Current medical research and opinion
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Generalized Anxiety Disorder (GAD) is a common chronic disease with a lifetime prevalence estimated to range from 4.2% to 12.7%. GAD places a substantial burden upon patients and healthcare resources. ⋯ Escitalopram was found to be cost-effective compared with paroxetine in treatment of GAD from the Canadian MoH perspective, and dominating paroxetine from the SOC perspective. Therefore, a possible advantage may exist at the population level in the treatment of GAD with escitalopram in Canada.
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Review Comparative Study
Comparative effects of biological therapies on the severity of skin symptoms and health-related quality of life in patients with plaque-type psoriasis: a meta-analysis.
The comparative effects of biological response modifiers (BRMs) on the severity of psoriasis and its effects on health-related quality of life (HRQoL) have not been evaluated. ⋯ Infliximab significantly reduced disease severity by both fixed- and random-effects models. All biological therapies improved HRQoL compared with placebo, and proportions of patients discontinuing treatment were similar in active-treatment and placebo groups. The analysis is potentially limited by statistical factors and did not systematically account for different toxicity profiles, but the findings establish a foundation for head-to-head comparative trials.
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Chondroitin sulphate (CS) is an important structural component of cartilage and is approved and regulated as a symptomatic slow-acting drug for osteoarthritis (OA) (SYSADOA) in Europe and some other countries. Although numerous studies have shown the clinical benefits of CS to decrease pain, improve functional disability, reduce non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drug (NSAID) or acetaminophen consumption, and good tolerability with an additional carry-over effect, there are still some concerns regarding its effectiveness in treating OA. ⋯ Data provided by these meta-analyses indicate that CS has a slight to moderate efficacy in the symptomatic treatment of OA, with an excellent safety profile.
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This prospective, observational, open study aimed to assess the efficacy and safety of hylan G-F 20 in a large cohort of patients with symptomatic hip osteoarthritis (OA), and identify predictors of clinical response. ⋯ This study supports the safety, tolerability and effectiveness of hylan G-F 20 in the treatment of symptomatic hip OA. Hylan G-F 20 may also offer economic benefits due to a reduction in NSAID usage and the resultant reduction in management costs of NSAID related side-effects. These data reflect those obtained in previous studies of hylan G-F 20 in patients with knee OA.
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Both cost and quality of healthcare are major concerns in the United States. Using patient satisfaction as a quality indicator, we seek to identify the relationship between healthcare cost and quality from the perspective of the community-dwelling population in the United States. ⋯ Our study adds to the literature on health care cost and quality by suggesting that the improvement of patient satisfaction may not require additional health care spending.