Current medical research and opinion
-
Review Observational Study
Monthly variations in acute coronary syndromes outcomes during the first year of the COVID-19 pandemic.
Cardiovascular disease, particularly acute coronary syndromes (ACS), is the leading cause of death in the United States. Minor fluctuations in hospital admissions for different conditions, including ACS, can be seen throughout the year. This study focuses on the impact of admission month on outcomes of acute coronary syndromes during the first year of the COVID-19 pandemic. ⋯ The month of admission significantly affected outcomes for patients admitted with ACS during the COVID-19 pandemic, with higher inpatient mortality and longer time from admission to PCI for certain months in 2020. Further studies should investigate disparities in monthly ACS outcomes for the year 2021 and onward, now that COVID-19 infections have been steadily declining.
-
Prediction models for in-hospital deaths of patients with COVID-19 using electronic healthcare data.
Many models for predicting various disease prognoses have achieved high performance without laboratory test results. However, whether laboratory test results can improve performance remains unclear. This study aimed to investigate whether laboratory test results improve the model performance for coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19). ⋯ Laboratory test results, such as blood urea nitrogen, albumin, and lactate dehydrogenase levels, along with background information, helped estimate the prognosis of patients hospitalized for COVID-19.
-
Randomized Controlled Trial Multicenter Study Comparative Study
Health-related quality of life in treatment-naive CLL/SLL patients treated with zanubrutinib versus bendamustine plus rituximab.
Zanubrutinib is a highly selective, next-generation Bruton's tyrosine kinase inhibitor. In the phase 3 SEQUOIA trial (NCT03336333), treatment with zanubrutinib resulted in significantly improved progression-free survival compared to bendamustine plus rituximab (BR) in adult patients with treatment-naïve chronic lymphocytic leukemia (CLL) and small lymphocytic lymphoma (SLL) without del(17p). The current analysis compared the effects of zanubrutinib versus BR on patients' health-related quality-of-life (HRQoL). ⋯ During the first 24 weeks of treatment, zanubrutinib was associated with better HRQoL outcomes in patients with treatment-naive CLL/SLL without del(17p) compared to BR.
-
Randomized Controlled Trial Multicenter Study
Health-related quality of life outcomes associated with zanubrutinib versus ibrutinib monotherapy in patients with relapsed/refractory chronic lymphocytic leukemia and small lymphocytic lymphoma: results from the ALPINE Trial.
The purpose of this analysis was to assess health-related quality of life (HRQoL) in patients treated with zanubrutinib and ibrutinib in the ALPINE trial (NCT03734016). ⋯ Patients with R/R CLL/SLL treated with zanubrutinib demonstrated improvement versus ibrutinib in the GHS scale at cycle 7. Other endpoints continued to improve, suggesting treatment with zanubrutinib positively affected HRQoL over time. Given the generally good HRQoL at baseline in both arms, the differences between the arms were not significant.
-
To investigate the impact of pre-existing painful musculoskeletal conditions on healthcare utilization and costs among patients with five common conditions: acute coronary syndrome (ACS), stroke, cancer, dementia and pneumonia. ⋯ This study highlights that individuals with painful musculoskeletal conditions have higher healthcare utiliszation and costs than those without painful musculoskeletal conditions. Given the high occurrence of musculoskeletal pain in patients with other conditions, effective management strategies are needed to reduce the burden on healthcare resources.