COVID-19 Vaccination Is Not Associated with Psychiatric Adverse Events: A Meta-Analysis.

Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) has been a global health problem since December 2019. Vaccination has been widely considered the best way to prevent COVID-19 pandemic, but public concerns about the safety of vaccines remain. There have been many studies reporting adverse events in the vaccinated. However, to date, no meta-analysis of the association of COVID-19 vaccination with psychiatric adverse events has been conducted yet. In this meta-analysis, studies on depression, anxiety and distress after COVID-19 vaccination were searched in the PubMed, Cochrane and Embase from January 2020 to April 2022. The OR of depression in four studies with a total sample size of 462,406 is obtained as 0.88 (95% CI; 0.75, 1.03), and the OR of anxiety as 0.86 (95% CI; 0.71, 1.05). However, there were no statistically significant differences between the groups. The mean difference of distress in two studies was −0.04 (95%CI; −0.05, −0.02; p < 0.0001). As a result of the moderator analysis, married people experienced less depression and anxiety after vaccination, and in White people, depression after vaccination was lower than others. We also found that people with a history of COVID-19 infection were more depressed and anxious after vaccination. We suggest that COVID-19 vaccination was not associated with a worsening of depression and anxiety.

Psychological treatments for excessive gaming: a systematic review and meta-analysis.

Despite widespread public interest in problematic gaming interventions, questions regarding the empirical status of treatment efficacy persist. We conducted pairwise and network meta-analyses based on 17 psychological intervention studies on excessive gaming (n = 745 participants). The pairwise meta-analysis showed that psychological interventions reduce excessive gaming more than the inactive control (standardized mean difference [SMD] = 1.70, 95% confidence interval [CI] 1.27 to 2.12) and active control (SMD = 0.88, 95% CI 0.21 to 1.56). The network meta-analysis showed that a combined treatment of Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT) and Mindfulness was the most effective intervention in reducing excessive gaming, followed by a combined CBT and Family intervention, Mindfulness, and then CBT as a standalone treatment. Due to the limited number of included studies and resulting identified methodological concerns, the current results should be interpreted as preliminary to help support future research focused on excessive gaming interventions. Recommendations for improving the methodological rigor are also discussed.

Antiplatelet regimens for Asian patients with ischemic stroke or transient ischemic attack: a systematic review and network meta-analysis.

BACKGROUND: The optimal antiplatelet treatment for the secondary prevention of non-cardioembolic stroke or transient ischemic attack (TIA) remains uncertain in Asians. METHODS: We searched for eligible randomized control trials in Medline, Embase, and the Cochrane Library. A Bayesian network meta-analysis (NMA) was performed to assess the efficacy and safety of antiplatelet regimens with placebo as the control. Each therapy was compared using relative risk ratios (RR) and 95% credible intervals (CrI), and ranked according to the value of the surface under the cumulative ranking curve. RESULTS: A total of 84,103 patients from 32 studies were included: patients in used aspirin (n=26,834); cilostazol (n=3,303); clopidogrel (n=12,406); prasugrel (n=1,885); sarpogrelate (n=752); ticagrelor (n=1,933); ticlopidine (n=1,644); triflusal (n=391); aspirin plus cilostazol (n=1,120), aspirin plus clopidogrel (n=4,623); aspirin plus dipyridamole (n=10,853); aspirin plus ticagrelor (n=5,859); aspirin plus ticlopidine (n=132). Patients who used aspirin plus clopidogrel and cilostazol had a lower risk of recurrent stroke than those who used placebo. Patients administered with aspirin plus ticagrelor, aspirin plus clopidogrel, and cilostazol had a lower risk of composite vascular events than those administered placebo. Patients administered aspirin plus ticagrelor had a higher risk of major bleeding than those administered placebo. Clustered three-dimensional rank plots of recurrent stroke, major bleeding, and composite vascular events demonstrated that cilostazol had higher values of the surface under the cumulative ranking curve than other treatments. CONCLUSIONS: Of the antiplatelet regimens, cilostazol showed the best net clinical benefits than other antiplatelet regimens in Asians with non-cardioembolic stroke or TIA.

Diagnostic Values of 8 Different Imaging Modalities for Preoperative Detection of Axillary Lymph Node Metastasis of Breast Cancer: A Bayesian Network Meta-analysis.

OBJECTIVE: This study aimed to compare diagnostic performances of 8 different imaging modalities for preoperative detection of axillary lymph node (LN) metastasis in patients with breast cancer by performing a network meta-analysis (NMA) using direct comparison studies with 2 or more imaging techniques. MATERIALS AND METHODS: PubMed, Cochrane, and Embase were searched for the studies evaluating the performances of 8 different imaging modalities for preoperative axillary LN staging in patients with breast cancer. The NMA was performed in patient-based analyses. The consistency was evaluated by examining the agreement between direct and indirect treatment effects, and publication bias was assessed by funnel plot asymmetry tests. The surface under the cumulative ranking curve (SUCRA) values were obtained to calculate the probability of each imaging modality being the most effective diagnostic method. RESULTS: A total of 2197 patients from 22 direct comparison studies using 8 different imaging modalities for preoperative detection of axillary LN metastasis in patients with breast cancer were included. For preoperative detection of axillary LN metastasis of breast cancer, elastography showed the highest SUCRA values of sensitivity, specificity, positive predictive value, negative predictive value, accuracy, and diagnostic odds ratio. In addition, fluorine-18 fluorodeoxyglucose positron emission tomography (PET) or PET/computed tomography, fluorine-18 fluorodeoxyglucose PET/magnetic resonance, and contrast-enhanced computed tomography showed high SUCRA values. CONCLUSION: Elastography showed the highest SUCRA values. Seven imaging modalities showed the complementary diagnostic roles for preoperative detection of axillary LN metastasis in patients with breast cancer, except mammography.

Diagnostic values of F-18 FDG PET or PET/CT, CT, and US for Preoperative Lymph Node Staging in Thyroid Cancer: A Network Meta-Analysis.

OBJECTIVE: This study compared the diagnostic performance of three different imaging modalities for preoperative lymph node (LN) staging in thyroid cancer patients, using a network meta-analysis (NMA). METHODS: PubMed and Embase were searched to identify studies evaluating the performance of F-18 fluorodeoxyglucose (FDG) positron emission tomography (PET or PET/CT), computed tomography (CT), and ultrasonography (US) for preoperative LN staging in thyroid cancer patients. The NMA included both patient- and lesion-based analyses. The surface under the cumulative ranking curve (SUCRA) values was used to decide on the most effective diagnostic method. RESULTS: A total of 3,571 patients from 19 direct comparison studies using three different imaging modalities for preoperative LN staging in thyroid cancer patients were included. US showed the highest SUCRA values for positive predictive values (PPV), negative predictive values (NPV), and accuracy in detection of all cervical LN metastasis. F-18 FDG PET or PET/CT and US showed the highest SUCRA values for PPV and sensitivity, respectively, for central LN, and the highest SUCRA value of specificity and sensitivity, respectively, for lateral LN. CONCLUSION: The results from this NMA indicate that F-18 FDG PET or PET/CT, CT, and US have complementary diagnostic roles for preoperative staging in thyroid cancer patients. ADVANCES IN KNOWLEDGE: Using NMA, we comprehensively compared the different diagnostic values and limitations of F-18 FDG PET or PET/CT, CT, and US for the preoperative LN staging in thyroid cancer patients.

Does early depressive mood expire following radical retropubic prostatectomy in patients with localized prostate cancer?

In this study, the pattern of depressive mood in patients following radical prostatectomy (RP) for localized prostate cancer (PCa) was determined. A total of 30 patients (aged 68.03±6.1 years) who were diagnosed with localized PCa and underwent RP within 1 month entered the study. Evaluations included body mass index, prostate-specific antigen, testosterone, underlying disease, international prostate symptom score and quality of life (QoL), international index of erectile function as well as Beck depression inventory (BDI), both at the initial stage and 3 months later. Basic demographic data, laboratory results, and questionnaires were analyzed statistically. The BDI score significantly decreased 3 months after the surgery. In correlation analysis, BDI was related with the international prostate symptom score but not with the underlying disease, QoL or international index of erectile function. Body mass index was identified as one of the risk factors to decrease the probability of BDI score (≥3) significantly. Underlying disease increased the probability of BDI score. In the assessment of the correlation between BDI and each subscale, sadness, self-dislike, self-criticalness, and worth-lessness showed high correlation. In the early period, depressive mood was improved at the short-term follow-up in localized PCa patients after RP. Voiding symptoms were only related with the depressive mood, but not with other parameters, including sexual function. The depressive mood had no effect on the QoL in the early stage.

Diagnostic performance of PET in thyroid cancer with elevated anti-Tg Ab.

We aimed to explore the role of the diagnostic accuracy of F-18 fluorodeoxyglucose positron emission tomography/computed tomography (PET/CT) for the detection of recurrent and/or metastatic diseases in differentiated thyroid cancer (DTC) patients with progressively and/or persistently elevated TgAb levels and negative radioactive iodine whole-body scan (RI-WBS) through a systematic review and meta-analysis. The MEDLINE, EMBASE and Cochrane Library database, from the earliest available date of indexing through June 30, 2017, were searched for studies evaluating the diagnostic performance of F-18 FDG PET/CT for the detection of recurrent and/or metastatic diseases in DTC patients with progressively and/or persistently elevated TgAb levels and negative RI-WBS. We determined the sensitivities and specificities across studies, calculated positive and negative likelihood ratios (LR+ and LR-). Across 9 studies (515 patients), the pooled sensitivity for F-18 FDG PET/CT was 0.84 (95% CI; 0.77-0.89) a pooled specificity of 0.78 (95% CI; 0.67-0.86). Likelihood ratio (LR) syntheses gave an overall positive likelihood ratio (LR+) of 3.8 (95% CI; 2.5-5.7) and negative likelihood ratio (LR-) of 0.21 (95% CI; 0.14-0.30). The pooled diagnostic odds ratio (DOR) was 18 (95% CI; 10-34). The area (AUC) under the hierarchical summary receiver-operating characteristic (HCROC) curve was 0.88 (95% CI: 0.85-0.90). F-18 FDG PET or PET/CT demonstrated moderate sensitivity and specificity for the detection of recurrent and/or metastatic diseases in DTC patients with progressively and/or persistently elevated TgAb levels and negative RI-WBS.

Network meta-analysis: application and practice using Stata.

This review aimed to arrange the concepts of a network meta-analysis (NMA) and to demonstrate the analytical process of NMA using Stata software under frequentist framework. The NMA tries to synthesize evidences for a decision making by evaluating the comparative effectiveness of more than two alternative interventions for the same condition. Before conducting a NMA, 3 major assumptions-similarity, transitivity, and consistency-should be checked. The statistical analysis consists of 5 steps. The first step is to draw a network geometry to provide an overview of the network relationship. The second step checks the assumption of consistency. The third step is to make the network forest plot or interval plot in order to illustrate the summary size of comparative effectiveness among various interventions. The fourth step calculates cumulative rankings for identifying superiority among interventions. The last step evaluates publication bias or effect modifiers for a valid inference from results. The synthesized evidences through five steps would be very useful to evidence-based decision-making in healthcare. Thus, NMA should be activated in order to guarantee the quality of healthcare system.

Meta-analysis for genome-wide association studies using case-control design: application and practice.

This review aimed to arrange the process of a systematic review of genome-wide association studies in order to practice and apply a genome-wide meta-analysis (GWMA). The process has a series of five steps: searching and selection, extraction of related information, evaluation of validity, meta-analysis by type of genetic model, and evaluation of heterogeneity. In contrast to intervention meta-analyses, GWMA has to evaluate the Hardy-Weinberg equilibrium (HWE) in the third step and conduct meta-analyses by five potential genetic models, including dominant, recessive, homozygote contrast, heterozygote contrast, and allelic contrast in the fourth step. The 'genhwcci' and 'metan' commands of STATA software evaluate the HWE and calculate a summary effect size, respectively. A meta-regression using the 'metareg' command of STATA should be conducted to evaluate related factors of heterogeneities.