recurrent respiratory symptoms. All patients were treated with an oral macrolide with 25-31% of patients with decreased and/or absent symptoms. Pseudomonas aeruginosa was the prevalent microorganism isolated in the sputum and tracheal aspirate samples of the patients, which should be taken into account when treating for exacerbation.
Human ; Male,Female ; Infant newborn: First 28 days after birth ; Infant: 1-23 months ; Child Preschool: 2-5 yrs old ; Child: 6-12 yrs old ; Bronchiectasis ; Patients ; Tuberculosis ; Infections

Objective:To determine the effectiveness of a one-stage hearing screening protocol in detecting hearing loss in high risk newborns at the Neonatal Intensive Care Unit of the Jose R. Reyes Memorial Medical Center.

Methods:
Design:Cross-Sectional Study
Setting:Tertiary Government Training Hospital
Population:High-risk newborns admitted at the Neonatal Intensive Care Unit of the Jose R. Reyes Memorial Medical Center from March to December 2023 underwent a one stage universal newborn hearing screening protocol. Excluded from the study were patients who were admitted for less than 48 hours, without consent from their parents or guardians and babies who were not cleared medically to undergo testing, and those who presented with aural atresia and/or any physical anomaly of the head and the external ear.

Results:A total of 169 babies were initially seen with 16 babies lost to follow up resulting in a final total of 153 babies (or 306 ears) tested. The refer and false positive rates were 9.8% and 8.92%, respectively, on average comparable to or even better than the two-step protocol in most studies. Sensitivity was determined to be 100% while specificity was 91.08%. The incidence of hearing loss in the study population was 19.8/1000, consistent with various study outcomes for high risk newborns. There was no reported incidence of auditory neuropathy in this study. The primary risk factors that were present in babies with hearing loss were: low birth weight, prematurity, neonatal intensive care unit admission of more than 5 days and exposure to ototoxic medications.

Conclusion:The one-staged Automated Auditory Brainstem Response (AABR) is an effective and efficient newborn hearing screening protocol for high-risk newborns in the Neonatal Intensive Care Unit (NICU) setting and eventually, may be considered as an alternative hearing screening technique whenever available in this cohort. More studies about improving newborn hearing screening, cost-analysis, diagnostics and interventions of hearing loss should be pursued in implementation of the Universal Hearing Screening Law in the Philippines.

We describe an unusual case of hypoxic ischemic encephalopathy in a preterm female of 36 weeks who presented with status epilepticus and atypical abdominal myoclonus. The seizures were confirmed electrographically using video electroencephalography (EEG), while the abdominal myoclonus was demonstrated to be nonepileptic, as it had no EEG correlate. Other possible causes of neonatal seizures were excluded. The infant then responded to a gamut of antiseizure medications but the myoclonus persisted. To the best of our knowledge, this is the first report of atypical myoclonus in a preterm baby caused by hypoxic ischemic encephalopathy.

INTRODUCTION: Paediatric patients admitted to the inpatient units from the emergency department (ED) are increasing, but the mean length of stay has fallen significantly. We aimed to determine the reasons behind paediatric one-day admissions in Singapore and to assess their necessity. METHODS: A retrospective study involving paediatric patients who were admitted from a general ED of an adult tertiary hospital to a paediatric tertiary hospital between 1 August 2018 and 30 April 2020. One-day admission was defined as an inpatient stay of less than 24 h from the time of admission to discharge. An unnecessary admission was defined as one with no diagnostic test ordered, intravenous medication administered, therapeutic procedure performed or specialty review made in the inpatient unit. Data were captured in a standardised form and analysed. RESULTS: There were 13,944 paediatric attendances - 1,160 (8.3%) paediatric patients were admitted. Among these, 481 (41.4%) were one-day admissions. Upper respiratory tract infection (62, 12.9%), gastroenteritis (60, 12.5%) and head injury (52, 10.8%) were the three most common conditions. The three most common reasons for ED admissions were inpatient treatment (203, 42.2%), inpatient monitoring (185, 38.5%) and inpatient diagnostic investigations (32, 12.3%). Ninety-six (20.0%) one-day admissions were unnecessary. CONCLUSION Paediatric one-day admissions present an opportunity to develop and implement interventions targeted at the healthcare system, the ED, the paediatric patient and their caregiver, in order to safely slow down and perhaps reverse the trend of increased hospital admissions.
Humans ; Retrospective Studies ; Singapore ; Child ; Emergency Service, Hospital/statistics & numerical data* ; Patient Admission/statistics & numerical data* ; Female ; Male ; Child, Preschool ; Length of Stay/statistics & numerical data* ; Infant ; Adolescent ; Tertiary Care Centers ; Hospitalization/statistics & numerical data* ; Infant, Newborn ; Gastroenteritis/therapy* ; Respiratory Tract Infections