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Objectives Tuberculosis (TB) is the most common opportunistic infection and cause of mortality among people living with HIV, and it is possible that it may also influence the evolution of the HIV infection. We assessed the differences between HIV‐positive and ‐negative people infected with TB. Methods The present study is a cross‐sectional retrospective study by electronic record revision. We included patients admitted to a tertiary hospital with a diagnosis of TB between 2011 and 2016, comparing those with HIV coinfection with non‐HIV patients, according to demographic and clinical characteristics. Results This study included 591 patients, of whom 32% were HIV‐coinfected. HIV‐TB patients were younger, with a predominance of male gender. Considering TB risk factors, there was a higher prevalence of homelessness and intravenous drug use in the HIV group. In the non‐HIV group, direct contact with other patients with TB and immunosuppression were more prevalent. Relative to TB characteristics, the HIV‐coinfected group presents with a higher prevalence of disseminated disease and a higher occurrence of previous TB infection. Cancer was the most frequent cause of immunosuppression in the HIV group and the number testing positive for TB via microbiological culture was lower. Assessment of microbiological resistance and in‐hospital mortality showed similar numbers in both groups. Conclusions There are few papers comparing clinical course of TB between HIV‐infected and non‐infected patients. Our study differs from others in the literature as we focused on a country with middling incidence of TB and further characterized the differences between HIV‐infected and non‐infected patients which can contribute to the management of these patients.

Introduction: Coronavirus has an impact on both the physical and mental health of individuals. The literature regarding the patient’s health status post-SARS-CoV-2 is still scarce with limited data on the prevalence of residual symptoms and quality of life (QoL) after the infection. The aim of this study was to understand the impact of SARS-CoV-2 on patient QoL, and remaining symptoms.Material and Methods: Single center cross-sectional study of patients who had been admitted to our COVID-19 ward between March 2020 and March 2021. By applying a QoL questionnaire (EQ-5D-5L) we assessed the overall sample, at three time points and in different groups of patients: those admitted to the intensive care unit (ICU) and the elderly.Results: A total of 125 participants were included in our study. Most patients who were admitted had a severe course of disease (51%), with 22% of admissions to the ICU, with 8% requiring prone ventilation, 10% experiencing thrombotic complications and 18% of nosocomial infections throughout the admission. As for persistent symptoms related with COVID-19 fog, the most frequent were fatigue (57%), memory loss (52%) and insomnia (50%). Regarding QoL, the average decrease was 0.08 ± 0.2 in the index and 8.7 ± 19 in the Visual Analogue Scale (VAS). The QoL index decrease correlated with age, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, asthma and heart failure, and all persistent symptoms, significantly. QoL VAS correlated significantly with fatigue, mood changes, difficulty concentrating and memory loss. The decrease in QoL and the persistent symptoms remained overall stable over the three time points. The ICU group showed no statistically significant difference in QoL, but the most frequently persistent symptoms were mood changes and attention disturbances. However, the elderly experienced a worsening in QoL expressed by index (0.69 ± 0.3 vs 0.8 ± 0.2, p-value = 0.01).Conclusion: A decrease in QoL was observed following SARS-CoV-2 infection, correlating with both chronic conditions and persistent symptoms. The lack of difference through time points of both QoL and persistent symptoms suggests a long-standing effect.

Introduction: Studies to date describe between 3% to 50% of patients experiencing one or more clinical adverse event (CAE) during their hospital admission and many preventable. The aim of this prospective study was to determine the frequency of medical CAEs in a medical ward. Also the study aimed to compare data between patient age groups and determine the effect on length of hospital stay and mortality. Methods: This experimental study was a randomized, controlled clinical trial that was conducted in 2018. Two elderly day care centers in Yazd city ,in central  Iran were selected and randomly assigned to control and intervention groups. Then, according to the inclusion criteria, eligible people were selected from the centers and enrolled in the study. Participants were 58 elderly women who were assigned to control (n: 29) and intervention (n: 29) groups. Yoga exercises were held for 2 months (three 1-h sessions a week) for intervention group. The Wechsler Memory Scale was completed for both groups before and after the intervention. Data were analyzed by SPSS using descriptive and inferential statistics. Results: 62 episodes were studied, 14.8% of those admitted to hospital experienced a CAE. The most frequent adverse events included analytical alterations, anemia and blood loss, infection and altered state of consciousness. The most commonly implicated therapies were anticoagulants (23%) which lead to episodes of bleeding, anti-hypertensive and diuretics (17%) immunosuppressive therapy (16%) beta blockers (1%) & insulin (1%). Mean length of stay in hospital was 17 days in all groups, longer than the average length of stay of this medical ward which is 11 days. Mortality rate within one year of hospitalization was 30% in total, again significantly higher than the 10% mortality rate calculated for the same period on the ward. Conclusion: This study demonstrates that CAEs are still far too common, probably underestimated, cause serious harm to patients and strains healthcare services further.  

Heart failure is a major cause of morbidity and mortality worldwide. The prevalence increases with age and usually progresses, leading to repeated hospital admissions and significant symptom burden for patients. The correct management of these patients may decrease readmissions and increase quality of life. Our aim is to compare elderly patients with and without 1-year readmissions in an internal medicine ward, particularly in terms of mortality. Retrospective study, consulting patient’s clinical records, with a diagnosis of heart failure. The patients were characterized and divided in groups: with (wR) and without readmission (woR) within 1 year. Mortality was the primary outcome. Eighty-nine patients were included; 60 woR and 29 wR. There was no gender difference between groups, the wR group had older patients. The most frequent comorbidities included atrial fibrillation, hypertension and chronic renal failure stage 3 or higher. The most frequent cause of hospitalization was heart failure due to insufficient therapy or natural progression of the disease. The etiology of heart failure was mainly hypertensive and ischemic. The wR group had more patients classified as NYHA >III. In relation to the primary outcome; mortality at 12 months was higher in the group with repeated admissions. The characterization of this population allows us to highlight the causes of decompensation and to review medication in order to increase the quality of life.