Current medical research and opinion
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Introduction: Treatment adherence continues to be a major challenge in psoriasis. Patient preference studies, especially discrete-choice experiments, are gaining popularity to gather insights into patient reported treatment outcomes. This systematic literature review aimed to critically assess all discrete choice experiments exploring patients' and physicians' preferences for psoriasis treatment characteristics. ⋯ Factors such as age, disease severity, and duration of condition significantly affected preferences for treatment attributes. Conclusions: This review provides insight into the types of attributes that patients and physicians value most, and therefore can help improve shared decision-making. The findings of this study also encourage regulatory agencies to continue integrating patient preferences in their decision-making.
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Background: Like other affected countries around the globe, Malaysia is shocked by the Coronavirus disease 2019, which is also known as COVID-19. Aims: This commentary article discusses the COVID-19 scenario in Malaysia, particularly in relation to the sudden increase in the number of new cases related to an international mass gathering. ⋯ Conclusion: There is no one-size-fits-all approach in managing disease outbreak. The fight against COVID-19 very much depends on their attitude during the 14-day Movement Control Order (MCO) which has been extended recently.
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Review
Health utility estimation in children and adolescents: a review of health technology assessments.
Objective: Health utility estimates for children and adolescents are critical for cost-utility analyses informing health technology assessment (HTA) authorities' decisions governing access to pediatric treatments. However, in a recent review, only 29% of published pediatric cost-utility models used a utility measure validated for children. We examined utility estimates used in pediatric HTAs. ⋯ When estimating pediatric utility weights, alternative measures should be reviewed for suitability given the model population and health condition. Pediatric and adult utility estimates should be applied appropriately as patients age over time, and caregiver and/or family member utility should be included, where relevant. Gaps exist in utility measures for children aged <4 years and caregivers.
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Comparative Study Observational Study
Acute pancreatitis risk in type 2 diabetes patients treated with canagliflozin versus other antihyperglycemic agents: an observational claims database study.
Objective: Observational evidence suggests that patients with type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM) are at increased risk for acute pancreatitis (AP) versus those without T2DM. A small number of AP events were reported in clinical trials of the sodium glucose co-transporter 2 inhibitor canagliflozin, though no imbalances were observed between treatment groups. This observational study evaluated risk of AP among new users of canagliflozin compared with new users of six classes of other antihyperglycemic agents (AHAs). ⋯ The risk of AP was generally similar for new users of canagliflozin compared with new users of glucagon-like peptide-1 receptor agonists, dipeptidyl peptidase-4 inhibitors, sulfonylureas, thiazolidinediones, insulin, and other AHAs, with no consistent between-treatment differences observed across databases. Intent-to-treat and sensitivity analysis findings were qualitatively consistent with on-treatment findings. Conclusions: In this large observational study, incidence rates of AP in patients with T2DM treated with canagliflozin or other AHAs were generally similar, with no evidence suggesting that canagliflozin is associated with increased risk of AP compared with other AHAs.
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Objective: Human participants play an important role in medical care advances. Recruiting enough participants is perhaps the most significant procedure that determines the success of medical research, and high participation rate brings about many benefits. Therefore, acquiring enough participants is important for medical researchers. ⋯ Some factors affecting people's attitude toward participating in medical research have been identified and discussed in our review. Conclusion: This review demonstrated that willingness of participants to take part in medical research was influenced by a variety of factors. These factors may be used to predict the public's willingness to take part in medical research and may potentially be used in developing strategies aimed at improving participation rate.