Background: There is a growing interest in products featuring hemp extracts and a demand for more data regarding their safety. To date, there is a paucity of published data on the safety of these products.
Methods: A retrospective analysis of postmarketing surveillance data collected in the United States on full spectrum hemp extract (FSHE) products manufactured by Charlotte's Web (CW) was conducted over an 18-month period (January 2019 to July 2020). The frequency of adverse events (AEs) and serious adverse events (SAEs) was assessed by analyzing AE reports against the estimated number of consumers who purchased products and the total number of products sold.
Results: During the 18-month period, approximately 646,391 consumers purchased 1,939,172 products and 431 AEs were reported by 304 individuals. The estimated percentage of consumers who reported at least one adverse event was 0.05%. The percentage of AEs per products sold was 0.02%. Most AEs (98.14%) reported were Grade 1 (i.e., asymptomatic or causing mild symptoms), as classified by the Common Terminology Criteria for Adverse Events. Seven AEs were classified as serious, and the percentage of SAEs per products sold was 0.0004%. None of the reported SAEs were classified as a Grade 4 or Grade 5 (i.e., life threatening or fatal).
Conclusions: Approximately 0.05% of consumers who purchased the CW FSHE products from January 2019 to July 2020 reported an adverse event. The percentage of AEs and SAEs per products sold was 0.02% and 0.0004%, respectively. These data demonstrate that CW FSHE products appear to be well tolerated at recommended doses.
Background: Some aspects regarding the use of antiplatelet agents after coil embolization for subarachnoid hemorrhage during admission remain unclear. This study used diagnostic procedure combination (DPC) data to investigate the safety and prognostic effects of aspirin monotherapy and aspirin and P2Y12 inhibitor combination therapy on bleeding events.
Methods: This cross-sectional study used Japanese DPC data to assess patients who were hospitalized with subarachnoid hemorrhage and received aspirin monotherapy and aspirin and P2Y12 inhibitor combination therapy between April 2016 and March 2020 (n = 4421). The aspirin monotherapy (A group, n = 2848) and aspirin and P2Y12 inhibitor combination therapy (AP group, n = 1573) groups were compared. The primary and secondary endpoints were the incidence of bleeding events and proportion of patients with a modified Rankin Scale (mRS) score ≤ 2 at discharge, respectively. Data was analyzed using multivariable adjusted logistic regression (significance level, 5%).
Results: The adjusted odds ratio in AP group, with A group as the reference, for bleeding events and the proportion of patients with mRS score ≤ 2 at discharge were 0.97 (95% confidence interval [95% CI]: 0.75-1.26, p = 0.839) and 1.09 (95% CI: 0.92-1.29, p = 0.302), respectively.
Conclusions: There are no differences in the incidence of bleeding events or good clinical outcomes (mRS score ≤ 2 at discharge) between aspirin monotherapy and aspirin and P2Y12 inhibitor combination therapy.
Introduction: Psychotropic drugs have been reported to cause urinary retention (UR) via anticholinergic and other mechanisms. However, UR has not received much attention because of its non-fatal symptoms. We investigated the occurrence of UR associated with psychotropic drugs using the Japanese Adverse Drug Event Report (JADER) database.
Methods: Using the JADER database, we calculated reporting odds ratios for UR for 74 psychotropic drugs. Multivariate logistic regression analysis was used to adjust for the effects of sex, underlying disease, and age on UR. Variable selection included forced entry for sex, age, benign prostatic hyperplasia (BPH), depression, and backward-forward stepwise selection for each drug.
Results: A total of 887,704 cases were reported, of which 4653 (0.52%) had UR. In terms of sex, 0.79% (3401/429,372 cases) and 0.43% (1797/415,358 cases) of male and female patients had UR. In terms of age, 0.31% (892/288,676 cases) and 0.68% (3463/506,907 cases) of patients aged < 60 years and 60 years or older had UR. Among the underlying diseases, 8.22% (930/11,316 cases) and 0.43% (3723/876,388 cases) of patients with BPH and without BPH had UR, respectively. Further, 1.99% (337/16,959 cases) and 0.50% (4316/870,745 cases) of patients with depression and without depression had UR, respectively. Overall, 38 psychotropic drugs met the criteria for signal detection. In logistic regression, a total of 783,083 patients of discernible age and sex were included. The selected variables were sex, age, BPH, depression, and 23 drugs, including quetiapine [adjusted reporting odds ratio (ROR) 95% confidence interval (CI): 1.46-2.81], chlorpromazine (adjusted ROR 95%CI: 1.29-3.13), etizolam (adjusted ROR 95%CI: 1.47-3.09), maprotiline (adjusted ROR 95%CI: 1.99-8.34), mirtazapine (adjusted ROR 95%CI: 1.37-2.88), and duloxetine (adjusted ROR 95%CI: 2.15-4.21).
Conclusions: Many psychotropic drugs induce UR, which may be owing to their pharmacological effects. Appropriate monitoring is needed, especially in patients with other risk factors for UR.
Background: The prognosis of patients with epidermal growth factor receptor (EGFR) mutation-positive lung cancer has improved significantly since the advent of EGFR tyrosine kinase inhibitors (EGFR-TKIs). We aimed to investigate the relationship between patient characteristics, EGFR genotype, therapeutic agents, and the prognosis of the patients with EGFR mutation-positive lung cancer.
Methods: This retrospective cohort study analyzed 198 Japanese patients with unresectable EGFR mutation-positive lung cancer who were treated with EGFR-TKIs at Toho University Sakura Medical Center from April 2006 to December 2021. Factors associated with overall survival (OS) were analyzed using Cox proportional hazards analysis.
Results: Patients who received osimertinib had a significantly longer OS than did those not receiving it (median OS, 36.2 versus 20.7 months; p < 0.001).There were significant differences in OS between patients with EGFR mutation who received osimertinib as first-line treatment, T790M-positive patients who received osimertinib as second- or later-line treatment, and those who did not receive it (median OS, 28.2 versus 40.2 versus 20.7 months; p = 0.003). However, in T790M-negative patients, no significant difference in OS was noted between those who did and did not receive osimertinib as post-treatment (median OS, 28.0 versus 40.0 months; p = 0.619). Multivariate Cox proportional hazards analysis showed that osimertinib treatment was associated with longer OS (hazard ratio, 0.480; 95% confidence interval, 0.326-0.707; p < 0.001).
Conclusion: The patients who were T790M-positive in the first-line treatment with first or second-generation EGFR-TKIs and were given osimertinib as the second or later line treatment had a better prognosis than the patients who were T790M-negative in the first-line treatment with first or second-generation EGFR-TKIs and could not receive osimertinib.
Background: Hemophilia A (HA) treatment strategies aim to manage bleeding episodes and improve patients' quality of life. This study investigates the effectiveness of a preventative approach using intermediate-dose prophylaxis with standard half-life FVIII products in reducing bleeding rates and enhancing the quality of life for patients with severe HA.
Methods: A 4-year prospective longitudinal study followed 35 patients with severe HA (without FVIII inhibitors) who transitioned from a reactive treatment approach to intermediate-dose prophylaxis in Taiwan from 2014 until 2018. The study tracked annual bleeding rates (ABR) and annual joint bleeding rates (AjBR) alongside associated costs and patient-reported quality-of-life measures.
Results: Prophylaxis significantly reduced both ABR and AjBR compared with the previous treatment. After one year, ABR and AjBR decreased by 76.9% and 72.5%, respectively, with further reductions to 91.0% and 90.8% after 4 years (p < 0.001). While the average annual cost of factor VIII concentrate increased by 41.0% in the first year, the incremental cost-effectiveness ratio demonstrated ongoing benefits from ABR avoidance over the 4 years. Additionally, patients reported significant improvements in quality-of-life measures following the switch to prophylaxis (p = 0.036).
Conclusion: Intermediate-dose prophylaxis effectively reduced bleeding rates and improved quality of life in patients with severe HA. Despite initial cost increases, the intervention became cost effective over time. This study provides valuable data for healthcare policymakers, highlighting the long-term benefits of prophylaxis as a preventative approach for managing bleeding and improving overall well-being in patients with severe HA.
Background and objective: Durvalumab plus tremelimumab (Durva/Treme) has recently been approved as a first-line or later-line treatment for patients with unresectable hepatocellular carcinoma (u-HCC) in Japan. We assessed the real-world outcomes of Durva/Treme for u-HCC, with a focus on treatment efficacy and safety.
Methods: We retrospectively evaluated 22 patients with u-HCC treated with Durva/Treme at Iwate Medical University during the period from 2023 to 2024, with a comparison of the clinical outcomes between patients who received Durva/Treme as first-line and later-line treatments. We further evaluated changes in the modified albumin-bilirubin (mALBI) grade during treatment.
Results: There were 10 patients in the first-line group and 12 patients in the later-line treatment group. During the follow-up with a median duration of 7.6 months, the median progression-free survival (first-line versus later-line: 4.7 months versus 2.9 months, p = 0.85), the objective response rate (0.0% versus 16.7%, p = 0.48), the disease control rate (60.0% versus 58.4%, p = 1.00), and the incidence of any adverse event (50.0% versus 75.0%, p = 0.38) were not statistically different between the two groups. The changes in the mALBI scores were not statistically significant (p = 0.75).
Conclusions: Durva/Treme may be effective and safe for patients with u-HCC, even in patients who receive Durva/Treme as a later-line treatment.
Background: Residual symptoms are frequently observed in a significant number of patients with depression, indicating an unmet need for effective management strategies to achieve functional recovery.
Objective: This observational study aimed to evaluate the impact of ketamine infusions on depressive symptoms in patients with bipolar disorder who continued their baseline psychotropic and chronic somatic treatments.
Methods: Datasets of the two consecutive real-world registries (NCT04226963 for 2019-2022; NCT05565352 from 2023 onward) for the tertiary reference center for psychiatry at the Medical University of Gdańsk (Poland) for the safety and tolerability of ketamine use in mood and anxiety disorders were retrospectively analyzed. Depressive symptoms were assessed using the Inventory of Depressive Symptomatology Self-Report 30 (IDS-SR30). Residual symptoms were identified in patients who achieved a treatment response, defined as a 50% or greater reduction in Montgomery-Åsberg Depression Rating Scale (MADRS) scores from baseline to the seventh infusion.
Results: Overall, 14 out of 22 patients met the criteria for response. The most commonly persistent depressive symptoms included sad mood (85.7%), view of my future (78.6%), difficulty falling asleep, and leaden paralysis/physical energy (both 71.4%), with the most severe being difficulty falling asleep (64.3%) and sad mood (42.9%).
Conclusions: This observational post hoc analysis indicates that the most frequently observed residual depressive symptoms were low mood, altered view of future, sleep disturbances, and low energy levels. This study should be treated with caution as causality does not apply, however, it reports on a real-world population of subjects with treatment-resistant bipolar depression. Establishing standardized definitions for residual symptoms could enhance the quality and comparability of future research in this area.