Mortality and morbidity of locally acquired hepatitis E in the national Scottish cohort: a multicentre retrospective study.

BACKGROUND: Hepatitis E virus (HEV) is the most common acute viral hepatitis in Scotland. Little is known about the burden of morbidity and mortality, which can be high in chronic liver disease or immunocompromised states. AIMS: To record the morbidity and mortality of HEV in Scotland. METHODS: Demographic, clinical and laboratory data were collected retrospectively from all cases of HEV reported to virology departments across nine NHS health boards, between January 2013 and January 2018. RESULTS: Five hundred and eleven cases were included (Mean age 62, 64% male). 58 (11%) cases had pre-existing cirrhosis and 110 (21%) had diabetes. Three hundred and three patients required admission (59%), totalling 2747 inpatient bed days. Seventeen (3.3%) HEV-related deaths were recorded. Factors that predicted mortality included haematological malignancy (OR 51.56, 95% CI 3.40-782.83, P = 0.005), cirrhosis (OR 41.85, 95% CI 2.85-594.16, P = 0.006), higher serum bilirubin (OR 1.01, 95% CI 1.01-1.02, P = 0.011) and chronic HEV infection (OR 0.02, 95% CI 0.02-0.28, P < 0.001). HEV infection affected 35 transplant patients of 106 total immunosuppressed patients (21%). Of these, 25 patients received Ribavirin therapy with a sustained virological remission of 76%. Thirty-five (6.7%) patients developed acute or acute-on-chronic liver failure with two requiring transplant. Thirty-seven (7.2%) patients reported neurological complications with 10 developing neuralgic amyotrophy, 6 Guillain-Barré and 2 encephalitis. Forty-four (8.6%) patients developed acute kidney injury. CONCLUSION: In Scotland, HEV causes a significant burden of inpatient admissions, organ failure and death. Cirrhosis and haematological malignancy are significant predictors of mortality. Neurological and renal complications occur in a significant minority.

Talk About Self-Harm (TASH): participatory action research with young people, GPs and practice nurses to explore how the experiences of young people who self-harm could be improved in GP surgeries.

BACKGROUND: The incidence of self-harm in young people in primary care is increasing dramatically, and many young people who self-harm visit their GP surgery as a first point of contact for help. OBJECTIVE: To explore with young people, GPs and practice nurses (PNs): (i) why young people present with self-harm to primary care and (ii) whether young people, GPs and PNs can take steps to have more helpful consultations about self-harm in GP surgeries that include self-help materials developed by young people being used to support such consultations to take place. METHODS: Participatory action research with GPs, PNs and young people employed mixed methods to collect statistical and narrative data. Statistics from 285 young people's medical records were captured, including more detailed analyses of a random sample of 75 of these records. A series of 24 focus groups with a total of 45 GPs, PNs and young people, with an average number of eight participants in each group, was conducted. Statistical data were subject to descriptive and inferential analyses, and thematic analysis was applied to the transcripts from the focus groups. RESULTS AND CONCLUSION: The type of self-harm young people presented with influenced whether they would see a GP or PN. While self-help materials were welcomed and deemed helpful, young people, GPs and PNs were ambivalent about using these in short consultations where time was an overriding constraint. More research is needed on the feasibility of adopting self-help assisted interventions in GP surgeries.

New horizons in hepatitis B and C in the older adult.

Hepatitis C (HCV) and hepatitis B (HBV), are blood-borne viruses that can cause acute hepatitis; but are clinically relevant because chronic infection is associated with development of cirrhosis and hepatocellular carcinoma. Both these viruses are becoming more common in the older population, due to the ageing of generations exposed to the risk factors associated with infection; intravenous drug use, multiple sexual partners and men who have sex with men. This review will cover the natural history and epidemiology of these infections as well as the revolution in drug therapy that now allows cure of HCV infection and complete control of HBV infection.

Patients' perspectives regarding long-term warfarin therapy and the potential transition to new oral anticoagulant therapy.

OBJECTIVES: To examine patients' perspectives regarding long-term vitamin K antagonist (VKA) therapy and the potential transition to new oral anticoagulants (NOACs) such as dabigatran and rivaroxaban, and to determine if factors such as residential location affect these opinions. DESIGN SETTING AND PARTICIPANTS: Patients on VKA therapy for at least 12 weeks completed a questionnaire specifically designed for the study. They were recruited while attending point-of-care international normalized ratio (INR) testing at six South Australian general practice clinics during the period July-September 2013. MAIN OUTCOME MEASURES: Opinions of current VKA therapy, level of awareness of NOACs, and ratings of potential benefits and deterrents of transition to NOACs were sought. RESULTS: Data from 290 participants were available for analysis (response rate 95.4%). The majority of the sample (79.5%, 229/288) were either satisfied or very satisfied with current VKA therapy. The mean score for the potential benefits of transition to NOACs was 7.6 (±4.2) out of a possible 20, which was significantly lower than the mean score 10.9 (±4.5) for the perceived deterrents to transition (p < 0.001). Rural patients (82.0%, 82/100) were significantly more likely (p = 0.001) to have not heard of NOACs than metropolitan patients (50.3%, 95/189) and also perceived significant less benefits in a transition to NOACs (p = 0.001). CONCLUSION: When considering potential transition from VKAs to NOACs it is important for prescribers to consider that some patients, in particular those from a rural location, may not perceive a significant benefit in transitioning or may have particular concerns in this area.

Characteristics of patients preferring once-daily controller therapy for asthma and COPD: a retrospective cohort study.

BACKGROUND: Patient preference is an important factor when choosing an inhaler device for asthma or chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD). AIMS: To identify characteristics of patients with asthma or COPD who prefer a once-daily controller medication regimen. METHODS: This retrospective observational study used electronic patient records and linked outcomes from patient-completed questionnaires in a primary care database. We compared the characteristics of patients indicating a preference for once-daily therapy with those who were unsure or indicating no preference. RESULTS: Of 3,731 patients with asthma, 2,174 (58%) were women; the mean age was 46 years (range 2-94). Of 2,138 patients with COPD, 980 (46%) were women; the mean age was 70 years (range 35-98). Approximately half of the patients in each cohort indicated once-daily preference, one-quarter were unsure, and one-quarter did not prefer once-daily therapy. In patients with asthma or COPD, the preference for once-daily controller medication was significantly associated with poor adherence and higher concerns about medication. In asthma, good control and low self-perceived controller medication need were associated with once-daily preference. By contrast, in COPD, a high self-perceived need for controller medication was associated with once-daily preference. There was no significant relationship between once-daily preference and age, sex, disease severity, or exacerbation history. CONCLUSIONS: Understanding patient preferences may help prescribers to individualise therapy better for asthma and COPD.

Leukotriene antagonists as first-line or add-on asthma-controller therapy.

BACKGROUND: Most randomized trials of treatment for asthma study highly selected patients under idealized conditions. METHODS: We conducted two parallel, multicenter, pragmatic trials to evaluate the real-world effectiveness of a leukotriene-receptor antagonist (LTRA) as compared with either an inhaled glucocorticoid for first-line asthma-controller therapy or a long-acting beta(2)-agonist (LABA) as add-on therapy in patients already receiving inhaled glucocorticoid therapy. Eligible primary care patients 12 to 80 years of age had impaired asthma-related quality of life (Mini Asthma Quality of Life Questionnaire [MiniAQLQ] score ≤6) or inadequate asthma control (Asthma Control Questionnaire [ACQ] score ≥1). We randomly assigned patients to 2 years of open-label therapy, under the care of their usual physician, with LTRA (148 patients) or an inhaled glucocorticoid (158 patients) in the first-line controller therapy trial and LTRA (170 patients) or LABA (182 patients) added to an inhaled glucocorticoid in the add-on therapy trial. RESULTS: Mean MiniAQLQ scores increased by 0.8 to 1.0 point over a period of 2 years in both trials. At 2 months, differences in the MiniAQLQ scores between the two treatment groups met our definition of equivalence (95% confidence interval [CI] for an adjusted mean difference, -0.3 to 0.3). At 2 years, mean MiniAQLQ scores approached equivalence, with an adjusted mean difference between treatment groups of -0.11 (95% CI, -0.35 to 0.13) in the first-line controller therapy trial and of -0.11 (95% CI, -0.32 to 0.11) in the add-on therapy trial. Exacerbation rates and ACQ scores did not differ significantly between the two groups. CONCLUSIONS: Study results at 2 months suggest that LTRA was equivalent to an inhaled glucocorticoid as first-line controller therapy and to LABA as add-on therapy for diverse primary care patients. Equivalence was not proved at 2 years. The interpretation of results of pragmatic research may be limited by the crossover between treatment groups and lack of a placebo group. (Funded by the National Coordinating Centre for Health Technology Assessment U.K. and others; Controlled Clinical Trials number, ISRCTN99132811.).

Review of the long-term disability associated with hip fractures.

OBJECTIVES: To determine the proportion of hip fracture patients who experience long-term disability and to re-estimate the resulting burden of disease associated with hip fractures in Australia in 2003. METHODS: A literature review of the functional outcome following a hip fracture (keywords: morbidity, treatment outcome, disability, quality of life, recovery of function, hip fractures, and femoral neck fractures) was carried out using PubMed and Ovid MEDLINE. RESULTS: A range of scales and outcome measures are used to evaluate recovery following a hip fracture. Based on the available evidence on restrictions in activities of daily living, 29% of hip fracture cases in the elderly do not reach their pre-fracture levels 1 year post-fracture. Those who do recover tend to reach their pre-fracture levels of functioning at around 6 months. These new assumptions result in 8251 years lived with disability for hip fractures in Australia in 2003, a 4.5-fold increase compared with the previous calculation based on Global Burden of Disease assumptions that only 5% of hip fractures lead to long-term disability and that the duration of short-term disability is just 51 days. CONCLUSIONS: The original assumptions used in burden of disease studies grossly underestimate the long-term disability from hip fractures. The long-term consequences of other injuries may similarly have been underestimated and need to be re-examined. This has important implications for modelling the cost-effectiveness of preventive interventions where disability-adjusted life years are used as a measure of health outcome.

Prescribing practices and asthma control with hydrofluoroalkane-beclomethasone and fluticasone: a real-world observational study.

BACKGROUND: Long-term randomized trials comparing asthma outcomes between inhaled corticosteroids in real-world populations are lacking. As such, rigorously conducted observational studies to complement the findings of randomized trials are needed. OBJECTIVE: We sought to compare asthma-related outcomes over 1 year as recorded in a large primary care database for patients aged 5 to 60 years receiving a first prescription (initiation population) or dose increase (step-up population) of hydrofluoroalkane (HFA)-beclomethasone or fluticasone. METHODS: We used a retrospective matched cohort study in which patients were matched on baseline demographic and disease severity measures. Coprimary outcomes were asthma control (a composite measure comprising no unplanned visit or hospitalization for asthma, oral corticosteroids, or antibiotics for lower respiratory tract infection) and exacerbation rate. RESULTS: More than 80% of patients in each population achieved asthma control; 10% and 16% of patients in the initiation and step-up populations, respectively, received add-on or combination therapy during the year. Fluticasone was prescribed at significantly higher doses than HFA-beclomethasone for both populations (P

Observational study comparing intranasal mometasone furoate with oral antihistamines for rhinitis and asthma.

AIMS: Retrospective database study comparing upper and lower airway-related outcomes for patients with rhinitis and co-morbid asthma receiving mometasone furoate--an intranasal corticosteroid with low systemic bioavailability--or an oral antihistamine. METHODS: 395 patients prescribed intranasal mometasone were matched on 10 demographic and respiratory-related criteria in a 1:2 ratio to 790 patients prescribed oral antihistamine. Asthma and rhinitis control were assessed over one year using predefined composite proxy measures. RESULTS: Asthma control was achieved by 309/395 (78.2%) versus 580/790 (73.4%; p=0.071) patients in the mometasone and antihistamine cohorts, respectively. Rhinitis control was achieved by 293 (74.2%) versus 539 (68.2%; p=0.035), respectively. The adjusted odds ratios for antihistamines, relative to mometasone, were 0.71 (95% CI, 0.52-0.98) for achieving asthma control and 0.74 (95% CI, 0.56-0.97) for achieving rhinitis control. CONCLUSIONS: Patients with rhinitis and co-morbid asthma initiating rhinitis therapy achieved significantly better upper as well as lower airway outcomes with intranasal mometasone than with oral antihistamine.

Cost-effectiveness analysis of corticosteroid inhaler devices in primary care asthma management: A real world observational study.

PURPOSE: To evaluate and compare real world cost-effectiveness of inhaled corticosteroids (ICS) administered by metered dose inhaler (MDI), breath-actuated MDI (BAI), or dry powder inhaler (DPI) in asthma. PATIENTS AND METHODS: This retrospective database study analyzed the direct health care costs and proportion of patients (aged 5-60 years) achieving asthma control over 1 year in two population groups: those starting ICS (initiation population) and those receiving a first increase in ICS dose (step-up population). Asthma control was defined as no unplanned asthma visits, oral corticosteroids, or antibiotics for lower respiratory infection; outcomes were adjusted for confounding variables. Cost-effectiveness of BAI and DPI were compared with MDI. RESULTS: For the initiation population (n = 56,347), average annual health care costs per person (adjusted results), as compared with MDIs, were £9 higher (95% CI: -1.65 to 19.71) for BAIs and £32 higher (95% CI: 19.51 to 43.66) for DPIs. The probability of BAIs being the dominant strategy (more effective and less costly than MDIs) was 5% and of BAIs being more effective and more costly than MDIs was 94%. DPIs were consistently more effective and more costly than MDIs, with an incremental cost-effectiveness ratio of £1711 (95% CI: 760 to 3,576) per additional controlled patient per year. For the step-up population (n = 9169), mean total health care costs per person, (adjusted) as compared with MDIs, were £1 higher (95% CI: -27.28 to 31.55) for BAIs and £73 higher (95% CI: 44.48 to 103.29) for DPIs. The probability of BAIs being dominant was 48% and of BAIs being more effective but more costly than MDIs was 52%; the probability of DPIs being more effective but more costly than MDIs was 96%. CONCLUSION: The real world effectiveness of ICS inhalers may vary, and inhaler device selection for patients with asthma should take into consideration not only initial device cost but also the subsequent health care resource costs.

Cost-effectiveness analysis of genetic screening for the Taq1B polymorphism in the secondary prevention of coronary heart disease.

Coronary heart disease is a major health priority area in Australia. Cholesterol-lowering agents are generally considered to be cost effective for the secondary prevention of coronary heart disease. There is growing evidence, however, that the effectiveness of statins varies from one individual to another. The Taq1B polymorphism is an example of a genetic polymorphism that is thought to influence the effectiveness of statins. The aim of the current analysis is to estimate the cost-effectiveness of genetically screening coronary heart disease and stroke patients for the Taq1B polymorphism, and prescribing statin treatment to those with the B1B2 or B2B2 forms of the gene. A health sector perspective was adopted with a maximum acceptable cost-effectiveness ratio set at AUS$50,000/disability-adjusted life year. There is an 89% probability that screening and prescribing statins to those with the B1B2 and B2B2 alleles is more cost effective than prescribing statins to all patients. Modeling the cost-effectiveness of pharmacogenetics in major areas of medicine provides useful information to help in resource allocation and decision making. Economic evaluations similar to this one will be required in the future as the results of further clinical trials to establish the effectiveness of statins based on genotype become available.