likelihood ratios signs symptoms

BACKGROUND: Over the past few years, researchers have investigated whether varying menstrual statuses and oestrogen levels could affect the likelihood of temporomandibular disorders (TMDs), with conflicting results. While some studies suggest a potential link between increased oestrogen levels and higher TMD risk, others have found no correlation. It is worth noting that oestrogen levels can impact the structure and function of the temporomandibular joint (TMJ). In the light of these findings, our study seeks to investigate the prevalence of TMDs among pregnant women...

IMPORTANCE: Guidelines recommend that all children and adolescents with hypertension undergo evaluation for secondary causes. Identifying clinical factors associated with secondary hypertension may decrease unnecessary testing for those with primary hypertension. OBJECTIVE: To determine the utility of the clinical history, physical examination, and 24-hour ambulatory blood pressure monitoring for differentiating primary hypertension from secondary hypertension in children and adolescents (aged ≤21 years)...

INTRODUCTION: The role of the central and peripheral nervous system in the generation of migraine is not well understood. Our aim was to determine whether peripheral trigeminal nerve stimuli, such as nasopharyngeal swabs, could trigger migraine attacks. SUBJECTS AND METHODS: A survey was sent to 658 doctors, nurses and medical students, asking about the presence of headache suggestive of migraine after carrying out a SARS-CoV-2 swab test, their previous history of migraine, and demographic and headache-related characteristics...

Preoperative prediction of complicated appendicitis is challenging, and many clinical tools are developed to predict complicated appendicitis. This study evaluated whether a supervised learning method can recognize complicated appendicitis in emergency department (ED). Consecutive patients with acute appendicitis presenting to the ED were enrolled and included into training and testing datasets at a ratio of 70:30. The multilayer perceptron artificial neural network (ANN) models were trained to perform binary outcome classification between uncomplicated and complicated acute appendicitis...

OBJECTIVE: Predicting women at risk for spontaneous pre-term birth (sPTB) has been medically challenging because of the lack of signs and symptoms of pre-term birth until interventions are too late. We hypothesized that prediction of the sPTB risk level is enhanced when using both historical clinical (HC) data and quantitative ultrasound (QUS) data compared with using only HC data. HC data defined herein included birth history prior to that of the current pregnancy as well as, from the current pregnancy, a clinical cervical length assessment and physical examination data...

BACKGROUND: Mild cognitive impairment (MCI) has been reported after acute coronary syndrome (ACS), but it is uncertain who is at risk, particularly during inpatient admission. OBJECTIVE: In this study, we aimed to explore the prevalence and cognitive domains affected in MCI during ACS admission and determine factors that identify patients most at risk of MCI. METHODS: Inpatients with ACS were consecutively recruited from 2 tertiary hospital cardiac wards and screened with the Montreal Cognitive Assessment and the Hopkins Verbal Learning Test...

BACKGROUND: Thrombocytopenia is a frequently encountered laboratory abnormality and a common reason for hematology referrals. Workup for thrombocytopenia is not standardized and frequently does not follow an evidence-based algorithm. We conducted a systematic analysis to evaluate the laboratory testing and outcomes of patients evaluated for thrombocytopenia at hematology clinics in a tertiary referral center between 2013 and 2016. PATIENT AND METHODS: We performed a comprehensive chart review for patients evaluated for thrombocytopenia during the study period...

OBJECTIVE: To calculate the positive likelihood ratio to determine whether telemedicine is able to optimize referral to the emergency department. METHODS: Unicenter study with 182 consecutive patients admitted to Hospital Israelita Albert Einstein due to respiratory symptoms. All patients were submitted to oxygen saturation measurement using the standard method Welch Allyn finger device vital sign monitor and a 2-minute evaluation (Binah.ai mobile application). The reproducibility of oxygen saturation measurements made with both methods was investigated using interclass correlation coefficients and analysis of dispersion...

Pulmonary hypertension (PH) is an insidious disease that often presents in late stages due to nonspecific signs and symptoms. Right heart catheterization (RHC) is the gold standard diagnostic test, and echocardiogram (ECHO) is the best screening tool. However, the strength of evidence and diagnostic utility of various echocardiographic parameters to screen for is not well elucidated. This systematic review (SR) is reported in accordance with the Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses (PRISMA) statement...

STUDY OBJECTIVE: The objective of this study was to conduct a systematic review and meta-analysis of the diagnostic accuracy of the clinical signs, symptoms, laboratory investigations, and imaging modalities commonly used in patients with clinically suspected renal colic. METHODS: We conducted this systematic review and meta-analysis according to an a priori, registered protocol (PROSPERO CRD42017055153). A literature search was performed using MEDLINE and EMBASE from inception to July 2, 2020...

BACKGROUND: In its earliest phases, Ebola virus disease's rapid-onset, high fever, and gastrointestinal symptoms are largely indistinguishable from other infectious illnesses. We aimed to characterise the clinical indicators associated with Ebola virus disease to improve outbreak response. METHODS: In this retrospective analysis, we assessed routinely collected data from individuals with possible Ebola virus disease attending 30 Ebola health facilities in two provinces of the Democratic Republic of the Congo between Aug 1, 2018, and Aug 28, 2019...

OBJECTIVE: To verify the accuracy of an online algorithm using Bayes' theorem for diagnosing ectopic pregnancy (EP) using human chorionic gonadotropin (hCG), ultrasound, and clinical data in a real cohort. DESIGN: A retrospective cohort study. SETTING: Gynecologic emergency unit in a tertiary teaching hospital. PATIENT(S): First-trimester pregnant women who attended the gynecologic emergency unit for any reason. Those who had <13 weeks of pregnancy confirmed by a recent positive pregnancy test; a digital image or electronic report of transvaginal ultrasound (TVUS) obtained from hospital database; and a follow-up with a pathology report or a clinical resolution of a confirmed pregnancy were included in the study...

Canine leishmaniasis is a parasitic zoonosis mainly caused by L. infantum; an obligate intracellular protozoan transmitted by hematophagous insects of the genus Phlebotomus which affects dogs and wild canids. The clinical implications of this disease are highly variable, since infected animals may remain asymptomatic (absence of observable clinical signs) or present a wide spectrum of clinical alterations and degrees of severity, including the death of the animal. Symptoms such as lymphadenomegaly, alopecia, weight loss, keratoconjunctivitis, and onychogryphosis are usually the first diagnostic reference available...

We aim to develop a diagnostic score for acute cholecystitis that integrates symptoms, physical examinations, and laboratory data to help clinicians for timely detection and early treatment of this disease. We retrospectively collected data from our database from 2010 to 2020. Patients with acute abdominal pain who underwent an ultrasound or computed tomography (CT) scan at the emergency department (ED) were included. Cases were identified by pathological, CT, or ultrasound reports. Non-cases were those who did not fulfill any of these criteria...

PURPOSE: To determine whether dysautonomia can stratify individuals with other prodromal markers of Parkinson's disease (PD) for risk of phenoconversion and functional decline, which may help identify subpopulations appropriate for experimental studies. METHODS: Data were obtained from Parkinson's Progression Markers Initiative. Cohorts without PD but with at-risk features were included (hyposmia and/or rapid-eye-movement-sleep behavior disorder, LRRK2 gene mutation, GBA gene mutation)...

BACKGROUND: Heart failure is a major health concern associated with significant morbidity, mortality, and reduced quality of life in patients. Home telemonitoring (HTM) facilitates frequent or continuous assessment of disease signs and symptoms, and it has shown to improve compliance by involving patients in their own care and prevent emergency admissions by facilitating early detection of clinically significant changes. Diagnostic algorithms (DAs) are predictive mathematical relationships that make use of a wide range of collected data for calculating the likelihood of a particular event and use this output for prioritizing patients with regard to their treatment...

BACKGROUND: Few studies have assessed lung function in Hispanic subjects recovering from mild COVID-19. Therefore, we examined the prevalence of impaired pulmonary diffusing capacity for carbon monoxide (DLCO) as defined by values below the lower limit of normal (< LLN, < 5th percentile) or less than 80% of predicted in Hispanics recovering from mild COVID-19. We also examined the prevalence of a restrictive spirometric pattern as defined by the ratio of forced expiratory volume in 1 s (FEV1 ) to forced vital capacity (FVC) being ≥ LLN with the FVC being < LLN...

BACKGROUND: Brazil is the third country most affected by Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19) in the world. Health care workers (HCWs) are at higher risk of infection. Despite the increasing numbers of studies on the topic, There are gaps in the knowledge of characteristics and risk factors for infection of HCWS. This information is important to design preventive strategies and to mitigate the disease impact. The objective of this study was to estimate the incidence of severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) infection, to identify factors associated, and to describe symptoms reported by healthcare workers at a tertiary hospital in Salvador, Brazil...

Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) survivors can have lasting signs and symptoms, including various organ damage, indicating that COVID-19 can be a chronic illness. The current study aims to compare the 30-day hospital readmission and death rate of patients admitted to the hospital with COVID-19 and pneumonia due to other causes. A retrospective cohort study was conducted using data from the Saudi National Guard Health Affairs (NGHA). Records of patients admitted with COVID-19 between 1 March 202 and 31 December 2020 ( n = 3597) and pneumonia during 2017 and 2019 ( n = 6324) were retrieved and analyzed...

IMPORTANCE: Acute infectious conjunctivitis is characterized by ocular redness and discharge, and is a common clinical entity. Evidence-based tools to aid the clinical diagnosis of viral vs bacterial conjunctivitis are lacking and may contribute to overprescribing of topical antibiotics. OBJECTIVE: To determine the relative prevalence of viral vs bacterial conjunctivitis in adults and children, and to determine which symptoms or signs are suggestive of a viral vs bacterial etiology...