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Background: Transvenous lead removal (TLR) has made significant progress with respect to innovation, efficacy, and safety. However, limited data exist regarding trends in use and adverse outcomes outside the centers of considerable experience for TLR. The aim of our study was to examine use patterns, frequency of adverse events, and influence of hospital volume on complications.Methods and Results: Using the Nationwide Inpatient Sample, we identified 91 890 TLR procedures. We investigated common complications including pericardial complications (hemopericardium, cardiac tamponade, or pericardiocentesis), pneumothorax, stroke, vascular complications (consisting of hemorrhage/hematoma, incidents requiring surgical repair, and accidental arterial puncture), and in-hospital deaths described with TLR, defining them by the validated International Classification of Diseases, Ninth Revision, Clinical Modification diagnosis code. We specifically assessed in-hospital death (2.2%), hemorrhage requiring transfusion (2.6%), vascular complications (2.0%), pericardial complications (1.4%), open heart surgery (0.2%), and postoperative respiratory failure (2.4%). Independent predictors of complications were female sex and device infections. Hospital volume was not independently associated with higher complications. There was a significant rise in overall complication rates over the study period.Conclusions: The overall complication rate in patients undergoing TLR was higher than previously reported. Female sex and device infections are associated with higher complications. Hospital volume was not associated with higher complication rates. The number of adverse events in the literature likely underestimates the actual number of complications associated with TLR. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background Limited information is available regarding in-hospital cardiac arrest (IHCA) in patients with COVID-19. Methods and Results We leveraged the American Heart Association COVID-19 Cardiovascular Disease (AHA COVID-19 CVD) Registry to conduct a cohort study of adults hospitalized for COVID-19. IHCA was defined as those with documentation of cardiac arrest requiring medication or electrical shock for resuscitation. Mixed effects models with random intercepts were used to identify independent predictors of IHCA and mortality while accounting for clustering at the hospital level. The study cohort included 8518 patients (6080 not in the intensive care unit [ICU]) with mean age of 61.5 years (SD 17.5). IHCA occurred in 509 (5.9%) patients overall with 375 (73.7%) in the ICU and 134 (26.3%) patients not in the ICU. The majority of patients at the time of ICHA were not in a shockable rhythm (76.5%). Independent predictors of IHCA included older age, Hispanic ethnicity (odds ratio [OR], 1.9; CI, 1.4-2.4; P <0.001), and non-Hispanic Black race (OR, 1.5; CI, 1.1-1.9; P =0.004). Other predictors included oxygen use on admission, quick Sequential Organ Failure Assessment score on admission, and hypertension. Overall, 35 (6.9%) patients with IHCA survived to discharge, with 9.1% for ICU and 0.7% for non-ICU patients. Conclusions Older age, Black race, and Hispanic ethnicity are independent predictors of IHCA in patients with COVID-19. Although the incidence is much lower than in ICU patients, approximately one-quarter of IHCA events in patients with COVID-19 occur in non-ICU settings, with the latter having a substantially lower survival to discharge rate.

Objective: To examine the rate of Clostridium difficile infection (CDI) and hospital-associated outcomes in a national cohort of hospitalized patients with chronic kidney disease (CKD) and assess the impact of long-term dialysis on outcome in these patients., Patients and Methods: Data for January 1, 2005, through December 31, 2009 were obtained from the National Hospital Discharge Survey, which includes information on patient demographics, diagnoses, procedures, and discharge types. Data collected and analyzed for this study included age, sex, race, admission type (urgent or emergent combined vs elective), any colectomy diagnosis, length of stay, type of discharge, and mortality. International Classification of Diseases, Ninth Revision, Clinical Modification codes were utilized to identify CKD patients and CDI events. Weighted analysis was performed using JMP version 9., Results: An estimated 162 million adults were hospitalized during 2005-2009, and 8.03 million (5%) had CKD (median age, 71 years). The CDI rate in CKD patients was 1.49% (0.119 million) compared with 0.70% (1.14 million) in patients without CKD (P<.001). Patients with CKD who were undergoing long-term dialysis were more than 2 times as likely to develop CDI than non-CKD patients and 1.33 times more likely than CKD patients not undergoing dialysis (all P<.001). In a weighted multivariate analysis adjusting for sex and comorbidities, patients with CKD and CDI had longer hospitalization, higher colectomy rate (adjusted odds ratio [aOR], 2.30; 95% confidence interval [CI], 2.14-2.47), dismissal to a health care facility (aOR, 2.22; 95% CI, 2.19-2.25), and increased in-hospital mortality (aOR, 1.55; 95% CI, 1.52-1.59; all P<.001) as compared with CKD patients without CDI. Patients with CKD who were undergoing long-term dialysis did not have worse outcomes as compared with CKD patients who were not undergoing long-term dialysis., Conclusion: These data suggest that patients with CKD have a higher risk of CDI and increased hospital-associated morbidity and mortality. Future prospective studies are needed to confirm these findings and to identify effective CDI prevention in CKD patients, who appear to have an increased risk of CDI acquisition., (Copyright © 2012 Mayo Foundation for Medical Education and Research. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.)

We investigated the burden of frailty across the spectrum of ankle-brachial index (ABI < 0.9, 0.9 ≤ ABI < 1.1, 1.1 ≤ ABI < 1.4 and ≥1.4) using data from the National Health and Nutritional Examination Survey (NHANES) in respondents aged >50 years. Criteria used to identify frailty status included weight loss, slow walking speed, weakness, exhaustion, and low physical activity. Participants meeting 1 to 2 criteria were classified as prefrail, and those meeting ≥3 criteria were classified as frail. Prevalence of frailty in respondents with ABI < 0.9 (17.5%) and 0.9 ≤ ABI < 1.1 (6.7%) was higher than in participants with normal ABI-1.1 ≤ ABI < 1.4 (4.7%). In multivariable multinomial logistic regression models, ABI < 0.9 predicted frailty (odds ratio [OR] = 2.31, 95% confidence interval [CI] = 1.08-4.94) and prefrailty (OR = 1.36, 95% CI = 0.90-2.07). Higher prevalence of frailty was seen in participants with ABI ≥ 1.4 (7.3%), P = .39. Frailty predicted general and cardiovascular mortality in participants with ABI < 0.9. Frailty mediates increased morbidity and mortality seen in peripheral arterial disease (PAD).