[Rhabdomyolysis secondary to simvastatin and phenofibrate]. / Rabdomiolisis secundaria a simvastatina y fenofibrato.

Statins, which are used as first-line drugs in the prevention of cardiovascular disease, are usually safe, but in some cases there may be muscular toxicity. Statin-associated myopathy, can present as myalgia, myositis or rhabdomyolysis. Only 0.44 per 10,000 treated and per year, develop rhabdomyolysis. There are many risk factors associated with the patient and with the pharmacological treatment. A risk of muscle injury of 1-5% has been reported with some statins combined with fibrates. The fibrate with the highest risk of myopathy in combination with statins is gemfibrozil, while phenofibrate seems to be the safest. The case is presented of a 60 year-old woman with clinical symptoms and laboratory findings that suggested rhabdomyolysis secondary to a combination of simvastatin and phenofibrate. This case reminds physicians of the need to closely monitor these patients, in addition to alert them to the onset of muscle pain or weakness.

Evaluating the clinical effectiveness of pneumococcal vaccination in preventing myocardial infarction: The CAPAMIS study, three-year follow-up.

BACKGROUND: Cardiovascular benefits using the 23-valent pneumococcal polysaccharide vaccine (PPV23) are controversial. This study assessed clinical effectiveness of PPV23 in preventing acute myocardial infarction in people over 60-years. METHODOLOGY: We conducted a population-based cohort study involving 27,204 individuals ≥60 years-old in Tarragona, Spain, who were prospectively followed from 01/12/2008 until 30/11/2011. Outcomes were hospitalization for AMI, 30-day mortality from AMI and all-cause death. Cox regression was used to evaluate the association between pneumococcal vaccination and the risk of each outcome. RESULTS: Cohort members were followed for a total of 76,033 person-years, of which 29,065 were for vaccinated subjects. Overall, 359 cases of AMI, 55 deaths from AMI and 2465 all-cause deaths were observed. Pneumococcal vaccination did not alter the risk of AMI (multivariable hazard ratio [HR]: 0.95; 95% confidence interval [CI]: 0.76-1.18; p=0.630), death from AMI (HR: 1.32; 95% CI: 0.76-2.28; p=0.321) and all-cause death (HR: 0.97; 95% CI: 0.89-1.05; p=0.448). In analyses focused on people with and without history of prior coronary artery disease, pneumococcal vaccination did not emerge effective in preventing any analyzed event. CONCLUSIONS: This study supports that PPV23 does not provide any relevant benefit against AMI in the general population over 60 years, as in primary as well as in secondary prevention, although it is underpowered to exclude a small benefit of vaccination against rare outcomes.

Incidence of pneumococcal infections among children under 15 years in southern Catalonia throughout the heptavalent conjugate vaccine era, 2002-2009.

PURPOSE: Updating epidemiological studies to document current incidences of pneumococcal diseases are greatly needed in the current era of new pneumococcal conjugate vaccines (PCVs). The aim of this study is to analyze the incidence and distribution of different serotypes causing pneumococcal infections among the pediatric population in southern Catalonia, Spain, throughout the 2002-2009 PCV7 eras. METHODS: A population-based surveillance study was conducted among children aged ≤ 14 years in the region of Tarragona (Catalonia, Spain) during the period 2002-2009. All cases of pneumococcal infections (invasive and non-invasive cases) were included in the study. Incidence rates (per 100,000 population-year) and prevalence of infections caused by serotypes included in different PCV formulations were calculated for the 2002-2005 and 2006-2009 periods. RESULTS: Globally, across the total 2002-2009 period, the incidence of pneumococcal infections was 48.2 per 100,000 children-year (22.4 and 25.8 for invasive and non-invasive infections, respectively). Between 2002-2005 and 2006-2009, the incidence rates largely decreased among children aged <2 years (from 171 to 111 per 100,000 children-year; p = 0.059), but they did not substantially vary among children aged 2-14 years. The percentages of cases caused by serotypes included in PCV7 (60.0 vs. 16.7 %; p < 0.001), PCV10 (75.0 vs. 47.4 %; p = 0.028), and PCV13 (85.0 vs. 70.5 %; p = 0.190) decreased in both periods. CONCLUSION: In this study, which was conducted in a setting with intermediate PCV7 uptakes, a considerable protective direct effect of vaccination occurred among young infants, but an indirect protective effect did not emerge in the rest of the pediatric population. Despite new PCVs with higher serotype coverage, an important proportion of pneumococcal infections is still not covered by these vaccines.