Current medical research and opinion
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To evaluate adherence to, and discontinuation of, somatropin treatment over 4 years in a US population-based study of children with pediatric growth hormone deficiency (pGHD). ⋯ Suboptimal adherence increases with treatment duration, and risk of discontinuation is associated with age, female gender, black or Hispanic race/ethnicity, and obesity. Strategies that facilitate adherence among children at risk of discontinuation may improve clinical outcomes.
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Chronic pain is a public health concern affecting 20-30% of the population of Western countries. Focus groups of people with persistent pain indicated that their overall physical function had deteriorated because of pain, therefore assessment of function should be an integral part of pain assessment. The objective of this study was to establish a consensus on assessment of function in chronic pain primary care patients and to evaluate the use of scales and clinical guidelines in clinical practice. ⋯ Physicians agreed on the need for a precise definition of the concept of patient functional impediment to facilitate homogeneous recognition, and for the development of simple and practical scales focused on patients with chronic pain and their needs.
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The COVID-19 pandemic has led to significant reductions in the administration of routinely recommended vaccines among adolescents in the US including tetanus, diphtheria, and acellular pertussis (Tdap); meningococcal (ACWY); and human papillomavirus (HPV) vaccines. The extent to which these deficits could persist in 2021 and beyond is unclear. To address this knowledge gap, this study estimated the cumulative deficits of routine vaccine doses among US adolescents during the COVID-19 pandemic and estimated the time and effort needed to recover from those deficits. ⋯ Administration rates of routine vaccines decreased significantly among US adolescents during COVID-19. Reversing these deficits to mitigate long-term health and economic consequences will require a sustained increase in vaccination rates over multiple years.
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Long-term real-world management of inflammatory rheumatic diseases remains unclear, especially with the advent of new treatment options. This study characterizes the number of advanced treatments used by patients with selected rheumatic diseases (rheumatoid arthritis [RA], psoriatic arthritis [PsA], ankylosing spondylitis, juvenile idiopathic arthritis) and provides a contemporary portrait of treatment patterns and therapeutic sequencing among patients with RA and PsA. ⋯ Despite advent of treatments with different MOA, cycling between treatments with the same MOA was common. Further studies with longer data follow-up would be needed to assess the impact of higher adoption of biosimilars on treatment patterns/sequencing.
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Breast cancer and heart failure (HF) are frequently interconnected due to shared risk factors and the cardiotoxicity of breast cancer treatment. However, the association between HF and hospital outcomes among breast cancer patients has not been studied. This study examined the association between HF and hospital outcomes among hospitalized patients with breast cancer. ⋯ HF has a substantial negative impact on health outcomes among hospitalized breast cancer patients. Breast cancer and HF are often considered separate medical conditions, but promoting effective management of comorbid HF in breast cancer patients may help to improve hospital outcomes in this population.