Current medical research and opinion
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To evaluate the trend in cytogenetic/molecular testing rate in chronic lymphocytic leukemia (CLL) and assess the clinical and economic burden of first-line (1 L) treatment with chemoimmunotherapy (CIT) by risk status. ⋯ High-risk CLL patients treated with 1 L chemoimmunotherapy have poorer clinical and economic outcomes compared to non-high risk patients. Assessment of genetic risk remains suboptimal.
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Observational Study
Durability of antibodies post vaccination with two doses of inactivated BBIBP-CorV vaccine.
Breakthrough infections post-COVID-19 vaccination occur with the emerging variants of the SARS-CoV virus which might be either due to the newer variants escaping immune response or the waning of antibodies over time. However, there is lack of long-term follow-up evidence on the waning of immune response following inactivated COVID-19 vaccine. ⋯ Inactivated BBIBP-CorV vaccine recipients, based on age, gender and associated comorbid conditions might need booster doses at an earlier interval than the currently followed six months interval.
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Measurement of retinal thickness by optical coherence tomography (OCT) shows higher diagnostic accuracy for diabetic macular edema (DME) than fundus photography alone. The expanding gap between the rising number of type 2 diabetes (T2D) individuals and the availability of OCT devices demands a targeted selection of individuals at higher risk of DME who would benefit the most from early referral. We sought to appraise if proteinuria should be considered in a targeted referral of T2D individuals to OCT examination. ⋯ In T2D individuals, early referral to OCT examination should be pursued for all individuals with concurrent proteinuria.
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Real-world evidence on the application of the granulocyte colony-stimulating factor lipegfilgrastim for the reduction of chemotherapy-induced neutropenia and febrile neutropenia (FN) is limited. The NADIR study aimed to evaluate effectiveness and safety of lipegfilgrastim as primary or secondary prophylaxis in patients with lung cancer undergoing chemotherapy in routine clinical practice. ⋯ Lipegfilgrastim in routine clinical practice of patients with lung cancer showed similar effectiveness and safety as compared to the pivotal trial. Interestingly, in older patients severe neutropenia was reported less frequently. While most patients with high FN risk received lipegfilgrastim for primary prophylaxis as recommended, there are still 20-30% of patients at high FN risk without primary prophylaxis who could benefit from better adherence to guidelines.
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Anemia is a common complication of chronic kidney disease (CKD). The aim of this study was to evaluate hemoglobin levels at the initiation of erythropoiesis stimulating agent (ESA) therapy in patients with non-dialysis-dependent CKD (NDD-CKD) and anemia using a large-scale administrative database in Japan. ⋯ This real-world database study revealed that hemoglobin levels at the initiation of ESA therapy in new users of ESA were lower than those recommended by treatment guidelines in Japan.