Clinical therapeutics
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Clinical therapeutics · Nov 2009
Association between previous health care use and initiation of inhaled corticosteroid and long-acting beta2-adrenergic agonist combination therapy among US patients with asthma.
Combination inhaled corticosteroid and long-acting beta(2)-adrenergic agonist (ICS/LABA) therapy is recommended for patients whose asthma is not adequately controlled by other maintenance therapies and for those with moderate to severe asthma. ⋯ Just under 40% of patients met the criteria for appropriate initiation of ICS/LABA therapy, with significantly greater proportions of BFC than FSC users meeting the overall and individual criteria for appropriate use. Patients with appropriate initiation of ICS/LABA therapy were significantly more likely to be treated by pulmonologists and allergists than by family medicine/general practitioners.
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Clinical therapeutics · Nov 2009
Changes in physicians' practice of prescribing cyclooxygenase-2 inhibitor after market withdrawal of rofecoxib: a retrospective study of physician-patient pairs in Taiwan.
Safety concerns regarding severe cardiovascular events associated with the use of selective cyclooxygenase-2 (COX-2) inhibitors resulted in the market withdrawal of rofecoxib in September 2004. ⋯ The volume of celecoxib prescribing was greatly reduced after rofecoxib was withdrawn from the market. Physicians' prescribing practice for COX-2 inhibitors significantly changed after the withdrawal, and it had a significant impact on the postwithdrawal volume of celecoxib prescribing.
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Clinical therapeutics · Nov 2009
Probability of pharmacodynamic target attainment with standard and prolonged-infusion antibiotic regimens for empiric therapy in adults with hospital-acquired pneumonia.
The pharmacodynamic characteristics of antibiotics should be considered when choosing empiric dosage regimens for the treatment of pneumonia. ⋯ Results of this model suggest that standard doses of most antipseudomonal beta-lactams (cefepime, ceftazidime, and meropenem) had high probabilities of achieving optimal pharmacodynamic exposure as empiric therapy for HAP, whereas the low probabilities predicted from ceftriaxone, ertapenem, and the fluoroquinolones suggest that these agents would be inappropriate as monotherapy. For late-onset HAP, prolonged infusions of cefepime, ceftazidime, and meropenem offered the highest probabilities of achieving bactericidal exposure.