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Background: Although the clinical practice guidelines recommend continuous adjustment of asthma treatment and reducing the maintenance drugs when achieving control (step-down), there are few studies of standard clinical practice aimed at collecting information on the factors that determine step-down failure., Objective: To determine the factors that determine step-down failure in standard clinical practice of patients with moderate-severe asthma controlled by a combination of inhaled glucocorticoids and long-acting beta agonists., Methods: A multicentre retrospective study included 374 patients with moderate-severe asthma controlled with inhaled glucocorticoids and long-acting beta agonists for whom the physician indicated a step-down in 2016., Results: The step-down failed in 41.7% of the patients. The following factors were related to failure: greater patient age (P=.006), presence of at least 2 comorbidities (P=.016), greater severity level (severe persistent vs. moderate persistent) (P<.001), greater age at diagnosis (>40 years) (P=.045), the higher the therapeutic step before (P=.003) and after the change (P<.001), the shorter the time of improvement/control prior to the change (P=.019), lower FEV 1 (P=.001) and a poorer Asthma Control Test score or Asthma Control Questionnaire score before the step-down (P<.001). The logistic regression analysis showed a higher probability of step-down failure in the more elderly patients (OR, 0.983; 95% CI 0.969-0.997) and those with severe asthma compared to those with moderate asthma (OR, 0.537; 95% CI 0.292-0.985), as well as an increased probability of success if the patients had the disease controlled for more than 6 months (OR, 2.253; 95% CI 1.235-4.112)., Conclusion: In standard clinical practice conditions, step-down fails in a high percentage of patients, and the suggestion is to indicate step-down when the patient has had more than 6 months of disease control., (Copyright © 2019 Elsevier España, S.L.U. and Sociedad Española de Medicina Interna (SEMI). All rights reserved.)

Background: Despite wide use of noninvasive ventilation (NIV) in several clinical settings, the beneficial effects of NIV in patients with hypoxemic acute respiratory failure (ARF) due to influenza infection remain controversial. The aim of this study was to identify the profile of patients with risk factors for NIV failure using chi-square automatic interaction detection (CHAID) analysis and to determine whether NIV failure is associated with ICU mortality., Methods: This work was a secondary analysis from prospective and observational multi-center analysis in critically ill subjects admitted to the ICU with ARF due to influenza infection requiring mechanical ventilation. Three groups of subjects were compared: (1) subjects who received NIV immediately after ICU admission for ARF and then failed (NIV failure group); (2) subjects who received NIV immediately after ICU admission for ARF and then succeeded (NIV success group); and (3) subjects who received invasive mechanical ventilation immediately after ICU admission for ARF (invasive mechanical ventilation group). Profiles of subjects with risk factors for NIV failure were obtained using CHAID analysis., Results: Of 1,898 subjects, 806 underwent NIV, and 56.8% of them failed. Acute Physiology and Chronic Health Evaluation II (APACHE II) score, Sequential Organ Failure Assessment (SOFA) score, infiltrates in chest radiograph, and ICU mortality (38.4% vs 6.3%) were higher ( P < .001) in the NIV failure than in the NIV success group. SOFA score was the variable most associated with NIV failure, and 2 cutoffs were determined. Subjects with SOFA ≥ 5 had a higher risk of NIV failure (odds ratio = 3.3, 95% CI 2.4-4.5). ICU mortality was higher in subjects with NIV failure (38.4%) compared with invasive mechanical ventilation subjects (31.3%, P = .018), and NIV failure was associated with increased ICU mortality (odds ratio = 11.4, 95% CI 6.5-20.1)., Conclusions: An automatic and non-subjective algorithm based on CHAID decision-tree analysis can help to define the profile of patients with different risks of NIV failure, which might be a promising tool to assist in clinical decision making to avoid the possible complications associated with NIV failure., (Copyright © 2017 by Daedalus Enterprises.)

Sarcopenia is a geriatric syndrome characterized by progressive and generalized loss of skeletal muscle mass and function. Reported prevalence of this geriatric syndrome, differs depending on the definition, the population and the method used to identify sarcopenia. The causes of sarcopenia are multifactorial, and can include genetic influence, immobility or disuse, endocrine factors, inflammation and nutritional deficiencies. These disorders involve an imbalance between anabolic and catabolic pathways that rules muscle mass. Many drugs taken regularly for common conditions may interact with some mechanisms that can alter the balance between protein synthesis and degradation. This may lead to a harmful or a beneficial effect on muscle mass and strength. Widely prescribed drugs could play an important role during the time of onset and development of sarcopenia. In this paper, we reviewed the current understanding of how can drugs contribute positively or negatively on sarcopenia and muscle wasting. We decided to focus this review on oral common drugs, which are usually prescribed in older adults, leaving aside other drugs as hormone therapy., (© 2016 S. Karger AG, Basel.)