ABSTRACT
Background: Melasma is a chronic skin condition that adversely impacts quality of life. Although many therapeutic modalities are available there is no single best treatment for melasma. Oral tranexamic acid has been used for the treatment of this condition but its optimal dose is yet to be established. Objectives: We used network meta-analysis to determine the optimal dose of oral tranexamic acid for the treatment of melasma. Methods: We conducted a comprehensive search of all studies of oral tranexamic acid for the treatment of melasma up to September 2020 using PubMed, EMBASE and the Cochrane Library database. The quality of the studies was evaluated using the Jadad score and the Cochrane’s risk of bias assessment tool. Only high quality randomised controlled trials were selected. Some studies lacked standard deviation of changes from baseline and these were estimated using the correlation coefficient obtained from another similar study. Results: A total of 92 studies were identified of which 6 randomized controlled trials comprising 599 patients were included to form 3 pair-wise network comparisons. The mean age of the patients in these studies ranged from 30.3 to 46.5 years and the treatment duration ranged from 8 to 12 weeks. The Jadad scores ranged from 5 to 8. The optimal dose and duration of oral tranexamic acid was estimated to be 750 mg per day for 12 consecutive weeks. Limitations: Some confounding factors might not have been described in the original studies. Although clear rules were followed, the Melasma Area and Severity Index and the modified Melasma Area and Severity Index were scored by independent physicians and hence inter-observer bias could not be excluded. Conclusion: Oral tranexamic acid is a promising drug for the treatment of melasma. This is the first network meta-analysis to determine the optimal dose of this drug and to report the effects of different dosages. The optimal dose is 250 mg three times per day for 12 weeks, but 250 mg twice daily may be an acceptable option in poorly adherent patients. Our findings will allow physicians to balance drug effects and medication adherence. Personalized treatment plans are warranted.
ABSTRACT
ABSTRACT Objective: An increasing amount of literature indicates that the serum calcium level may be related to metabolic syndrome (MetS) and obesity. This study aimed to examine the relationship between the serum calcium level and MetS in adults in Taiwan. Subjects and methods: We conducted a cross-sectional study and enrolled 1,580 participants (54.4% women; mean age, 33.28 ± 12.21 years) who underwent health examinations in northern Taiwan between 2012 and 2016. Logistic regression was performed to estimate the odds ratios (ORs) and 95% confidence intervals (CIs) for the risk of MetS and its components in groups of patients in the tertiles of the serum calcium level. Results: In total, 167 participants (10.6%) had MetS. The odds of high systolic blood pressure (BP), blood glucose, and triglyceride (TG) levels significantly increased as the serum calcium level increased. Compared with the participants in the lowest tertile of the serum calcium level (tertile 1), those in the second tertile (OR = 1.47, 95% CI: 0.97-2.23) and third tertile (OR = 1.63, 95% CI: 1.06-2.53) had a significantly higher risk of MetS. Further analyses revealed a significant association between MetS and an increased serum calcium level in those in the overweight and obese groups. However, there was no association between the serum calcium levels and MetS in those in the normal weight group. Conclusion: This study demonstrated that a higher serum calcium level is associated with an increased risk of MetS and its components in adults with overweight and obesity.