Healthcare resource utilization in patients with pulmonary hypertension associated with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (PH-COPD): a real-world data analysis.

Rationale: There is a lack of real-world characterization of healthcare costs and associated cost drivers in patients with pulmonary hypertension secondary to chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (PH-COPD).

Objectives: To examine (1) excess healthcare resource utilization (HCRU) and associated costs in patients with PH-COPD compared to COPD patients without PH; and (2) patient characteristics that are associated with higher healthcare costs in patients with PH-COPD.

Methods: This study analyzed data from the IQVIA PharMetrics Plus database (OCT2014-MAY2020).

Hemodialysis Access Type and Access Patency Loss: An Observational Cohort Study.

Rationale & Objective: Access patency outcomes for arteriovenous fistulas (AVFs) as compared with arteriovenous grafts (AVGs) in patients receiving hemodialysis (HD) who have achieved a functioning permanent access are not fully explored.

Study Design: Observational cohort study.

Setting & Population: Fee-for-service Medicare beneficiaries aged ≥18 years with kidney failure who were newly using a permanent access for maintenance HD from the United States Renal Data System (2010-2015).

Medication use by US patients with pulmonary hypertension associated with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease: a retrospective study of administrative data.

Background: Pulmonary hypertension (PH) is a serious complication of chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD). While clinical guidelines recommend specific drug therapies for pulmonary arterial hypertension (PAH), these drug therapies are not recommended for PH due to lung disease.

Methods: This was a retrospective cohort study using the Optum® Clinformatics® Data Mart from January 2009-September 2019.

Hemodialysis Vascular Access and Risk of Major Bleeding, Thrombosis, and Cardiovascular Events: A Cohort Study.

Rationale & Objective: The risks of major bleeding, thrombosis, and cardiovascular events are elevated in patients receiving maintenance hemodialysis (HD). Our objective was to compare the risk of these outcomes in HD according to the permanent vascular access type.

Study Design: Observational cohort study.

Desloratadine Exposure and Incidence of Seizure: A Nordic Post-authorization Safety Study Using a New-User Cohort Study Design, 2001-2015.

Introduction: A small number of adverse events of seizure in patients using desloratadine (DL) have been reported. The European Medicines Agency requested a post-authorization safety study to investigate whether there is an association between DL exposure and seizure.

Objective: The aim was to study the association between DL exposure and incidence of first seizure.

Validation of a claims-based algorithm to identify patients with chronic thromboembolic pulmonary hypertension using electronic health record data.

This study aimed to validate an algorithm developed to identify chronic thromboembolic pulmonary hypertension (CTEPH) among patients with a history of pulmonary embolism. Validation was halted because too few patients had gold-standard evidence of CTEPH in the administrative claims/electronic health records database, suggesting that CTEPH is underdiagnosed.

Patient and Healthcare Professionals Preference for Brenzys vs. Enbrel Autoinjector for Rheumatoid Arthritis: A Randomized Crossover Simulated-Use Study.

Introduction: Brenzys was developed as an etanercept biosimilar of Enbrel. The aim of this study was to assess preference and perceived ease of use for the new Brenzys autoinjector compared to the currently available marketed Enbrel MYCLIC autoinjector (Australia) and Enbrel SureClick autoinjector (Canada) for the treatment of rheumatoid arthritis (RA). Because RA affects manual dexterity, ease of use of an autoinjector is a particularly important consideration in developing effective self-delivery of long-term courses of therapy.

Patient and physician factors influence decision-making in hypercholesterolemia: a questionnaire-based survey.

Background: Goal attainment of guideline-recommended low-density lipoprotein cholesterol (LDL-C) is suboptimal. Little is known about how patient factors influence physicians' treatment decision-making in hypercholesterolemia. We examined physicians' treatment recommendations in high-risk patients whose LDL-C remained uncontrolled despite statin monotherapy.

Incidence of cancer and mortality in patients from the Simvastatin and Ezetimibe in Aortic Stenosis (SEAS) trial.

The Simvastatin and Ezetimibe in Aortic Stenosis (SEAS) clinical trial, including 1,873 patients found an increased risk for cancer with lipid-lowering therapy with ezetimibe/simvastatin 10/40 mg/day, relative to placebo. In a registry-based follow-up study over 21 months from the conclusion of the SEAS trial, new incident cancer and total mortality were investigated in the SEAS study cohort from Denmark, Finland, Norway, Sweden, and the United Kingdom. Among 1,359 subjects eligible for follow-up (73% of the original total cohort), 1,194 had no history of cancer (primary follow-up cohort).

LDL-C levels in US patients at high cardiovascular risk receiving rosuvastatin monotherapy.

Background: Statin therapy is recommended as the first-line pharmacotherapeutic approach for lowering LDL-C levels in patients at high cardiovascular risk.

Objective: To assess LDL-C levels among patients at high cardiovascular risk treated with rosuvastatin monotherapy.

Methods: This retrospective cohort study used patient records from the GE Centricity Electronic Medical Records (GE Centricity EMR) database and administrative claims data from Humana Medicare to identify patients at high cardiovascular risk with a first prescription for rosuvastatin monotherapy (index date) from January 1, 2008 through December 31, 2010.

Total and low-density lipoprotein cholesterol in high-risk patients treated with atorvastatin monotherapy in the United Kingdom: analysis of a primary-care database.

Objective: British clinical guidelines recommend statins as first-line lipid-modifying treatment (LMT) for patients at high risk of cardiovascular disease (CVD). We undertook an observational study to assess total cholesterol (TC) and low-density lipoprotein cholesterol (LDL-C) levels in high-risk patients who were treated with atorvastatin monotherapy by UK general practitioners.

Methods: This retrospective database study included patients with a prescription for atorvastatin monotherapy between November 30, 2008, and November 30, 2011, with the index date defined as the first atorvastatin prescription during this period.

Changes in prescription patterns before and after reporting of the Ezetimibe and Simvastatin in Hypercholesterolemia Enhances Atherosclerosis Regression trial (ENHANCE) results and expected effects on low-density lipoprotein-cholesterol reduction.

Background: Recent trends suggest a decreased use of ezetimibe/simvastatin combination and coadministered ezetimibe plus statin therapies.

Objective: This analysis evaluated changes in prescription patterns for ezetimibe/simvastatin, ezetimibe plus statins, and statin therapies and expected effects on low-density lipoprotein cholesterol (LDL-C) lowering during 2007 to 2008.

Methods: Prescription pattern changes were assessed by the use of patient-level data from the IMS Health Longitudinal Rx database during two time periods, July 14, 2007 to January 13, 2008 (n = 8,813,674) and January 14, 2008 to July 13, 2008 (n = 9,131,030), 6 months before and after reporting of the results of The Ezetimibe and Simvastatin in Hypercholesterolemia Enhances Atherosclerosis Regression trial (ENHANCE) trial on January 14, 2008.

Systematic review of trials of the effect of continued use of oral non-selective NSAIDs on blood pressure and hypertension.

Objective: To investigate the effects of continued use of non-selective NSAIDs (nsNSAIDs) on blood pressure and hypertension.

Research Design And Methods: This was a systematic review of randomized clinical trials of oral nsNSAIDs used for at least a 4-week duration. Searches were conducted of PubMed and the Cochrane Database of Systematic Reviews, using key terms for nsNSAIDs and blood pressure or hypertension, to identify articles published in the English language peer-reviewed literature through March 2007.

Update on the use of patient reported functional status and HRQOL measures in low back pain.

Disease-specific functional status and generic health-related quality of life instruments used in low back pain studies are reviewed. A variety of instruments are available and many have been demonstrated to be valid and reliable. The Roland-Morris Disability Index and Oswestry Disability Index are the most commonly used low back pain-specific measures, while the Short Form-36 is the most commonly used generic quality of life tool.