Objectives The aim of this study was to demonstrate the existence of systematic associations in drug prescription that lead to the establishment of patterns of polypharmacy, and the clinical ...interpretation of the associations found in each pattern. Methods A cross-sectional study was conducted based on information obtained from electronic medical records and the primary care pharmacy database in 2008. An exploratory factor analysis of drug dispensing information regarding 79,089 adult patients was performed to identify the patterns of polypharmacy. The analysis was stratified by age and sex. Results Seven patterns of polypharmacy were identified, which may be classified depending on the type of disease they are intended to treat: cardiovascular, depression-anxiety, acute respiratory infection (ARI), chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD), rhinitis-asthma, pain, and menopause. Some of these patterns revealed a clear clinical consistency and included drugs that are prescribed together for the same clinical indication (i.e., ARI and COPD patterns). Other patterns were more complex but also clinically consistent: in the cardiovascular pattern, drugs for the treatment of known risk factors-such as hypertension or dyslipidemia-were combined with other medications for the treatment of diabetes or established cardiovascular pathology (e.g., antiplatelet agents). Almost all of the patterns included drugs for preventing or treating potential side effects of other drugs in the same pattern. Conclusions The present study demonstrated the existence of non-random associations in drug prescription, resulting in patterns of polypharmacy that are sound from the pharmacological and clinical viewpoints and that exist in a significant proportion of the population. This finding necessitates future longitudinal studies to confirm some of the proposed causal associations. The information discovered would further the development and/or adaptation of clinical patient guidelines to patients with multimorbidity who are taking multiple drugs.
•In patients with acute heart failure, it is recommended to add a second diuretic early if the patient has not responded adequately to the initial diuretic.•The combination of thiazide and loop ...diuretics at discharge was not associated with a risk of adverse clinical events.•The effect of a nephron blockade strategy using in the outpatient setting after a recent episode of AHF is sure.
To investigate the association of the addition of thiazide diuretic on top of loop diuretic and standard of care with short-term outcomes of patients discharged after surviving an acute heart failure (AHF) episode.
This is a secondary analysis of 14,403 patients from three independent cohorts representing the main departments involved in AHF treatment for whom treatment at discharge was recorded and included loop diuretics. Patients were divided according to whether treatment included or not thiazide diuretics. Short-term outcomes consisted of 30-day all-cause mortality, hospitalization (with a separate analysis for hospitalization due to AHF or to other causes) and the combination of death and hospitalization. The association between thiazide diuretics on short-term outcomes was explored by Cox regression and expressed as hazard ratios (HR) with 95 % confidence intervals, which were adjusted for 18 patient-related variables and 9 additional drugs (aside from loop and thiazide diuretics) prescribed at discharge.
The median age was 81 (interquartile range=73–86) years, 53 % were women, and patients were mainly discharged from the cardiology (42 %), internal medicine or geriatric department (29 %) and emergency department (19 %). There were 1,367 patients (9.5 %) discharged with thiazide and loop diuretics, while the rest (13,036; 90.5 %) were discharged with only loop diuretics on top of the remaining standard of care treatments. The combination of thiazide and loop diuretics showed a neutral effect on all outcomes: death (adjusted HR 1.149, 0.850–1.552), hospitalization (0.898, 0.770–1.048; hospitalization due to AHF 0.799, 0.599–1.065; hospitalization due to other causes 1.136, 0.756–1.708) and combined event (0.934, 0.811–1.076).
The combination of thiazide and loop diuretics was not associated with changes in risk of death, hospitalization or a combination of both.
Summary
To what extent access to, and allocation of kidney transplants and survival outcomes in patients aged ≥75 years have changed over time in Europe is unclear. We included patients aged ≥75–84 ...years (termed older adults) receiving renal replacement therapy in thirteen European countries between 2005 and 2014. Country differences and time trends in access to, and allocation of kidney transplants were examined. Survival outcomes were determined by Cox regression analyses. Between 2005 and 2014, 1392 older adult patients received 1406 transplants. Access to kidney transplantation varied from ~0% (Slovenia, Greece and Denmark) to ~4% (Norway and various Spanish regions) of all older adult dialysis patients, and overall increased from 0.3% (2005) to 0.9% (2014). Allocation of kidney transplants to older adults overall increased from 0.8% (2005) to 3.2% (2014). Seven‐year unadjusted patient and graft survival probabilities were 49.1% (95% confidence interval, 95% CI: 43.6; 54.4) and 41.7% (95% CI: 36.5; 46.8), respectively, with a temporal trend towards improved survival outcomes. In conclusion, in the European dialysis population aged ≥75–84 years access to kidney transplantation is low, and allocation of kidney transplants remains a rare event. Though both are increasing with time and vary considerably between countries. The trend towards improved survival outcomes is encouraging. This information can aid informed decision‐making regarding treatment options.
Numerous investigations have used the foraminiferal assemblages or species as bioindicators. This paper tests the responses of these microorganisms to different environmental changes (heavy metal ...pollution, treatment stations, artificial inlets, agricultural and urban sewages) and compares them to those observed previously on ostracod assemblages. Foraminifera are more tolerant to these changes, while ostracods present a more specialized response.
This article provides a summary of the 2011 ERA-EDTA Registry Annual Report (available at www.era-edta-reg.org).
Data on renal replacement therapy (RRT) for end-stage renal disease (ESRD) from ...national and regional renal registries in 30 countries in Europe and bordering the Mediterranean Sea were used. From 27 registries, individual patient data were received, whereas 17 registries contributed data in aggregated form. We present the incidence and prevalence of RRT, and renal transplant rates in 2011. In addition, survival probabilities and expected remaining lifetimes were calculated for those registries providing individual patient data.
The overall unadjusted incidence rate of RRT in 2011 among all registries reporting to the ERA-EDTA Registry was 117 per million population (pmp) (n = 71.631). Incidence rates varied from 24 pmp in Ukraine to 238 pmp in Turkey. The overall unadjusted prevalence of RRT for ESRD on 31 December 2011 was 692 pmp (n = 425 824). The highest prevalence was reported by Portugal (1662 pmp) and the lowest by Ukraine (131 pmp). Among all registries, a total of 22 814 renal transplantations were performed (37 pmp). The highest overall transplant rate was reported from Spain, Cantabria (81 pmp), whereas the highest rate of living donor transplants was reported from Turkey (39 pmp). For patients who started RRT between 2002 and 2006, the unadjusted 5-year patient survival on RRT was 46.8% 95% confidence interval (CI) 46.6-47.0, and on dialysis 39.3% (95% CI 39.2-39.4). The unadjusted 5-year patient survival after the first renal transplantation performed between 2002 and 2006 was 86.7% (95% CI 86.2-87.2) for kidneys from deceased donors and 94.3% (95% CI 93.6-95.0) for kidneys from living donors.
To identify risk factors for late recovery and failure after ambulatory treatment of exacerbations of chronic bronchitis (CB) and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD).
Observational, ...non-randomised study of risk factors carried out in 2001 and 2002 in Primary Care practices. Patients aged 40 or older diagnosed with an exacerbation of CB or COPD of probable bacterial etiology were included in the study and followed up for 10 days. Patients were treated with amoxicillin plus clavulanic acid (co-amoxiclav) 500–125
mg tds for 10 days, clarithromycin 500
mg bd for 10 days or moxifloxacin 400
mg od for 5 days.
Two hundred and fifty-two general practitioners participated, registering 1147 valid patients. The rate of failure at day 10 was 15.1% without significant differences among the antibiotic treatments. Median time to recovery was 5 days. Factors significantly associated with late recovery (>5 days) on multivariate analysis were: use of long-term oxygen (OR=1.96; 95%CI=1.35–2.85); use of short-acting beta-2 agonists (OR=1.51; 1.17–1.92). The use of moxifloxacin had a “protective” effect against late recovery compared to co-amoxiclav (OR=0.34; 0.26–0.45) and clarithromycin (OR=0.41; 0.31–2.85). Factors associated with therapeutic failure were: previous hospitalisation (OR=1.61; 1.08–2.42); and 2 or more exacerbations the previous year (OR=1.51; 1.04–2.17); criteria of CB had a protective effect against failure (OR=0.53; 0.35–0.79).
There are readily identifiable risk factors for ambulatory treatment failure of exacerbations of CB and COPD. In addition, long-term oxygen therapy and short-acting beta-2 agonists are associated with late recovery, and the use of moxifloxacin compared with co-amoxiclav and clarithromycin is associated with faster recovery of symptoms.
To what extent access to, and allocation of kidney transplants and survival outcomes in patients aged ≥75 years have changed over time in Europe is unclear. We included patients aged ≥75-84 years ...(termed older adults) receiving renal replacement therapy in thirteen European countries between 2005-2014. Country differences and time trends in access to, and allocation of kidney transplants were examined. Survival outcomes were determined by Cox regression analyses. Between 2005-2014, 1,392 older adult patients received 1,406 transplants. Access to kidney transplantation varied from ~0% (Slovenia, Greece and Denmark) to ~4% (Norway and various Spanish regions) of all older adult dialysis patients, and overall increased from 0.3% (2005) to 0.9% (2014). Allocation of kidney transplants to older adults overall increased from 0.8% (2005) to 3.2% (2014). Seven-year unadjusted patient and graft survival probabilities were 49.1% (95% confidence interval, 95%CI: 43.6; 54.4) and 41.7% (95%CI: 36.5; 46.8) respectively, with a temporal trend towards improved survival outcomes. In conclusion, in the European dialysis population aged ≥75-84 years access to kidney transplantation is low, and allocation of kidney transplants remains a rare event. Though both are increasing with time and vary considerably between countries. The trend towards improved survival outcomes is encouraging. This information can aid informed decision-making regarding treatment options. This article is protected by copyright. All rights reserved.
Reseñas De Libros Gloria Baamonde; Luis Emilio Abraham; José Luis García Barrientos ...
Revista de literatura,
06/2005, Letnik:
67, Številka:
133
Journal Article
Reseñas de Libros Ángel Luis Luján; Patricia González Almarcha; Ana M. Freiré ...
Revista de literatura,
06/2004, Letnik:
66, Številka:
131
Journal Article
PDF
