CiteULike is a free online bibliography manager. Register and you can start organising your references online.

Corticosteroids and increased risk of readmission after acute chest syndrome in children with sickle cell disease. Export

Pediatric blood & cancer, Vol. 50, No. 5. (May 2008), pp. 1006-1012.

Citation Format

[Posts]

View FullText article


ktruth's tags for this article

chapter heme

X Reviews [Write a review of this article]

X Find related articles from these CiteULike users

X Find related articles with these CiteULike tags

X Posting History

X Abstract

BACKGROUND: Acute chest syndrome (ACS) is a frequent cause of hospitalization and mortality in children with sickle cell disease. Transfusion is often required to prevent respiratory failure and treatment with dexamethasone may reduce the length of admission and the need for transfusions. We performed a retrospective cohort study to evaluate risk factors for readmission and prolonged hospitalization after different treatments for ACS. PROCEDURE: We identified patients <22 years of age hospitalized with ACS at Johns Hopkins Hospital from January 1998 to April 2004 using the hospitals discharge database and by reviewing dictated summaries. RESULTS: We identified 65 patients with 129 episodes of ACS (mean age 12.5 years, range 1.2-21.9 years). Thirty-nine episodes were treated with corticosteroids and 51 with transfusions. Patients were readmitted within 14 days after 23 episodes (18%). Readmission was strongly associated with report of an inhaler or nebulizer at home [odds ratio (OR) 6.0, P < 0.05], diastolic BP at 48 hr (OR 1.8 per 10 mm increase, P<0.01), corticosteroids (OR 20, P < 0.005), or transfusion (OR 0.03, P < 0.05). Treatment with corticosteroids alone (P < 0.05) and older age (P < 0.001) were associated with longer hospitalization. CONCLUSIONS: These results demonstrate a greatly elevated independent risk of readmission after ACS in children with asthma and after treatment with corticosteroids and a protective effect of transfusion. Although dexamethasone has documented efficacy for reducing the duration of ACS, the substantial risk of readmission for pain should limit its use.


X BibTeX record

X RIS record


Privacy Statement | Terms & Conditions
CiteULike organises scholarly (or academic) papers or literature and provides bibliographic (which means it makes bibliographies) for universities and higher education establishments. It helps undergraduates and postgraduates. People studying for PhDs or in postdoctoral (postdoc) positions. The service is similar in scope to EndNote or RefWorks or any other reference manager like BibTeX, but it is a social bookmarking service for scientists and humanities researchers.