Journal of managed care pharmacy : JMCP
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Respiratory syncytial virus (RSV) is a leading cause of lower respiratory tract infection (LRTI) in infants and young children, accounting for approximately 75,000-125,000 hospitalizations per year. It is estimated that in 2000, RSV infection accounted for 1.7 million office visits, 402,000 emergency room visits, and 236,000 hospital outpatient visits per year for children younger than 5 years of age. Palivizumab, a humanized monoclonal antibody directed against RSV, is the only immunoprophylaxis therapy approved by the FDA for prevention of serious lower respiratory tract disease caused by RSV in infants (up to 2 years of age) who meet 1 or more of the following criteria for high risk: (a) gestational age up to 35 weeks;(b) diagnosis of chronic lung disease (CLD, formerly bronchopulmonary dysplasia [BPD]); or (c) diagnosis of cyanotic or complex congenital heart disease. The RSV season typically occurs between November and March but may vary by region. During the period of our review, depending on local duration of the RSV season, infants usually required 5 monthly (every 28-30 days) intramuscular injections of palivizumab. Infants born in the middle of the season received their palivizumab doses from the time of birth to the end of the season and, therefore, may have required less than 5 doses.It is unclear if compliance with monthly doses is a problem and whether noncompliance increases the risk of RSV hospitalizations in routine clinical practice. ⋯ Medicaid and minority infants were less likely to receive scheduled palivizumab doses. Home-based programs for the administration of palivizumab have been investigated more than other interventions and are associated with improved compliance compared with office-based administration. Compliance with dosing, in general, was associated with lower RSV hospitalization rates. However, these strategies should be further investigated using well-designed studies.
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Prescription opioid abuse and its associated costs are a problem in the United States, with significant epidemiologic and economic consequences. The breadth and depth of these consequences are not fully understood at present. ⋯ The economic burden of prescription opioid misuse and abuse is large. While the existing evidence indicates that persons who abuse or misuse prescription opioids incur higher costs and health care resource use, differences in methods used to explore this question make estimating the actual societal burden imposed by this problem difficult. Efforts to establish and maintain a balance between access to these drugs for legitimate pain management while decreasing the risk of abuse and misuse are critically important and include such tools as patient and provider education, patient screening, and use of technology.
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In patients with atrial fibrillation (AF), antiarrhythmic drug therapy currently plays a greater role in maintaining sinus rhythm after cardioversion than it does in converting AF to sinus rhythm. Amiodarone is the most effective antiarrhythmic agent for maintaining sinus rhythm after cardioversion in patients with AF. However, its pharmacokinetics is complex; the drug interacts with many commonly used medications; and long-term use can cause thyroid dysfunction, hepatotoxicity, and other severe extracardiac adverse effects. The use of antiarrhythmic strategies in patients with AF has decreased because of evidence of greater safety and lower costs for hospitalization obtained from the use of rate-control strategies instead. Nevertheless, some patients require a rhythm-control strategy. Warfarin is used to prevent embolic stroke in many patients with AF, but its use is also complex and requires monitoring. Therefore, efforts have been made to develop antiarrhythmic agents with improved tolerability and anticoagulants that are easy to use. ⋯ Pharmacotherapy for patients with AF should be individualized based on patient-specific factors. New therapeutic options may become available to facilitate treatment of these patients.
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Review Comparative Study
Review of prasugrel for the secondary prevention of atherothrombosis.
The role of platelets in atherothrombotic disease is well established, and antiplatelet therapy is now recommended for the shortand long-term management of patients with acute coronary syndromes (ACS), with and without percutaneous coronary intervention (PCI). The thienopyridine clopidogrel is accepted as a key component of antiplatelet management and is recommended in current treatment guidelines as addon therapy to aspirin in secondary prevention to reduce coronary risk in patients with ACS and/or following PCI. The FDA Cardiovascular and Renal Drugs Advisory Committee met on February 3, 2009, and recommended approval of prasugrel, but with guidance to physicians about increased risk in low-weight or elderly patients and avoidance of use (a) around coronary artery bypass graft (CABG) or other surgical or invasive procedures and (b) in patients with prior or current stroke or transient ischemic attack (TIA). ⋯ Available data suggest that prasugrel offers potential as an alternative to clopidogrel with greater efficacy but with increased bleeding risk in patients with ACS who receive PCI. Data are not yet available to define the efficacy and risk-benefit profile of prasugrel in patients not undergoing PCI.
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Ventilator-associated pneumonia (VAP) in hospital intensive care units (ICUs) is associated with high morbidity and mortality. Effective treatment of VAP can be challenging due to a high prevalence of Pseudomonas aeruginosa and multidrug-resistant (MDR) pathogens as causative organisms. ⋯ Clinicians need to be familiar with local antibiograms as well as regional resistance trends in order to choose appropriate therapy for VAP. Optimized dosing strategies can be effective in increasing the probability of attaining pharmacokinetic-pharmacodynamic targets predictive of successful clinical outcomes.