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Introduction: and Objectives: The clinical presentation of Obstructive Sleep Apnoea (OSA) differs between genders. This study aimed to identify the specific OSA phenotypes of women in the European Sleep Apnoea Database (ESADA) cohort., Materials and Methods: Latent class cluster analysis was applied to data from 9710 female OSA patients. Variables used included age, Body Mass Index (BMI), Epworth Sleepiness Scale (ESS), comorbidities (cardiovascular, pulmonary, psychiatric, metabolic, other) and the Apnoea Hypopnea Index (AHI)., Results: Four different clusters were found: Cluster 1"Women with ischemic heart disease" (38.3 %):middle aged (59 years [53-65]),overweight to obese (BMI 30.1 kg/m 2 [26.9-33.5]), AHI 22.9 events/h[17.4-30], ESS 9 [5,12] with the highest prevalence of ischemic heart disease (56 %). Cluster 2"Elderly women with comorbidities" (23 %): oldest (66 years[60-71]), obese (BMI 36 kg/m 2 [31.6-40.4]),AHI 46 events/h [30-60.1]),ESS 9 [6-13] with the highest prevalence of comorbidities. Cluster 3"Sleepy obese women" (16.2 %): the youngest (49 years [42-55]), sleepiest (ESS 12 [8-16]), most obese(BMI 43 kg/m 2 [37.6-48.9]) females with severe OSA (AHI 53.3 events/h [32-80.5]). Cluster 4 "Women with mild OSA and low comorbidities" (22.5 %): middle aged (53.5 years [46-60]) with BMI 29 kg/m 2 [25-34.1],ESS9 [5,13]),AHI 8.6events/h[6.9-10.4])and low prevalence of comorbidities. The distribution of the clusters differed across Europe. PAP administration was higher in Clusters 2 and 3 but low in Cluster 4., Conclusion: Four distinct female phenotypes were identified with different clinical presentation and comorbidities. Sex-based phenotyping may provide improved risk stratification and personalized treatment., Competing Interests: Declaration of competing interest The authors declare that they have no known competing financial interests or personal relationships that could have appeared to influence the work reported in this paper., (Copyright © 2024 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.)

Background: Co-morbidities may induce local and systemic tumor progression of renal cell carcinoma (RCC); however, the prognostic impact of co-morbidities has not yet been well characterized. Patients and methods: RCC patients (n = 2206) surgically treated at three academic institutions in the US and Europe were included in the analysis. Presence of diabetes mellitus, hypertension, chronic kidney disease, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, coronary heart disease, and hypothyroidism were investigated for their association with clinicopathological features and cancer-specific survival. Results: Hypertension was associated with less advanced T stages (p = 0.025), a lower risk of lymph-node (p = 0.026) and distant metastases (p = 0.001), and improved cancer specific survival in univariable analysis (HR 0.81 95% CI 0.69–0.96, p = 0.013). However, hypertension was not an independent prognostic factor after adjustment for TNM stages, grading, and ECOG performance status (HR 0.95, 95% CI 0.80–1.12; p = 0.530). A correlation between the use of concomitant anti-hypertensive medications and improved survival outcome was not identified. All other investigated co-morbidities did not show significant associations with clinicopathological features or cancer-specific survival. Conclusion: Although the investigated co-morbidities are capable or inducing pathophysiological changes that are predisposing factors for tumor progression, none is an independent prognostic factor in patients with RCC. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Aims The aim of this study was to evaluate the in-hospital and 1-year prognostic impact of diabetes and elevated blood glucose levels at hospital admission in patients with acute heart failure (HF). Methods and results We studied a multinational cohort of 6926 hospitalized patients with acute HF enrolled in the European Society of Cardiology (ESC) and Heart Failure Association (HFA) Long-Term Registry, of whom 49.4% (n = 3422) had known or previously undiagnosed diabetes (defined as self-reported history, or medication use, or fasting glucose levels ≥7.0 mmol/L or haemoglobin A1c ≥6.5%). Compared with those without diabetes, patients with known or previously undiagnosed diabetes had higher cumulative rates of in-hospital mortality, 1-year mortality, and 1-year HF re-hospitalization that occurred independently of multiple clinical risk factors: in-hospital mortality [6.8 vs. 4.4%; adjusted hazard ratio (HR) 1.774; 95% confidence interval (CI) 1.282-2.456, P < 0.001], 1-year all-cause mortality (27.5 vs. 24%; adjusted HR 1.162; 95% CI 1.020-1.325, P = 0.024), and 1-year hospital re-admissions for HF (23.2 vs. 18.5%; adjusted HR 1.320; 95% CI 1.139-1.530, P < 0.001). Moreover, elevated admission blood glucose concentrations were powerfully prognostic for in-hospital mortality, but not for 1-year mortality or re-hospitalizations, in both patients with and without diabetes. Conclusions Among patients hospitalized for acute HF, the presence of diabetes is independently associated with an increased risk of in-hospital mortality, 1-year all-cause mortality, and 1-year re-hospitalizations for HF, underscoring the need for more effective and personalized treatments of diabetes in this particularly high-risk patient population. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Objective: This study was undertaken to better define the prevalence, risk factors, as well as the economic and human burden of stress urinary incontinence (SUI) in Europe that will help health care providers better understand the impact of this condition.Methods: A literature search was performed using MEDLINE, EMBASE, BIDS, HealthStar, HSRProj, and HSTAT databases to review the European literature (France, Germany, Italy, Spain, UK) on SUI between 1990 and 2001. Clinical experts on UI provided advice on this review.Results: In all European countries studied SUI was identified as a distinct and highly prevalent form of urinary incontinence, and in some countries, as many as 80% of all incontinent women were diagnosed with SUI. However, epidemiological figures varied widely between studies, due to different definitions of diagnostic criteria and disease states and study designs used. Parity and vaginal birth were identified as major risk factors for developing SUI. Only a few studies have examined the economic burden of SUI, but have found it to be significant on patients and society. SUI also significantly affects the quality of women’s lives.Conclusion: There is a clear need for harmonisation in defining SUI, standardising survey methods and validation criteria, and outcome measures, if results are to be compared with any validity. A better understanding of the burden of SUI is essential for future research. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

We aimed to describe the clinical presentation, treatment, outcome and report on factors associated with mortality over a 90-day period in Clostridioides difficile infection (CDI). Descriptive, univariate, and multivariate regression analyses were performed on data collected in a retrospective case-control study conducted in nine hospitals from seven European countries. A total of 624 patients were included, of which 415 were deceased (cases) and 209 were still alive 90 days after a CDI diagnosis (controls). The most common antibiotics used previously in both groups were β-lactams; previous exposure to fluoroquinolones was significantly (p = 0.0004) greater in deceased patients. Multivariate logistic regression showed that the factors independently related with death during CDI were older age, inadequate CDI therapy, cachexia, malignancy, Charlson Index, long-term care, elevated white blood cell count (WBC), C-reactive protein (CRP), bacteraemia, complications, and cognitive impairment. In addition, older age, higher levels of WBC, neutrophil, CRP or creatinine, the presence of malignancy, cognitive impairment, and complications were strongly correlated with shortening the time from CDI diagnosis to death. CDI prevention should be primarily focused on hospitalised elderly people receiving antibiotics. WBC, neutrophil count, CRP, creatinine, albumin and lactate levels should be tested in every hospitalised patient treated for CDI to assess the risk of a fatal outcome. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Aims: Co-morbidities frequently accompany heart failure (HF), contributing to increased morbidity and mortality, and an impairment of quality of life. We assessed the prevalence, determinants, regional variation, and prognostic implications of co-morbidities in patients with chronic HF in Europe., Methods and Results: A total of 3226 European outpatients with chronic HF were included in this analysis of the European Society of Cardiology (ESC) Heart Failure Pilot Survey. The following co-morbidities were considered: diabetes, hyper- and hypothyroidism, stroke, COPD, sleep apnoea, chronic kidney disease (CKD), and anaemia. Prognostic implications of co-morbidities were evaluated using population attributable risks (PARs), and patients were divided into geographic regions. Clinical endpoints were all-cause mortality and HF hospitalization. The majority of patients (74%) had a least one co-morbidity, the most prevalent being CKD (41%), anaemia (29%), and diabetes (29%). Co-morbidities were independently associated with higher age (P < 0.001), higher NYHA functional class (P < 0.001), ischaemic aetiology of HF (P < 0.001), higher heart rate (P = 0.011), history of hypertension (P < 0.001), and AF (P < 0.001). Only diabetes, CKD, and anaemia were independently associated with a higher risk of mortality and/or HF hospitalization. There were marked regional differences in prevalence and prognostic implications of co-morbidities. Prognostic implications of co-morbidities (PARs) were: CKD = 41%, anaemia = 37%, diabetes = 14%, COPD = 10%, and <10% for all other co-morbidities., Conclusion: In this pilot survey, co-morbidities are prevalent in patients with chronic HF and are related to the severity of the disease. The presence of diabetes, CKD, and anaemia was independently related to increased mortality and HF hospitalization, with the highest PAR for CKD and anaemia., (© 2013 The Authors. European Journal of Heart Failure © 2013 European Society of Cardiology.)