Background
Many studies examining weight trajectories have used adiposity measures shown to be problematic for trajectory analysis in children with obesity, and remission of obesity remains poorly ...understood.
Objectives
To describe weight trajectories for school-aged children, the rate of obesity remission and factors associated.
Methods
Children between 6 and 11 years of age with ≥3 valid height and weight measurements from an Oregon hospital-system over a minimum six-month period were included. Percent distance from the median body mass index (BMI) was used for modeling. Latent class analysis and linear mixed models were used to classify children based on their weight trajectory.
Results
We included 11,247 subjects with a median of 2.1 years of follow-up, with 1,614 (14.4%) classified as overweight and 1,794 (16.0%) classified as obese. Of subjects with obesity, 1% experienced remission during follow-up, whereas 23% of those with overweight moved to within a healthy weight range. Latent class analysis identified three classes within each weight-based stratum over time. The majority of children with overweight or obesity had a flat trajectory over time. Lower socioeconomic status was associated with a worsening trajectory. Latent class models using alternate measures (BMI, BMI z-scores, tri-ponderal mass index (TMI)) differed substantially from each other.
Conclusions
Obesity remission was uncommon using the adiposity metric of distance from the median though transition from overweight to healthy weight was more common. Children with low socioeconomic status have worse trajectories overall. The choice of adiposity metric may have a substantial effect on the outcomes.
Introduction/Objectives
Pyoderma gangrenosum (PG) is a rare, rapidly progressive neutrophilic dermatosis commonly associated with systemic inflammatory diseases. We aimed to characterize the ...association of PG and inflammatory arthritis, as little is known outside of case reports and small cohort studies.
Method
We performed a systematic review in PubMed, EMBASE, and Scopus from inception to present using the terms arthritis and pyoderma gangrenosum. Patient demographics, clinical presentation, and treatment outcomes were recorded. Descriptive statistics and stratified analysis were used to compare factors of interest by type of arthritis.
Results
A total of 1399 articles were screened, and 129 patients with inflammatory arthritis and PG were included in the review. The most common types of arthritis were rheumatoid arthritis (RA) (50.4%), inflammatory bowel disease (IBD)–associated arthritis (10.9%), and psoriatic arthritis (8.5%). In the vast majority of cases, joint symptoms preceded PG, by a median of 10 years (inter-quartile range IQR 5–16). Corticosteroid monotherapy and biologic therapies, used alone or in combination, resulted in improvement or complete resolution of ulcers 71.4% and 67.3% of the time, respectively. Within the latter, infliximab, adalimumab, and anakinra were most successful in inducing remission overall. RA and non-RA did not differ significantly in treatment success or healing time.
Conclusions
This study shows that PG is frequently preceded by inflammatory arthritis, most commonly RA. Clinicians used a wide variety of treatment regimens with variable outcomes. While larger studies are needed to standardize the treatment of inflammatory arthritis-associated PG, this study suggests that in addition to systemic corticosteroids, biologic medications can be effective treatment options for these patients.
Key Points
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Inflammatory arthritis, most commonly rheumatoid arthritis, often precedes rather than follows pyoderma gangrenosum
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Other forms of arthritis associated with PG included IBD-associated arthritis and psoriatic arthritis
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Biologic therapies, such as infliximab, adalimumab, and anakinra, were largely successful in treating arthritis-associated pyoderma gangrenosum and may play an important role in corticosteroid-sparing therapy or in a maintenance regimen for this subset of patients
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The type of inflammatory arthritis associated with pyoderma gangrenosum may not be a helpful treatment guide as it was not significantly associated with treatment outcomes or healing time
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Purpose
Off-label prescribing of oral oncology agents has been explored in the treatment of soft tissue sarcoma. The time for a prior authorization approval or rejection for an off-label use can be ...lengthy. The purpose of this study is to capture this burden by comparing the time it takes for patients to receive off-label versus on-label treatment for their soft tissue sarcoma.
Patients and methods
In this retrospective chart review study, patients aged 18 and older who received a new prescription for an oral oncology agent for soft tissue sarcoma from one of three sarcoma providers at Oregon Health & Science University oncology clinics between March 2014 and February 2016 were included. Objectives included comparing the effect of off-label to on-label prescribing of oral oncology agents on time to receipt of medication and patient copays for a 30-day supply of oral chemotherapy agent(s).
Results
The time to receipt of medication (median (IQR)) for the off-label group (N = 26) was 12.5 (3.3 to 30.8) days compared to the on-label group (N = 29), which was 8.0 (4.0 to 15.0) days (p = 0.327). The patient cost was $0.00 ($0.00 to $20.00) for the off-label group (N = 18) compared to $3.00 ($0.00 to $68.80) for the on-label group (N = 18) (p = 0.467).
Conclusions
There were no differences in the time to receipt of medication or patient cost between off-label and on-label prescriptions in soft tissue sarcoma patients. Despite lack of statistical significance, these results are meaningful to patient care and require further study to investigate these findings.
BackgroundCheckpoint inhibitors can induce profound anticancer responses, but programmed cell death protein-1 (PD-1) inhibition monotherapy has shown minimal activity in prostate cancer. A published ...report showed that men with prostate cancer who were resistant to the second-generation androgen receptor inhibitor enzalutamide had increased programmed death-ligand 1 (PD-L1) expression on circulating antigen-presenting cells. We hypothesized that the addition of PD-1 inhibition in these patients could induce a meaningful cancer response.MethodsWe evaluated enzalutamide plus the PD-1 inhibitor pembrolizumab in a single-arm phase II study of 28 men with metastatic castration-resistant prostate cancer (mprogressing on enzalutamide alone. Pembrolizumab 200 mg intravenous was given every 3 weeks for four doses with enzalutamide. The primary endpoint was prostate-specific antigen (PSA) decline of ≥50%. Secondary endpoints were objective response, PSA progression-free survival (PFS), time to subsequent treatment, and time to death. Baseline tumor biopsies were obtained when feasible, and samples were sequenced and evaluated for the expression of PD-L1, microsatellite instability (MSI), mutational and neoepitope burdens.ResultsFive (18%) of 28 patients had a PSA decline of ≥50%. Three (25%) of 12 patients with measurable disease at baseline achieved an objective response. Of the five responders, two continue with PSA and radiographic response after 39.3 and 37.8 months. For the entire cohort, median follow-up was 37 months, and median PSA PFS time was 3.8 months (95% CI: 2.8 to 9.9 months). Time to subsequent treatment was 7.21 months (95% CI: 5.1 to 11.1 months). Median overall survival for all patients was 21.9 months (95% CI: 14.7 to 28 .4 months), versus 41.7 months (95% CI: 22.16 to not reached (NR)) in the responders. Of the three responders with baseline biopsies, one had MSI high disease with mutations consistent with DNA-repair defects. None had detectable PD-L1 expression.ConclusionsPembrolizumab has activity in mCRPC when added to enzalutamide. Responses were deep and durable and did not require tumor PD-L1 expression or DNA-repair defects.Trial registration numberclinicaltrials.gov (NCT02312557).
When prescribing low-dose methotrexate, frequent serological testing is recommended in the dermatologic literature, although much of the supporting data is extrapolated from non-dermatologic ...conditions. We performed a retrospective cohort study to determine the cumulative incidence and timing of low-dose methotrexate-associated serological abnormalities over the first year of therapy, in a pragmatic cohort of patients with dermatologic compared to non-dermatologic diagnoses. Laboratory values recorded included white blood cell count, hemoglobin, platelet count, estimated glomerular filtration rate, alanine aminotransferase, and aspartate aminotransferase. Among 1376 patients, there were no cases of methotrexate-associated grade 4/very severe lab abnormality or fatality. Baseline risk factors associated with moderate-to-severe lab abnormalities included non-dermatologic diagnoses, low hemoglobin, low estimated glomerular filtration rate, and elevated transaminases. The incidence of moderate-to-severe lab abnormalities was 4.4% among all patients, 3.1% among patients with dermatologic diagnoses, and 2.3% among patients with normal baseline lab values. Lab abnormalities led to discontinuation of therapy in 0.8% of patients. Serious changes did not occur in the first two weeks of therapy. We conclude that the cumulative incidence of low-dose methotrexate-associated lab abnormality was lower in patients with dermatologic diagnoses or normal baseline testing and these factors may be used to adjust monitoring practices.
The objective of this study is to systematically analyze the current state of the literature regarding novel artificial intelligence (AI) machine learning models utilized in non-invasive imaging for ...the early detection of nonmelanoma skin cancers. Furthermore, we aimed to assess their potential clinical relevance by evaluating the accuracy, sensitivity, and specificity of each algorithm and assessing for the risk of bias.
Two reviewers screened the MEDLINE, Cochrane, PubMed, and Embase databases for peer-reviewed studies that focused on AI-based skin cancer classification involving nonmelanoma skin cancers and were published between 2018 and 2023. The search terms included skin neoplasms, nonmelanoma, basal-cell carcinoma, squamous-cell carcinoma, diagnostic techniques and procedures, artificial intelligence, algorithms, computer systems, dermoscopy, reflectance confocal microscopy, and optical coherence tomography. Based on the search results, only studies that directly answered the review objectives were included and the efficacy measures for each were recorded. A QUADAS-2 risk assessment for bias in included studies was then conducted.
A total of 44 studies were included in our review; 40 utilizing dermoscopy, 3 using reflectance confocal microscopy (RCM), and 1 for hyperspectral epidermal imaging (HEI). The average accuracy of AI algorithms applied to all imaging modalities combined was 86.80%, with the same average for dermoscopy. Only one of the three studies applying AI to RCM measured accuracy, with a result of 87%. Accuracy was not measured in regard to AI based HEI interpretation.
AI algorithms exhibited an overall favorable performance in the diagnosis of nonmelanoma skin cancer via noninvasive imaging techniques. Ultimately, further research is needed to isolate pooled diagnostic accuracy for nonmelanoma skin cancers as many testing datasets also include melanoma and other pigmented lesions.
Despite the need for improved eczema therapies and a rapid increase in available eczema clinical trials, participation remains low. The aim of this study was to identify factors associated with ...clinical trial awareness, interest, and barriers to enrolment and participation. An online survey, administered 1 May to 6 June 2020 to adults (≥ 18 years) with eczema in the USA, was analysed. Among 800 patients included, mean age was 49.4 years, most respondents were female (78.1%), White (75.4%), non-Hispanic (91.4%), and geographically living in an urban/suburban area (Rural-Urban Continuum Codes (RUCC) 1-3, 90.8%). Only 9.7% of respondents reported previous participation in clinical trials, while 57.1% had considered participation and 33.2% never considered participation. Higher satisfaction with current eczema therapy, clinical trial literacy, and confidence in finding eczema trial information were all associated with clinical trial awareness, interest, and successful participation. Younger age and having atopic dermatitis were associated with increased awareness, while female gender was a barrier to interest and successful participation.
Stereotactic body radiotherapy (SBRT) demonstrates excellent local control in early stage lung cancer, however a quarter of patients develop recurrence or distant metastasis. Transforming growth ...factor-beta (TGF-β) supports metastasis and treatment resistance, and angiotensin receptor blockade (ARB) indirectly suppresses TGF-β signaling. This study investigates whether patients taking ARBs while undergoing SBRT for early stage lung cancer exhibited improved overall survival (OS) or recurrence free survival (RFS) compared to patients not taking ARBs. This was a single institution retrospective analysis of 272 patients treated with SBRT for early stage lung cancer between 2009 and 2018. Patient health data was abstracted from the electronic medical record. OS and RFS were assessed using Kaplan-Meier method. Log-rank test was used to compare unadjusted survival between groups. Univariable and multivariable Cox proportional hazard regression models were used to estimate hazard ratios (HRs). Of 247 patients analyzed, 24 (10%) patients took ARBs for the duration of radiotherapy. There was no difference in mean age, median tumor diameter, or median biologic effective dose between patients taking ARBs or not. Patients taking ARBs exhibited increased OS (ARB = 96.7 mo.; no ARB = 43.3 mo.; HR = 0.25 95% CI: 0.10 to 0.62, P = .003) and increased RFS (median RFS, ARB = 64.3 mo.; No ARB = 35.1 mo.; HR = 0.26 95% CI: 0.10 to 0.63, P = .003). These effects were not seen in patients taking angiotensin converting enzyme inhibitors (ACEIs) or statins. ARB use while undergoing SBRT for early stage lung cancer may increase OS and RFS, but ACEI use does not show the same effect.
The objective is to examine how hospital admissions for mental health and eating disorders changed at the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic and with the return to fully in-person school with ...increased vaccine availability. Data from a tertiary care children's hospital were examined for admissions to the hospital from March 2018 through March 2022, including children 6–20 years old admitted with ICD-10 codes for mental health and eating disorders. Interrupted time series (ITS) analyses were used to examine for changes at specific time points. In the first year of the pandemic, the ITS analysis showed a significant increase in admissions per month for eating disorders with a slope of 1.2 (95 % CI: 0.2, 2.2) and for other mental health diagnoses, a slope of 1.9 (95 % CI: 1.1, 2.7). In a longer-term ITS analysis, return to fully in-person school was associated with no significant changes. The COVID-19 pandemic had an initial impact on admissions for eating disorders and other mental health that attenuated over time.
•The COVID-19 pandemic has been shown to impact pediatric mental health.•Interrupted time series analysis of admission rate changes with stay-at-home orders.•Rate of mental health admissions increased during the first year of the pandemic.•No significant change when including admissions past the return of in-person school.•These same trends are seen with eating disorder admissions.
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