Background Previous research on anesthesia-related mortality in the United States was limited to data from individual hospitals. The purpose of this study was to examine the epidemiologic patterns of anesthesia-related deaths at the national level. Methods We searched the International Classification of Diseases, 10th Revision, manuals for codes specifically related to anesthesia/anesthetics. These codes were used to identify anesthesia-related deaths from the US multiple-cause-of-death data files for the years 1999–2005. Rates from anesthesia-related deaths were calculated based on population and hospital surgical discharge data. Results We identified 46 anesthesia/anesthetic codes, including complications of anesthesia during pregnancy, labor, and puerperium (O29.0–O29.9, O74.0–74.9, O89.0–O89.9), overdose of anesthetics (T41.0–T41.4), adverse effects of anesthetics in therapeutic use (Y45.0, Y47.1, Y48.0–Y48.4, Y55.1), and other complications of anesthesia (T88.2–T88.5, Y65.3). Of the 2,211 recorded anesthesia-related deaths in the United States during 1999–2005, 46.6% were attributable to overdose of anesthetics, 42.5% to adverse effects of anesthetics in therapeutic use, 3.6% to complications of anesthesia during pregnancy, labor, and puerperium, and 7.3% to other complications of anesthesia. The estimated rates from anesthesia-related deaths were 1.1 per million population per year (1.45 for males and 0.77 for females) and 8.2 per million hospital surgical discharges (11.7 for men and 6.5 for women). The highest death rates were found in persons aged 85 years and older. Conclusion Each year in the United States, anesthesia/anesthetics are reported as the underlying cause in approximately 34 deaths and contributing factors in another 281 deaths, with excess mortality risk in the elderly and men.

Comparisons of climate model hindcasts with independent proxy data are essential for assessing model performance in non-analogue situations. However, standardized paleoclimate datasets for assessing the spatial pattern of past climatic change across continents are lacking for some of the most dynamic episodes of Earth's recent past. Here we present a new chironomid-based paleotemperature dataset designed to assess climate model hindcasts of regional summer temperature change in Europe during the late-glacial and early Holocene. Latitudinal and longitudinal patterns of inferred temperature change are in excellent agreement with simulations by the ECHAM-4 model, implying that atmospheric general circulation models like ECHAM-4 can successfully predict regionally diverging temperature trends in Europe, even when conditions differ significantly from present. However, ECHAM-4 infers larger amplitudes of change and higher temperatures during warm phases than our paleotemperature estimates, suggesting that this and similar models may overestimate past and potentially also future summer temperature changes in Europe.

Implementation of state PDMPs up to 2008 did not show a significant impact on per-capita opioids dispensed. To control the diversion and abuse of prescription drugs, state PDMPs may need to improve their usability, implement requirements for committee oversight of the PDMP, and increase data sharing with neighboring states.

Background. Severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 emerged in December 2019 in Wuhan, China, and was declared a global health emergency of international concern by the World Health Organization on 30th January 2020. It has resulted in almost 600 000 deaths to date worldwide. Sudden sensorineural hearing loss is a known complication of a number of viral infections, but there is little in the literature to date on its association with coronavirus disease 2019. Case report. This paper presents the case of a 30-year-old female staff nurse who contracted coronavirus disease 2019 and presented to our department with a significant unilateral sensorineural hearing loss confirmed on audiogram. She was treated with a course of oral steroids, but unfortunately there was no improvement in her hearing.

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