ObjectiveTo analyze the clinical characteristics and related prognostic factors of post-renal transplantation pneumonia.MethodsThe clinical data of 89 patients with post-renal transplantation pneumonia in Sichuan Academy of Medical Sciences & Sichuan Provincial People’s Hospital from 1st January 2014 to 31st December 2015 were collected in the study. Kaplan-Meier method was used to calculate overall survival. Cox analysis was used to analyze the related prognostic factors.ResultsPost-renal transplantation pneumonia occurred mainly within 6 months after renal transplantation. The prominent clinical manifestations were cough (95.5%), fever (56.1%), and dyspnea (12.3%). The mortality of post-renal transplantation pneumonia was 11.2% and all death occurred within 5 months after transplantation. The overall survival rate significantly decreased in the patients with C-reactive protein (CRP) ≥40 mg/L (P<0.001), procalcitonin ≥1 ng/ml (P=0.002), brain natriuretic peptide >100 pg/ml (P<0.001), platelet ≤100×109/L (P<0.001), or those with occurrence time of pneumonia <180 days (P=0.013). Platelet ≤100×109/L could increase the risk of death by 66.6 times (RR=0.015, P=0.006), and CRP ≥ 40 mg/L could increase the risk of death by 20 times (RR=0.05, P=0.029).ConclusionsPost-renal transplantation pneumonia has prominent clinical characteristics. Platelet ≤100×109/L or CRP ≥40 mg/L can increase the risk of death and can be used as an independent prognoctic factor of post-renal transplatation pneumonia.
Objective To evaluate the relationship between COPD and atherosclerosis, and analyze the risk factors of atherosclerosis among COPD patients. Methods A total of 40 COPD patients and 43 normal subjects were enrolled in the study. Carotid intima-media thickness (IMT) and plaques were detected in both groups. Blood samples were collected to measure the concentration of high sensitive C-reactive protein (hs-CRP) , fibrinogen (Fbg) , total cholesterol (TC) , triglyceride (TG) , high density lipoprotein cholesterol (HDL-C) , low density lipoprotein cholesterol (LDL-C) , while smoking index was recorded. Multiple regression analysis was performed to evaluate the correlative factors of IMT among COPD patients. According to whether luminal stenosis appeared, the COPD patients were allocated into group A ( without luminal stenosis) and group B ( with luminal stenosis) . Age, gender, hs-CRP, Fbg, TC, TG, HDL-C, LDL-C, and smoking index of the two groups were compared respectively. Results Hs-CRP, Fbg, thickness of IMT, plaques detection rate, and smoking index in the COPD group were significantly higher than those in the control group ( Plt;0.05) . TC, HDL-C, LDL-C in the COPD group were significantly lower than those in the control group ( Plt;0. 05) .Multiple regression analysis of IMT correlative factors among COPD patients showed that age, hs-CRP, Fbg, TC, TG, LDL-C, HDL-C, and smoking index were in linear relationship with IMT thickening. Age, hs-CRP, TC, and smoking index were positively correlated with IMT ( Plt;0.05) . Hs-CRP and smoking index in the group A were lower than those in the group B ( Plt;0. 05) .While TC, TG, LDL-C, and HDL-C in the group A were higher than those in the group B ( Plt;0.05) . Conclusions Age, smoking index, hs-CRP, and TC are risk factors for thickening of carotid artery IMT in COPD patients. Furthermore, smoking index, hs-CRP, TC, TG, LDL-C, and HDL-C are related to the severity of IMT thickening. The ultrasound detection of carotid artery IMT can be a valuble tool to screen atherosclerosis in patients with COPD.
