Background: In 2021, South Korea had the highest incidence rate (49 per 100 000 population) and the third highest mortality rate (3.8 per 100 000 population) due to pulmonary tuberculosis (TB) among Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development countries. Notably, premature interruption of TB treatment interferes with TB control efforts. Therefore, we examined the effect of the co-payment waiver on treatment interruption and mortality among patients with pulmonary TB in South Korea.
Methods: Patients who had newly treated TB in South Korea from 2013 to 2019 were selected from the nationwide data of the entire Korean National Health Insurance Service (NHIS) population. The effects of policy implementation on treatment adherence and mortality rates depending on treatment interruption history were evaluated.
Results: In total, 73 116 and 1673 patients with drug-susceptible (DS) and multidrug-resistant (MDR) pulmonary TB, respectively, were included in the final study population. After implementing the cost-exemption policy, the treatment interruption rate tended to decrease in the continuation phase in the DS-TB group (slope change: -0.097, =.011). However, it increased in the intensive phase in the MDR-TB group (slope change: 0.733, =.001). MDR-TB patients were likely to experience an interruption of TB treatment (adjusted odds ratio [aOR], 6.04; 95% CI, 5.43-6.71), and treatment interruption history was a significant risk factor for 1-year and overall mortality rates (adjusted hazard ratios [aHRs]: 2.01, 95% CI, 1.86-2.18 and 1.77, 95% CI, 1.70-1.84, respectively) in the DS-TB group.
Conclusion: Implementing the cost-exemption policy effectively reduced the treatment interruption rate among patients with DS pulmonary TB.
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http://dx.doi.org/10.34172/ijhpm.8262 | DOI Listing |
J Diabetes
January 2025
Joslin Diabetes Center, Affiliated With Harvard Medical School, Boston, Massachusetts, USA.
Background: Glucagon-like peptide-1 receptor agonists (GLP-1 RAs) are established treatment options for type 2 diabetes (T2D). In addition to their glycemic benefit, GLP-1 RAs also induce weight loss by suppressing appetite via hypothalamic pathways. However, it remains unclear whether weight reduction is the primary driver of glycemic improvement.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFTzu Chi Med J
July 2024
Department of Radiation Oncology, Hualien Tzu Chi Hospital, Buddhist Tzu Chi Medical Foundation, Hualien, Taiwan.
Objectives: Head-and-neck cancer is a major cancer in Taiwan. Most patients are in the advanced stage at initial diagnosis. In addition to primary surgery, adjuvant therapy, including chemotherapy and radiotherapy, is also necessary to treat these patients.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFAJNR Am J Neuroradiol
January 2025
Ataxia Center, Cognitive Behavioral Neurology Unit, Laboratory for Neuroanatomy and Cerebellar Neurobiology, Department of Neurology (J.D.S., Massachusetts General Hospital and Harvard Medical School, Boston, Massachusetts.
Background And Purpose: Symptoms indistinguishable from behavioral-variant frontotemporal dementia (bvFTD) can develop in patients with spontaneous intracranial hypotension associated with severe brain sagging. An underlying spinal CSF leak can be identified in only a minority of these patients and the success rate of nondirected treatments, such as epidural blood patching and dural reduction surgery, is low. The disability associated with bvFTD sagging brain syndrome is high and, because of the importance of the venous system in the pathophysiology of CSF leaks in general, we have investigated the systemic venous circulation in those patients with recalcitrant symptoms.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFOncologist
January 2025
Netherlands Cancer Institute-Antoni van Leeuwenhoek Hospital, Thoracic Oncology, 1066 CX Amsterdam, The Netherlands.
Introduction: We describe the safety of sotorasib monotherapy in patients with KRAS G12C-mutated advanced non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) and discuss practical recommendations for managing key risks.
Methods: Incidence rates of treatment-related adverse events (TRAEs) were pooled from 4 clinical trials: CodeBreaK 100 (NCT03600883), CodeBreaK 101 (NCT04185883), CodeBreaK 105 (NCT04380753), and CodeBreaK 200 (NCT04303780) and graded according to CTCAE v5.0.
Orphanet J Rare Dis
January 2025
Internal Medicine IV, Department of Gastroenterology, University Hospital Heidelberg, INF 410, Heidelberg, 69120, Germany.
Background & Aim: Twenty-four-hour urinary copper excretion (24 h-UCE) is the standard diagnostic tool for dose adjustments in maintenance therapy in Wilson disease (WD) patients. Guidelines lack data if both variants of 24 h-UCE measurement (with or without 48 h of treatment interruption) are equally interpretable.
Methods: Eighty-four patients with a confirmed diagnosis of WD treated with chelators (50% of patients with D-Penicillamine and 50% with trientine) and with pairwise 24-h-UCE values on-therapy and off-therapy were included in the analysis.
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