Impact of Safety-Related Dose Reductions or Discontinuations on Sustained Virologic Response in HCV-Infected Patients: Results from the GUARD-C Cohort.

Background: Despite the introduction of direct-acting antiviral agents for chronic hepatitis C virus (HCV) infection, peginterferon alfa/ribavirin remains relevant in many resource-constrained settings. The non-randomized GUARD-C cohort investigated baseline predictors of safety-related dose reductions or discontinuations (sr-RD) and their impact on sustained virologic response (SVR) in patients receiving peginterferon alfa/ribavirin in routine practice. Methods: A total of 3181 HCV-mono-infected treatment-naive patients were assigned to 24 or 48 weeks of peginterferon alfa/ribavirin by their physician. Patients were categorized by time-to-first sr-RD (Week 4/12). Detailed analyses of the i…

Modeling cost-effectiveness and health gains of a “universal” versus “prioritized” hepatitis C virus treatment policy in a real-life cohort

We evaluated the cost-effectiveness of two alternative direct-acting antiviral (DAA) treatment policies in a real-life cohort of hepatitis C virus–infected patients: policy 1, “universal,” treat all patients, regardless of fibrosis stage; policy 2, treat only “prioritized” patients, delay treatment of the remaining patients until reaching stage F3. A liver disease progression Markov model, which used a lifetime horizon and health care system perspective, was applied to the PITER cohort (representative of Italian hepatitis C virus–infected patients in care). Specifically, 8,125 patients naive to DAA treatment, without clinical, sociodemographic, or insurance restrictions, were us…

FIBROSIS DIAGNOSTIC SCORES VALIDATION IN OBESE PATIENTS WITH NON-ALCOHOLIC LIVER DISEASE

FIBROSIS DIAGNOSTIC SCORES VALIDATION IN OBESE PATIENTS WITH NON-ALCOHOLIC LIVER DISEASE

Use of 24 hours esophageal pHmetry for detection of gastroesophageal reflux in infants : what is the ideal score and the optimal threshold? A receiver operating characteristic analysis

BACKGROUND: The search for the ideal score and best cut-off value to interpret the data from 24-hour continuous pH-monitoring interests both gastroenterologists with adult patients and paediatric gastroenterologists. AIMS: To evaluate 24-hour continuous pH monitoring as a discriminatory test in the diagnosis of gastro-oesophageal reflux disease in a paediatric population, using various pH-metry scores and cut-off values. PATIENTS: One hundred and one patients presenting gastro-oesophageal reflux disease (endoscopic diagnosis of oesophagitis or coincidence between apnoea and reflux episodes observed during pH-metry), median age 10 months, were studied, together with a control group of 84 sub…

Patterns of infections in older patients acutely admitted to medical wards: data from the REPOSI register

In older adults infections are among the leading causes of emergency department visits, hospitalization, morbidity and mortality [1–3]. Infections also occur as adverse events during hospitalization, as highlighted by the large use of antibiotics in this setting, resulting in an increase of hospitalization length and mortality rate [4–6]. There is a paucity of studies, especially in European countries, that did offer a general pattern on all the types of infections occurring in acutely hospitalized older patients, being the literature mainly focused on single type of infections (i.e. pneumonia and urinary tract infections). To fill this gap of knowledge, we chose to observe and describe the…

Fever of Unknown Origin in Internal Medicine: A Reasonable Analysis of Causes and Mistakes

Gastric emptying in infants with gastroesophageal reflux Ultrasound evaluation before and after cisapride administration

The present study aimed to evaluate gastric emptying in children with gastroesophageal reflux (GER) by means of real-time ultrasonography, on the basis of measurements of the cross-sectional area of the gastric antrum. Twelve children with GER were studied (seven males, five females; age range, 3-13 months) and compared with 12 normal control children (six males, six females; age range, 3-13 months). The diagnosis of GER was confirmed by 24-h esophageal pH-monitoring. The GER patients had a significantly greater antral area than the controls at 90, 105, and 120 min aftereating a standard meal (cow's milk formula, 300 ml/m2 body surface area); in addition, final gastric emptying time was sig…

Retrospective, observational, multicentre study on an Italian population affected by chronic hepatitis C who failed to clear HCV-RNA after the combined therapy (PEG-IFN and ribavirin): NADIR study.

There is a lack of information on the characteristics of patients with chronic hepatitis C virus infection (HCV) who fail to respond to antiviral treatment. We studied HCV-positive subjects with chronic liver diseases treated with pegylated-interferon (PEG-IFN) and ribavirin (RBV) who failed to clear HCV in routine clinical practice. A total of 2150 consecutive adult patients treated with PEG-IFN plus RBV therapy in 46 Italian centres between 1 July 2004, and 30 June 2005, were studied. Of the 2150 patients, 923 (42.9%) (M/F 585/335, mean age 54.8 years) failed to achieve a serum HCV-RNA clearance. Of these 923 patients, 429 (46.5%) were nonresponders, 298 (32.3%) relapsers, 168 (18.2%) dro…

Antibiotic use and associated factors in a large sample of hospitalised older people

Objectives: The aims of this study were to assess (i) the prevalence of antibiotic use, (ii) factors associated with their use and (iii) the association with in-hospital mortality in a large sample of hospitalised older people in Italy.Methods: Data were obtained from the 2010-2017 REPOSI register held in more than 100 internal medicine and geriatric wards in Italy. Patients aged >= 65 years with at least one antibiotic prescription during their hospitalisation were selected. Multivariable logistic regression models were used to determine factors associated with antibiotic use.Results: A total of 5442 older patients were included in the analysis, of whom 2786 (51.2%) were prescribed anti…

Disability, and not diabetes, is a strong predictor of mortality in oldest old patients hospitalized with pneumonia

Abstract Background Pneumonia causes more deaths than any other infectious disease, especially in older patients with multiple chronic diseases. Recent studies identified a low functional status as prognostic factor for mortality in elderly patients with pneumonia while contrasting data are available about the role of diabetes. The aim of this study was to evaluate the in-hospital, 3-month and 1-year mortality in elderly subjects affected by pneumonia enrolled in the RePoSi register. Methods We retrospectively analyzed the data collected on hospitalized elderly patients in the frame of the REPOSI project. We analyzed the socio-demographic, laboratory and clinical characteristics of subjects…

Effects of direct-acting antiviral therapy (DAAS) on the ultrasound parameters of portal hypertension

Background:Among the endpoints of antiviral therapy with DAAs in HCV related liver cirrhosis (LC-HCV) in addition to the eradication of the virus there are the regression of fibrosis and of portal hypertension. For this reason we evaluated in LC-HCV patients and sustained virological response (SVR) to DAAs therapy the behavior of the AST to Platelet Ratio Index (APRI) (indirect marker of fibrosis) and of two ultrasound (US) signs of portal hypertension: caliber of the portal vein (cPV ) and longitudinal diameter of the spleen (LDS) Methods:132 patients with LC-HCV at baseline (BL), at three months (PostT3) and 12 months (PostT12) after the end of therapy, performed liver function tests and …