Current medical research and opinion
-
To compare the 4-week effectiveness and tolerability of an add-on treatment with oral high dose methocarbamol (MET) vs long-acting oral opioid analgesics (LAO) in patients with non-specific low back pain (nsLBP) poorly responsive to recommended 1st line treatments. ⋯ 4-week add-on treatment with MET in patients with nsLBP who showed an inadequate response to recommended 1st line treatments is superior effective to LAO and significantly better tolerated.KEY MESSAGESLow back pain is the most common musculoskeletal problem worldwide.In the majority of patients, LBP does not have a specific cause and the most prevalently coded form is mechanical, non-specific (ns) LBP associated with muscular tension, restrictions in mobility, and static malposition.Current treatment recommendations for nsLBP are largely "non-specific" as well, limited to symptomatic pain-relieving measures.In our propensity score-matched two cohort analyses of depersonalized real-world data from the German Pain e-Registry, a 4-week treatment with the muscle relaxant methocarbamol proved superior effective and significantly better tolerated than treatment with oral long-acting opioid analgesics in patients who poorly responded to recommended 1st line treatments.
-
Human Immunodeficiency Virus (HIV) prevalence has substantially increased over the years, leading to increased direct medical costs. The aim of the present study was to assess the long-term cost of HIV care in Greece incurred over the last decade. ⋯ The paper presents some evidence towards the direction that HIV management in Greece can be considered efficient in both clinical and financial terms, as it offers measurable clinical outcomes at well-controlled, almost inelastic spending.
-
The prognosis of COPD patients can be calculated using multidimensional indexes that improve the predictive capacity of the individual variables. The CODEX index can be calculated using iCODEX, a digital support tool available on the web and in an app. The aim of this study was to evaluate how the usefulness and applicability of iCODEX and its recommendations in routine clinical practice are perceived by specialists in internal medicine, pneumology, and primary care. ⋯ Our study shows that the iCODEX tool is easy for participating specialists to use and identifies the recommendations that have the greatest clinical impact in areas such as lung obstruction, severe exacerbations, exercise, smoking, and patient follow-up.
-
Congenital cytomegalovirus (CMV) is a leading cause of non-genetic sensorineural hearing loss and neurodevelopmental disabilities among US children. Studies using administrative healthcare databases have identified infants with congenital CMV using diagnostic codes from the International Classification of Diseases, Ninth and Tenth Revision, Clinical Modification. ⋯ During 2010-2017, 668 congenital CMV cases were identified among 7,517,207 infants with encounters within 21 days of life, or 0.89 cases per 10,000 infants. The sensitivity of CMV diagnostic codes assigned within 21 and 90 days of life was 10.3% (95% CI: 8.2-12.9) and 11.1% (95% CI: 8.9-13.7), respectively.
-
At this time in history fraught with restrictions and issues stemming from the COVID-19 pandemic, the care and management of chronic therapies is a major concern for society. The objective of the following study was to assess whether adherence and persistence in patients treated with hypoglycaemic drugs and statins during 2020 changed in comparison with pre-pandemic years. ⋯ The adherence figure did not change much, unlike the persistence figure. In fact, during 2020, the great impact that COVID-19 had on follow-up visits, on the availability of drugs, and on the difficulty of access to health facilities resulted in chronic patients abandoning therapy.