To estimate all-cause mortality in ventilator-associated pneumonia (VAP) and determine whether antibiotic duration beyond 8 days is associated with reduction in all-cause mortality in patients admitted with VAP in the intensive care unit.

A prospective cohort study of patients diagnosed with VAP based on the National Healthcare Safety Network definition and clinical criteria.

Single tertiary care hospital in Southern India.

100 consecutive adult patients diagnosed with VAP were followed up for 28 days postdiagnosis or until discharge.

The incidence of mortality at 28 days postdiagnosis was measured. Tests for association and predictors of mortality were determined using ² test and multivariate Cox regression analysis. Secondary outcomes included baseline clinical parameters such as age, underlying comorbidities as well as measuring total length of stay, number of ventilator-free days and antibiotic-free days.

The overall case fatality rate due to VAP was 46%. There was no statistically significant difference in mortality rates between those receiving shorter antibiotic duration (5–8 days) and those on longer therapy. Among those who survived until day 9, the observed risk difference was 15.1% between both groups, with an HR of 1.057 (95% CI 0.26 to 4.28). In 70.4% of isolates, non-fermenting Gram-negative bacilli were identified, of which the most common pathogen isolated was Acinetobacter baumannii (62%).

In this hospital-based cohort study, there is insufficient evidence to suggest that prolonging antibiotic duration beyond 8 days in patients with VAP improves survival.

BioMD-Y is a comprehensive biobank study of children and adolescents with major depression (MD) and their healthy peers in Germany, collecting a host of both biological and psychosocial information from the participants and their parents with the aim of exploring genetic and environmental risk and protective factors for MD in children and adolescents.

Children and adolescents aged 8–18 years are recruited to either the clinical case group (MD, diagnosis of MD disorder) or the typically developing control group (absence of any psychiatric condition).

To date, four publications on both genetic and environmental risk and resilience factors (including FKBP5, glucocorticoid receptor activation, polygenic risk scores, psychosocial and sociodemographic risk and resilience factors) have been published based on the BioMD-Y sample.

Data collection is currently scheduled to continue into 2026. Research questions will be further addressed using available measures.

This study aims to evaluate the Language Access Systems Improvement (LASI) initiative’s impact on professional interpreter utilisation in primary care and to explore patient and clinician perspectives on professional interpreter use.

Multi methods: Quantitative natural experiment pre-LASI and post-LASI, qualitative semistructured interviews with clinicians and focus groups with patients post-LASI.

Large, academic primary care practice.

Cantonese, Mandarin, Spanish, English-speaking adult patients and their clinicians.

LASI initiative: Implementation of a clinician language proficiency test and simultaneous provision of on-demand access to professional interpreters via video medical interpretation.

Quantitative: Proportion of language discordant primary care visits which were professionally interpreted. Qualitative: Salient themes related to professional interpreter use and non-use.

The researchers categorised language concordance for 1475 visits with 152 unique clinicians; 698 were not fully language concordant (202 pre-LASI and 496 post-LASI). Professional interpreter utilisation increased (pre-LASI 57% vs post-LASI 66%; p=0.01); the visits with the lowest percentage of profssional interpreter use post-LASI were those in which clinicians and patients had partial language concordance. In inverse probability weighted analysis, restricting to 499 visits with strict estimated propensity score overlap (100% common support), post-LASI visits had higher odds of using a professional interpreter compared with pre-LASI visits (OR 2.39; 95% CI 1.04 to 5.48). Qualitative results demonstrate video interpretation was convenient and well liked by both clinicians and patients. Some partially bilingual clinicians reported frustration with patient refusal of interpreter services; others reported using the video interpreters as a backup during visits. Views of the care-partner role differed for clinicians and patients. Clinicians reported sometimes having family interpret out of convenience or habit, whereas patients reported wanting family members present for support and advocacy, not interpretation.

LASI increased utilisation of professional interpreters; however, this was least prominent for partially language concordant visits. Health systems wishing to implement LASI or similar interventions will need to support clinicians and patients with partial bilingual skills in their efforts to use professional interpreters.

HSRP20153367.

This cross-sectional comparative study aimed to analyse and compare the story-grammar components in Tamil-speaking children with and without hearing impairment (HI) narratives.

The study used a cross-sectional, comparative design to assess and compare narrative structures.

Data were collected at the Sri Ramachandra Institute of Higher Education and Research in Chennai, India.

30 children participated in the study, including 15 children with severe to profound hearing loss who used cochlear implants and 15 with normal hearing. The participants were language-age-matched children aged 3–5 years, proficient in Tamil.

No specific interventions were implemented in this study.

The primary outcome measures focused on story-grammar components, including settings, characters, initiating events, internal plans, attempts, outcomes, and resolution. These components were evaluated through narrative retellings by the children.

Analysis of the narratives revealed significant differences between the two groups. Children with normal hearing demonstrated a higher representation of story-grammar elements than children with HI.

The findings suggest that children with normal hearing exhibit a more proficient understanding and utilisation of story structure in their story-telling than children with HI. This study highlights the importance of narrative analysis in language assessment, particularly for children with HI. Tailored interventions incorporating appropriate language stimulation techniques are needed to enhance children’s narrative skills with HI. Further research in this area is warranted.

Atherosclerotic cardiovascular disease (ASCVD) was the main cause of death in Germany in 2021, with major risk factors (ie, hypertension, diabetes, dyslipidaemia, obesity and certain lifestyle factors) being highly prevalent. Preventing ASCVD by assessment and modification of these risk factors is an important challenge for general practitioners. This study aims to systematically review and synthesise recent recommendations of national and international guidelines regarding the primary prevention of ASCVD in adults in primary care.

We will conduct a systematic review of clinical practice guidelines (CPGs) to evaluate primary prevention strategies for ASCVD. CPGs will be retrieved from MEDLINE and the Turning Research Into Practice database, guideline-specific databases and websites of guidelines-producing societies, with searches limited to publications from 2016 onwards. We will include CPGs in English, Spanish, German or Dutch languages that provide evidence-based recommendations for ASCVD prevention. The study population will include adults without diagnosed ASCVD. Two independent reviewers will assess guideline eligibility and quality by means of the mini-checklist MiChe, and extract study characteristics and relevant recommendations for further consistency analysis. A third reviewer will resolve disagreements. Findings will be presented as a narrative synthesis and in tabular form.

This review does not require ethical approval. Our systematic review will inform the CPG of the German College of General Practitioners and Family Physicians on the primary prevention of ASCVD. The review results will also be disseminated through publications in peer-reviewed journals and presentations at local, national and international conferences.

CRD42023394605.