Current medical research and opinion
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Although pulmonary hypertension (PH) and Eisenmenger's syndrome (ES) are common complications in adult congenital heart disease (ACHD), the frequency of diagnostic tests and the incidence of PH/ES in patients with ACHD in Japanese clinical practice are unclear. Therefore, we sought to clarify the frequency of diagnostic tests and incidence of PH/ES in patients with ACHD using the Medical Data Vision (MDV) database, the largest anonymized database of diagnosis procedure combination hospitals in Japan. ⋯ We have clarified the frequency of diagnostic tests related to PH/ES and the incidence of PH/ES in patients with ACHD in clinical practice in Japan, including non-specialist institutions for PH.
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The objectives of this study were to retrospectively investigate the patient characteristics, treatment patterns, healthcare resource utilization (HCRU), and healthcare costs related to management of neurofibromatosis type 1 (NF1) in Japan. ⋯ NF1 is treated primarily with supportive care with analgesics/non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs being the most frequently prescribed NF1 medications in Japan. Findings underscored the unmet need and substantial economic burden among patients with NF1 and highlighted the need for new treatment options for patients with this disease.
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Acromegaly is a rare hormonal disorder that results in enlargement of the face, hands and feet. It is associated with comorbidities, increased mortality, reduced quality of life and economic burden. Adequate treatment is critical to alleviate symptoms; however, the treatment burden is substantial. To understand how different treatment aspects might ease the burden, this study investigated preferences for treatment options among people with acromegaly in the US, using a choice experiment (CE). ⋯ The results indicate that new treatment options administered as subcutaneous injections right under the skin once every fourth week at home have the potential to lower the treatment burden among people with acromegaly, emphasizing the importance of taking each person's preference into consideration when choosing treatment.
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Different stakeholders, such as authors, research institutions, and healthcare professionals (HCPs) may determine the impact of peer-reviewed publications in different ways. Commonly-used measures of research impact, such as the Journal Impact Factor or the H-index, are not designed to evaluate the impact of individual articles. They are heavily dependent on citations, and therefore only measure impact of the overall journal or researcher respectively, taking months or years to accrue. ⋯ We also discuss how metrics may be used to evaluate the value of "publication extenders" - educational microcontent such as animations, videos and plain-language summaries that are often hosted on HCP education platforms. Publication extenders adapt a publication's key data to audience needs and thereby extend a publication's reach. These new approaches have the potential to address the limitations of traditional metrics, but the diversity of new metrics requires that users have a keen understanding of which forms of impact are relevant to a specific publication and select and monitor ALMs accordingly.
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To evaluate the prevalence of comorbidities that may limit or prevent adherence to topical ocular hypotensive therapy in patients with open-angle glaucoma (OAG). ⋯ The presence of comorbidities should be considered when determining whether eye drops are suitable treatment for glaucoma. Neurodegenerative disease affecting cognition and memory, motor disease, and low vision are common comorbidities that may impact adherence to eye drops, and affected patients may benefit from non-drop treatment modalities.