Cost-utility analysis of empagliflozin for heart failure in the Philippines.

Aims: Empagliflozin confers cardioprotective benefits among patients with heart failure, across the range of ejection fraction (EF), regardless of type 2 diabetes status. The long-term cost-effectiveness of empagliflozin for the treatment of heart failure (HF) in the Philippines remains unclear. This study aims to determine the economic benefit of adding empagliflozin to the standard of care (SoC) vs the SoC alone for HF in the Philippines.

Effectiveness of Bacille Calmette-Guerin vaccination policies in reducing infection and mortality of COVID-19: a systematic review.

Background: COVID-19 vaccination has been advocated as the most effective way to curb the pandemic. But with its inequitable distribution and slow rollout, especially in low- to middle- income countries, it will still take a long time before herd immunity is achieved. Alternative measures must therefore be explored to bolster current COVID-19 vaccination efforts.

Effectiveness of Healthy Foodie Nutrition Game Application as Reinforcement Intervention to Previous Standard Nutrition Education of School-Aged Children: A Randomized Controlled Trial.

Objective: Games promoting nutrition education are helpful tools to improve nutrition knowledge. Healthy Foodie is an interactive web-based nutrition game for Filipino children. This study aimed to determine the effectiveness of Healthy Foodie on the nutrition knowledge of children aged 7 to 10 years old.

Ivabradine Versus Beta-Blockers in Mitral Stenosis in Sinus Rhythm: An Updated Meta-Analysis of Randomized Controlled Trials.

Background: Symptoms of mitral stenosis (MS) are worsened during tachycardia and exercise. Beta-blockers are used in controlling heart rate (HR) in MS, resulting in symptom improvement, but coming with significant side effects. Ivabradine has a selective action on the sinus node devoid of the usual side effects of beta-blockers.

Red Cell Distribution Width and Mortality in Patients With Acute Coronary Syndrome: A Meta-Analysis on Prognosis.

Background: Red cell distribution width (RDW), a routine component of the complete blood count (CBC), measures variation in the size of circulating erythrocytes. It has been associated with several clinical outcomes in cardiovascular disease. We sought to strengthen the association between RDW and mortality in patients admitted for acute coronary syndrome (ACS) by pooling together data from available studies.

Systolic Anterior Motion of Mitral Valve Subchordal Apparatus: A Rare Echocardiographic Pattern in Non-Obstructive Hypertrophic Cardiomyopathy.

Systolic anterior motion (SAM) of the mitral valve or chordate is one characteristic seen in hypertrophic cardiomyopathy (HCM) either in obstructive or non-obstructive phenotypes. More often than not, the obstruction is caused by valvular rather than chordal SAM. We describe the role of echocardiography in identifying the actual anatomical location of the mitral valve apparatus involved in SAM and in assessing consequent left ventricular outflow tract (LVOT) obstruction in an otherwise asymptomatic patient.

Health-Related Quality of Life (HRQoL) of Adult Filipinos with Graves' Disease cured by Radioiodine Therapy compared to those controlled by Antithyroid Drugs at University of Santo Tomas Hospital: A Pilot Study.

Objective: The study aims to develop and validate the Filipino version of Thyroid-disease specific quality of life Patient Reported Outcome (ThyPROph) questionnaire, and to conduct a pilot study comparing the quality of life of patients with Graves' disease at University of Santo Tomas Hospital (USTH) after receiving radioactive iodine ablation (RAI) or anti-thyroid drug (ATD) using the validated ThyPROph.

Methodology: This study has 2 phases. Phase 1 is the development and validation of the ThyPROph with prior translation and pretesting to Graves' disease patients.

Prevalence of Hyponatremia in Hypothyroid Patients during Radioactive ¹³¹I Ablation for Differentiated Thyroid Cancer: Single Institution Experience.

Background: Hyponatremia developing in hypothyroid patients has been encountered in clinical practice; however, its prevalence has not been well established.

Methods: Thirty patients diagnosed with differentiated thyroid cancer, rendered hypothyroid after surgery and levothyroxine withdrawal, and who are for radioactive iodine (RAI) ablation were included. Serum sodium concentrations were measured twice, at the time of admission for RAI ablation, and before discharge after increased oral fluid intake.

Chronic Heart Failure Clinical Practice Guidelines' Class 1-A Pharmacologic Recommendations: Start-to-End Synergistic Drug Therapy?

Background: Chronic heart failure (HF) disease as an emerging epidemic has a high economic-psycho-social burden, hospitalization, readmission, morbidity and mortality rates despite many clinical practice guidelines' evidenced-based and consensus driven recommendations that include trials' initial-baseline data.

Objective: To show that the survival and hospitalization-free event rates in the reviewed chronic HF clinical practice guidelines' class I-A recommendations as initial HF drug therapy (IDT) is possibly a combination and 'start-to-end' synergistic effect of the add-on ('end') HF drug therapy (ADT) to the baseline ('start') HF drug therapy (BDT).

Methodology: The references cited in the chronic HF clinical practice guidelines of the 2005, 2009, and 2013 American Heart Association/American College of Cardiology (AHA/ACC), the 2006 Heart Failure Society of America (HFSA), and the 2005, 2008, and 2012 European Society of Cardiology (ESC) were reviewed and compared with the respective guidelines' and other countries' recommendations.

Predictors of incomplete response to therapy among Filipino patients with papillary thyroid cancer in a tertiary hospital.

Background: Although survival rate in papillary thyroid cancer (PTC) is high, the risk of persistence and recurrence together with the dramatic rise in its incidence cannot be overemphasized. Filipinos are considered to be at greater risk for negative outcomes. A paradigm shift in the management of PTC introduces re-stratification based on response to therapy which was reported to have better correlation with long-term outcome.

Managing diabetes in Asia: overcoming obstacles and the role of DPP-IV inhibitors.

Asia bears the world's greatest burden of type 2 diabetes (T2DM) and prevalence is increasing rapidly. Compared to other races, Asians develop T2DM younger, at a lower degree of obesity, suffer longer from its complications and die earlier. Curbing this epidemic requires an integrated, risk-based, and multidisciplinary approach.

Contrast extravasation after bilateral inferior petrosal sinus sampling masquerading as venous subarachnoid haemorrhage.

When performed properly, bilateral inferior petrosal sinus sampling (BIPSS) for adrenocorticotropic hormone (ACTH) is rarely associated with complications. Major complications reported to date include thromboembolism, brain stem infarction, pontine haemorrhage, isolated sixth nerve palsy and venous subarachnoid haemorrhage. We describe a rare case where a predominant contrast extravasation into the subarachnoid space, admixed with a small quantity of venous blood, occurring during BIPSS in a 58-year-old woman with ACTH-dependent Cushing's syndrome, was misinterpreted as venous subarachnoid haemorrhage.

Oral hypoglycaemic agents for diabetes in pregnancy - an appraisal of the current evidence for oral anti-diabetic drug use in pregnancy.

Introduction: The use of oral hypoglycaemic drugs in pregnancy is not recommended because of reports of foetal anomalies and other adverse outcomes in animal studies and in some human cases. However, recent studies have suggested that some oral hypoglycaemic drugs may be used in pregnancy. This review will examine these studies critically.