Current medical research and opinion
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Review Comparative Study
Antiplatelet therapy in patients with ST-elevation myocardial infarction undergoing myocardial revascularisation: beyond clopidogrel.
Despite revascularisation, outcomes among patients presenting with ST-elevation myocardial infarction (STEMI) remain suboptimal. ⋯ Future studies also need to address several other outstanding issues, such as the subsequent approach if patients do not undergo PCI, and to overcome limitations in and differences between the primary studies. In particular, head-to-head comparisons need to compare directly the risks and benefits of ticagrelor and prasugrel in STEMI patients. These caveats notwithstanding, ticagrelor and prasugrel markedly improve the prognosis for patients with STEMI.
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Review Comparative Study
Clinical effectiveness of inhaled corticosteroids versus montelukast in children with asthma: prescription patterns and patient adherence as key factors.
To examine the real-life effectiveness of inhaled corticosteroids (ICS) versus leukotriene receptor antagonists (LTRA) monotherapy in children with mild or moderate asthma. ⋯ When compared to LTRA, the prescription of ICS monotherapy did not significantly reduce rescue oral corticosteroids or acute care visits and was associated with a higher rate of hospital admission for asthma and rescue β(2)-agonist use. The findings may be due to paradoxical shorter ICS prescription duration and lower patient adherence, despite more persistent asthma and poorer control than in LTRA-treated children.
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Review Comparative Study
Systematic review of tapentadol in chronic severe pain.
A systematic review of chronic pain treatment with strong opioids (step 3 WHO pain ladder) and a comparison to a new drug recently approved for the treatment of severe chronic pain in Europe, tapentadol (Palexia, Nucynta*), were performed. ⋯ Taken together, the benefit-risk ratio of tapentadol appears to be improved compared to step 3 opioids.
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Review Comparative Study
A mixed treatment comparison of the short-term efficacy of biologic disease modifying anti-rheumatic drugs in established rheumatoid arthritis.
The short-term efficacy of biological disease modifying anti-rheumatic drugs (bDMARDs) for the treatment of established moderate to severe rheumatoid arthritis (RA) has been demonstrated by various randomized placebo or active treatment controlled trials. However, there is a lack of direct comparison of these agents. ⋯ The analyses, using MTC of efficacy of nine bDMARDs suggest that treatment with anakinra is inferior to other bDMARDs and that etanercept and certolizumab may be more effective than other bDMARDs. There are some limitations of our analyses due to MTC assumptions, variations in trial design and the fact that only ACR outcomes at six months were included.
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Review Comparative Study
A mixed treatment comparison of the short-term efficacy of biologic disease modifying anti-rheumatic drugs in established rheumatoid arthritis.
The short-term efficacy of biological disease modifying anti-rheumatic drugs (bDMARDs) for the treatment of established moderate to severe rheumatoid arthritis (RA) has been demonstrated by various randomized placebo or active treatment controlled trials. However, there is a lack of direct comparison of these agents. ⋯ The analyses, using MTC of efficacy of nine bDMARDs suggest that treatment with anakinra is inferior to other bDMARDs and that etanercept and certolizumab may be more effective than other bDMARDs. There are some limitations of our analyses due to MTC assumptions, variations in trial design and the fact that only ACR outcomes at six months were included.