Comorbidities in aging patients with sickle cell disease

Characteristics of Emergency Department Visits Made by Individuals With Sickle Cell Disease in the U.S., 1999-2020

Introduction

Individuals living with sickle cell disease experience high levels of morbidity that result in frequent utilization of the emergency department. The objective of this study was to provide updated national estimates of emergency department utilization associated with sickle cell disease in the U.S.

Methods

Data from the National Hospital Ambulatory Medical Care Survey for the years 1999-2020 were analyzed. Complex survey analysis was utilized to produce national estimates overall and by patient age groups.

Results

On average, approximately 222,612 emergency department visits occurred annually among individuals with sickle cell disease, a nearly 13% increase from prior estimates. The annual volume of emergency department visits steadily increased over time, and pain remains the most common patient-cited reason for visiting the emergency department. Patient-reported pain levels for individuals with sickle cell disease were high, with 64% of visits associated with severe pain and 21% associated with moderate pain. Public insurance sources continue to cover most visits, with Medicaid paying for 60% of visits and Medicare paying for 12% of visits. The average time spent in the emergency department increased from previous estimates by about an hour, rising to approximately 6 hours. The average wait time to see a provider was 53 minutes.

Conclusions

Utilization of the emergency department by individuals living with sickle cell disease remains high, especially for pain. With more than half of patients with sickle cell disease reporting severe pain levels, emergency department staff should be prepared to assess and treat sickle cell disease-related pain following evidence-based guidelines and recommendations. The findings of this study can help improve care in this population.

Repercussions of sickle cell disease and sickle cell ulcers for men inserted in the world of work

OBJECTIVE

To analyze the repercussions of sickle cell disease and sickle cell ulcer for men in the world of work and discuss the challenges faced to remain in the work environment.

METHOD

A qualitative study, developed at the dressing clinic and at a stomatherapy clinic. Twenty men with sickle cell disease and sickle cell ulcer participated, applying a semi-structured interview script. The software Interface de R pour les Analyses Multidimensionnelles de Textes et de Questionnaires was used for treatment and lexical data analysis.

RESULTS

The Descending Hierarchical Classification enabled the creation of classes: Man with sickle cell disease and sickle cell ulcer: experiences and repercussions; and Coping measures adopted by men with sickle cell disease and sickle cell ulcer to stay at work.

CONCLUSION

Disease and injury repercussions involve biopsychosocial dimensions, highlighting the need for professional training to assist with competence and humanity. Strategies adopted to maintain work are breaks in the working day, use of analgesics to relieve pain, allocating time during work to apply dressings.

Vaso-occlusive Pain Crisis Mimicking Mandibular Abscess in an Adolescent with Sickle Cell Disease

In people with sickle cell disease (SCD), oral abscesses are concerning clinical conditions and carry a high risk of postoperative sickle cell complications. We present an unusual case of a 14-year-old girl with SCD whose initial presentation of facial swelling, headaches, jaw pain, and paresthesia mimicked an odontogenic abscess. She was diagnosed with vaso-occlusive crisis in the mandibular bone and successfully managed noninvasively. This is among the youngest cases of paresthesia in the lower lip in SCD, which provided a clue that postponing invasive aspiration or biopsy was possible under empiric antibiotics and close observation.

Sickle cell disease as an accelerated aging syndrome

Sickle cell disease (SCD) is characterized by vaso-occlusion, hemolysis, and systemic manifestations that form the hallmark of the disease. Apart from morbidity, SCD is also associated with increased mortality and decreased quality of life. Aging is a natural phenomenon that is associated with changes at cellular, tissue, and organ levels, in addition to the loss of physical fitness, increased susceptibility to diseases, and a higher likelihood of mortality. Some of the cellular mechanisms involved in normal (or physiological) aging include abnormalities of sphingolipids (ceramides) and reduced length of the telomere. These changes have also been documented in SCD. Cellular, organs, and physical manifestations of SCD resemble an accelerated aging syndrome. Sickle erythrocytes also acquire morphological features similar to that of aged normal erythrocytes and are thus picked up early by the macrophages for destruction. Brain, kidney, heart, innate and adaptive immune system, and musculoskeletal system of patients with SCD exhibit morphological and functional changes that are ordinarily seen in the elderly in the general population. Stroke, silent cerebral infarcts, cardiomegaly, heart failure, pulmonary hypertension, nephropathy with proteinuria, osteopenia, osteoporosis, osteonecrosis, gout, and infections are exceedingly common in SCD. In this review, we have attempted to draw parallels between SCD and accelerated aging syndromes.

Decision-Making Involvement, Self-Efficacy, and Transition Readiness in Youth With Sickle Cell Disease

BACKGROUND

Transition to adult healthcare is a critical time for adolescents and young adults (AYAs) with sickle cell disease, and preparation for transition is important to reducing morbidity and mortality risks associated with transition.

OBJECTIVE

We explored the relationships between decision-making involvement, self-efficacy, healthcare responsibility, and overall transition readiness in AYAs with sickle cell disease prior to transition.

METHODS

This cross-sectional, correlational study was conducted with 50 family caregivers-AYAs dyads receiving care from a large comprehensive sickle cell clinic between October 2019 and February 2020. Participants completed the Decision-Making Involvement Scale, the Sickle Cell Self-Efficacy Scale, and the Readiness to Transition Questionnaire. Multiple linear regression was used to assess the relationships between decision-making involvement, self-efficacy, healthcare responsibility, and overall transition readiness in AYAs with sickle cell disease prior to transition to adult healthcare.

RESULTS

Whereas higher levels of expressive behaviors, such as sharing opinions and ideas in decision-making, were associated with higher levels of AYA healthcare responsibility, those behaviors were inversely associated with feelings of overall transition readiness. Self-efficacy was positively associated with overall transition readiness but inversely related to AYA healthcare responsibility. Parent involvement was negatively associated with AYA healthcare responsibility and overall transition readiness.

DISCUSSION

While increasing AYAs' decision-making involvement may improve AYAs' healthcare responsibility, it may not reduce barriers of feeling unprepared for the transition to adult healthcare. Facilitating active AYA involvement in decision-making regarding disease management, increasing self-efficacy, and safely reducing parent involvement may positively influence their confidence and capacity for self-management.

Navigating Ethical Challenges for Pediatric Sickle Cell Pain Management in the Context of the Opioid Epidemic

OBJECTIVES

The aim was to describe the impact of the opioid epidemic on pain management practices in pediatric sickle cell disease (SCD) and propose a conceptual framework for navigating ethical decision-making in pediatric sickle cell pain management.

METHODS

A review of the literature on ethical challenges in the management of sickle cell pain was conducted and considered in the context of the opioid epidemic and psychosocial factors affecting youth with SCD. The Integrated Ethical Framework for Pain Management (IEFPM) was applied to pediatric sickle cell pain management using a clinical case example.

RESULTS

Implicit bias, health-related stigma, and potential neurocognitive impairment all present unique challenges in ethical decision-making for youth with SCD. National guidelines for prescribing opioid medication may complicate providers' clinical decision-making and affect their sickle cell pain management practices. The IEFPM was found to be applicable to ethical decision-making for pediatric sickle cell pain and captures both patient-related and provider-related aspects of clinical pain management.

DISCUSSION

The opioid epidemic has exacerbated existing ethical challenges for pain management among youth with SCD. The IEFPM provides a conceptual model that can be integrated into health care settings to facilitate ethical decision-making and promote greater health equity in the clinical management of pediatric sickle cell pain.

Review/overview of pain in sickle cell disease

Sickle cell disease (SCD) is a highly complex inherited disorder of hemoglobin structure. Although the molecular lesion is a single-point mutation, the sickle gene is pleiotropic in nature causing multiple phenotypic expressions that constitute the various complications of the disease. Its manifestations could be acute, chronic, nociceptive, neuropathic that could occur singly or in various combinations. Pain continues to be the major factor of SCD phenotypic complications and the most common cause of admissions to the Emergency Department and/or the hospital. Although progress has been made in understanding the pathophysiology of SCD as well as in developing curative therapies such as hematopoietic stem cell transplantation and gene therapy, effective pain management continues to lag behind. Palliative therapies continue to be the major approach to the management of SCD and its complications. The advent of hydroxyurea made partial success in preventing the frequency of vaso-occlusive crises and l-glutamine awaits post-trial confirmation of benefits. The search for additional pharmacotherapeutic agents that could be used singly or in combination with hydroxyurea and/or l-glutamine awaits their dawn hopefully in the near future. The purpose of this review is to describe the various manifestations of SCD, their pathophysiology and their current management. Recent impressive advances in understanding the pathophysiology of pain promise the determination of agents that could replace or minimize the use of opioids.

Determination of frail state and association of frailty with inflammatory markers among cardiac surgery patients in a Central European patient population

INTRODUCTION

With the aging of the population, the screening of frail patients, especially before high-risk surgery, come to the fore. The background of the frail state is not totally clear, most likely inflammatory processes are involved in the development.

METHODS

Our survey of patients over age of 65 who were on cardiac surgery were performed with Edmonton Frail Scale (EFS). Patients' demographic, perioperative data, incidence of complications and correlations of inflammatory laboratory parameters were studied with the severity of the frail state.

RESULTS

On the basis of EFS, 313 patients were divided into non-frail (NF,163,52%), pre-frail (PF,89,28.5%) and frail (F,61,19.5%) groups. Number of complications in the three groups were different (NF:0.67/patient, PF:0.76/patient, F:1.08/patient). We showed significant difference between NF and F in both intensive care and hospital stay, but there was no statistical difference between the groups in hospital deaths (NF:5/163, PF:3/89, F:5/61). We also found a significant difference between NF and F patients in preoperative fibrinogen-, CRP- and white blood cell count levels.

CONCLUSIONS

We first present the incidence of frailty in patients with heart surgery in a Central-European population. According to our results, inflammatory processes are likely to play a role in the development of the frail state.

Prevalência da doença falciforme em adultos com diagnóstico tardio

Resumo Objetivo: Estimar a prevalência da doença falciforme em adultos com diagnóstico tardio, em tratamento nos ambulatórios de hematologia na rede de saúde do Estado do Mato Grosso do Sul de 2013 a 2017; descrever as características sociodemográficas; verificar associações entre os genótipos em relação a idade atual, os genótipos e a idade ao diagnóstico. Métodos: Estudo transversal, retrospectivo, com dados coletados em dois hospitais de ensino. As variáveis investigadas foram: ano do atendimento, genótipo, sexo, data de nascimento, idade ao diagnóstico, naturalidade e procedência. A prevalência foi estimada por ponto (%) e intervalo de confiança de 95%. Resultados: A prevalência foi 3,9%, com 103 adultos com doença falciforme, sendo 60 do sexo feminino e 43 do masculino. Predominou o genótipo HbSS, seguido pelo HbSC. A mediana de idade foi de 35 para os HbSS e 31 para os HbSC. A mediana de idade ao diagnóstico foi cinco anos para os HbSS e 21 para HbSC. Não houve associação entre idade (anos) dos pacientes e genótipo (teste Qui-quadrado p=0,601) e nem entre genótipo e faixa etária (teste Qui-quadrado p= 0,318). Conclusão: O genótipo mais frequente foi o HbSS, seguido pelo HbSC. O diagnóstico dos pacientes com SC foi mais tardio do que naqueles com genótipo SS. As variáveis sociodemográficas e o diagnóstico tardio alertam para a necessidade de fortalecimento de ações na rede de saúde, que interferem sensivelmente na morbimortalidade de adultos com Doença Falciforme.

AAAPT Diagnostic Criteria for Acute Sickle Cell Disease Pain

Acute pain episodes are the most common complication in patients with sickle cell disease (SCD). Classically attributed to vaso-occlusion, recent insights suggest that chronic pain may also contribute to the pathogenesis of acute pain episodes, which adds complexity to their diagnosis and management. A taxonomy, or classification system, for acute pain in patients with SCD would aid research efforts and enhance clinical care. To meet this need, the Analgesic, Anesthetic, and Addiction Clinical Trial Translations, Innovations, Opportunities, and Networks public-private partnership with the U.S. Food and Drug Administration, the American Pain Society, and the American Academy of Pain Medicine formed the Analgesic, Anesthetic, and Addiction Clinical Trial Translations, Innovations, Opportunities, and Networks-American Pain Society-American Academy of Pain Medicine Pain Taxonomy initiative. One of the goals of this initiative was to develop taxonomies for acute pain disorders, including SCD. To accomplish this, a working group of experts in SCD and pain was convened. Based on available literature and expert opinion, the working group used a 5-dimenional structure (diagnostic criteria, common features, modulating factors, impact/functional consequences, and putative mechanisms) to develop an acute pain taxonomy that is specific to SCD. As part of this, a set of 4 diagnostic criteria, with 2 modifiers to account for the influence of chronic pain, are proposed to define the types of acute pain observed in patients with SCD. PERSPECTIVE: This article presents a taxonomy for acute pain in patients with SCD. This taxonomy could help to standardize definitions of acute pain in clinical studies of patients with SCD.