ABSTRACT
Objective@#To systematically examine the effectiveness and tolerability of psilocybin for treating end-of-life anxiety symptoms. @*Methods@#The Medline, Embase, CENTRAL, and PsycINFO databases were searched up to November 25, 2020. We enrolled clinical trials investigating psilocybin for treating end-of-life anxiety symptoms. Meta-analysis was conducted using random-effects model. @*Results@#Overall, five studies were included, revealing that psilocybin was superior to the placebo in treating state anxiety at 1 day (Hedges’ g, -0.70; 95% confidence interval, -1.01 to -0.39) and 2 weeks (-1.03; -1.47 to -0.60) after treatment. Psilocybin was more effective than placebo in treating trait anxiety at 1 day (-0.71; -1.15 to -0.26), 2 weeks (-1.08; -1.80 to -0.36), and 6 months (-0.84; -1.37 to -0.30) after treatment. Psilocybin was associated with transient elevation in systolic (19.00; 13.58–24.41 mm Hg) and diastolic (8.66; 5.18–12.15 mm Hg) blood pressure compared with placebo. The differences between psilocybin and placebo groups with regard to allcause discontinuation, serious adverse events, and heart rates were nonsignificant. @*Conclusion@#Psilocybin-assisted therapy could ameliorate end-of-life anxiety symptoms without serious adverse events. Because of the small sample sizes of the included studies and high heterogeneity on long-term outcomes, future randomized controlled trials with large sample sizes are needed.
ABSTRACT
Globally and in Africa specifically, female sex workers (FSWs) are at an extraordinarily high risk of contracting human immunodeficiencyvirus (HIV). Pre-exposure prophylaxis (PrEP) has emerged as an effective and ethical method with which to preventHIV infection among FSWs. PrEP efficacy is, however, closely linked to adherence, and adherence to PrEP among FSWs is a complexand interrelated process that has been shown to be of importance to public health policies and HIV control and interventionprograms. This comprehensive review categorizes barriers to and facilitators of adherence to HIV PrEP for FSWs, and describes fivestrategies for promoting PrEP adherence among FSWs. These strategies encompass 1) a long-term educational effort to decreasethe stigma associated with sex work and PrEP use, 2) education on how PrEP works, 3) lifestyle modification, 4) research on nextgenerationPrEP products to address the inconvenience of taking daily pills, and 5) integration of PrEP into existing services, suchas social services and routine primary care visits, to reduce the economic burden of seeking the medication. Our review is expectedto be useful for the design of future PrEP intervention programs. Multidisciplinary intervention should be considered to promotePrEP adherence among FSWs in order to help control the HIV epidemic.
ABSTRACT
The relationship between serum prolactin and bone mineral density (BMD) in schizophrenia is unclear. We conducted a literature review of databases from inception until December 2018 for cross-sectional, case-control, prospective and retrospective studies analyzing correlations between serum prolactin and BMD measured using dual energy X-ray absorptiometry or quantitative ultrasound at any skeletal site in people with schizophrenia. Data was summarized with a best evidence synthesis. This review identified 15 studies (1 longitudinal study, 10 cross-sectional and 4 case-control studies; 1,360 individuals with a psychotic disorder; mean age 45.1 ± 9.4 [standard deviation] years, female 742 [54.6%], mean illness duration 17.7 ± 11.3 years) assessing the relationship between serum prolactin and BMD in schizophrenia. There was a statistically significant inverse correlation between serum prolactin and BMD identified in eight of the studies (53% of all studies), suggesting mixed evidence for an association between serum prolactin and BMD. Of those studies which identified a significant inverse correlation between serum prolactin and BMD (n = 5), 152 (52.1%) of patients were treated with prolactin raising antipsychotics, compared to 197 (48.1%) of patients in those studies which did not identify a significant correlation between prolactin and BMD. Available studies cannot resolve the link between excess prolactin and reduced BMD in schizophrenia. Future studies should be longitudinal in design and combine measures of serum prolactin along with other risk factors for reduced BMD such as smoking and vitamin D and sex hormone levels in assessing the relationship between prolactin and BMD in schizophrenia.