More than Nail Deep: The Effect of Efinaconazole 10% Treatment on the Quality of Life in Patients with Onychomycosis: A post hoc Study.

INTRODUCTION: Onychomycosis is a common, difficult-to-treat fungal nail infection. Clinical signs include nail discoloration and thickening, which patients often find embarrassing, causing a negative impact on their quality of life (QOL). METHODS: In this post hoc study, we analyze the effect of efinaconazole 10% solution on a patient's QOL using patient-reported scores from the OnyCOE-t™ questionnaire (appearance, stigma, physical problems, symptom frequency, symptom bothersomeness, treatment satisfaction, and overall problem). Higher scores corresponded to better functioning, thus higher QOL. RESULTS: Efinaconazole 10% treatment and clinical efficacy were positively correlated with improved QOL in all domains for all groups, except with symptom bothersomeness (how much the onychomycosis symptoms worried or concerned the patient) for female patients <40 years. While still showing improvement in most domains during efficacious treatment, female and younger patients reported lower QOL scores than their male and older counterparts, despite having better clinical outcomes at follow-ups. DISCUSSION: Female and younger patients appear to be more emotionally bothered by their symptoms, regardless of treatment success or improvement of their nail's appearance, suggesting that onychomycosis is more than nail deep and has a greater psychological effect on these patients. Therefore, younger female patients may require more assurance and mental support.

Finasteride Use Is Associated with Higher Odds of Obstructive Sleep Apnea: Results from the US Food and Drug Administration Adverse Events Reporting System.

Finasteride is a 5-α reductase inhibitor indicated for the treatment of androgenetic alopecia and benign prostatic hyperplasia (BPH). Finasteride has been associated with various adverse events, such as erectile dysfunction, fatigue, cognitive impairment, sleep disturbances, including insomnia, depression, and suicidal behavior. These symptoms are sometimes considered features of the "post-finasteride syndrome" (PFS) and are also encountered in obstructive sleep apnea (OSA). The overlapping clinical features of PFS and OSA suggest that OSA could possibly play a mediating role in some of the PFS-related symptoms. There are no reported studies of the association of finasteride use and OSA. The objective of this study was to determine whether finasteride use is associated with a potential safety signal of OSA compared to a baseline potential safety signal for all other drugs in the US Food and Drugs Administration Adverse Event Reporting System (FAERS) database. A case by non-case disproportionality approach was used, whereby a reporting odds ratio (ROR) with 95% confidence interval (CI) was calculated. Cases of finasteride-associated OSA were compared to a reference potential safety signal of OSA with all other drugs in the database. A similar calculation was carried out for finasteride-associated insomnia to confirm previous reports of a greater than expected reporting of insomnia with finasteride use. A significant disproportionality (ROR = 5.65 [95% CI 4.83-6.62, z = 21.56, P < 0.0001]) in reporting of OSA with the use of finasteride was observed. The potential safety signal for OSA with finasteride remained significantly higher when finasteride use for hair loss and BPH was examined separately. Finasteride use was associated with a greater than expected reporting of insomnia (ROR = 1.93 [95% CI 1.77-2.09, z = 15.958, P < 0.0001]). A limitation of this study is that selection bias is inherent in FAERS and adverse events could be underreported. Finasteride use may be associated with a potential safety signal for OSA. Patients complaining of PFS-related symptoms may benefit from a further sleep evaluation to rule out underlying OSA.

Self-induced dermatoses: A great imitator.

The self-induced dermatoses represent about 2% of dermatology patient visits, and include the recurrent body-focused repetitive behaviors (BFRB) (skin-picking or excoriation disorder, trichotillomania, onychophagia and onychotillomania), dermatitis artefacta, and features of other psychiatric disorders, for example, secondary to excessive grooming in body dysmorphic disorder, skin picking in delusional infestation, or secondary to self-harm in depressive disease. Among the BFRBs, onychophagia and onychotillomania are most likely to be associated with lesions that mimic other dermatologic conditions (eg, nail psoriasis, lichen planus, vasculitis, onychomycosis, melanoma). Dermatitis artefacta (DA) describes lesions that are self-inflicted with the intention of assuming a sick role in the absence of obvious external rewards. DA lesions can be bizarre-appearing or may be created intentionally to mimic dermatologic disease (eg, Munchausen syndrome). The manipulation of the integument can have a focused obsessive-compulsive behavioral style which is more responsive to the standard behavior therapies, or an impulsive-dissociative style where patients have partial or no recollection of having self-induced their lesion; dissociative patients tend to have more severe BFRBs and DA, and greater psychopathology. Self-induced dermatoses may both imitate and co-occur with primary dermatologic disease, and may not be readily identified unless the clinician maintains an index of suspicion.

Rapid Eye Movement Sleep Percentage and Duration in Posttraumatic Stress Disorder Vary Dynamically and Inversely With Indices of Sympathetic Activation During Sleep and Sleep Fragmentation.

ABSTRACT: Posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) is associated with activation of the brain fear circuitry. Studies of sleep in PTSD provide a unique window into the relation or connection of sleep physiology and autonomic activation. Serial level 3 home sleep apnea tests (HSATs) (10 HSATs over 1 month) in a patient who was medication free, had PTSD, and had refused positive airway pressure therapy, revealed both percentage of rapid eye movement (REM) sleep (mean ± standard deviation [SD]: 19.88% ± 10.11%; range 1.94% to 35.01%) and REM sleep duration (minutes) (mean ± SD: 73.08 ± 48.24; range 3.49- 151.59) varied markedly over the 10 HSATs. Both percentage of REM sleep and REM sleep duration correlated negatively with sleep onset latency (r = -.661, P = .037 and r = -.748, P = .013, respectively) and the mean pulse rate during sleep (r = -.667, P = .035 and r = -.771, P = .009, respectively), and positively with sleep efficiency (r = .824, P = .003 and r = .922, P < .001, respectively) and percentage of stage N3 sleep (r = .784, P = .007 and r = .734, P = .016, respectively), an index of parasympathetic tone during sleep. These empirical findings suggest a previously unreported inverse relation of REM sleep with sleep fragmentation and sympathetic activation.

The color of skin: psychiatric ramifications.

Skin color is one of the major attributes that defines both individual distinctiveness and differences between groups. There is a preference for lighter skin world-wide, among both light- and dark-skinned individuals, further leading to skin-color bias based upon skin-color hierarchy within certain ethnoracial groups. The psychiatric and psychosocial ramifications of skin color are important in several situations, including (1) disorders of skin discoloration (eg, vitiligo), which can significantly affect the psychosocial development of the patient especially when it has its first onset during adolescence; (2) widespread use of skin-lightening products, which are used despite knowledge about serious toxicity from inorganic mercury and potent corticosteroids that are some of their main constituents; (3) indoor tanning, which is a recognized carcinogen and practiced by over 50% of university-age adults and 20% of adolescents. Educating about photocarcinogenicity does not change tanning behaviors, which is strongly driven by peer pressure; and (4) when a psychiatric disorder, such as body dysmorphic disorder or major depressive disorder, is the primary basis for skin color dissatisfaction. Despite the role of complex sociocultural and psychiatric factors in clinical manifestations involving skin color, a supportive relation with the dermatologist can significantly aid the patient in managing their disease burden.

Use of antipsychotic drugs in dermatology.

Antipsychotic drugs can be beneficial in dermatology because of their both central nervous system and peripheral effects. All antipsychotic drugs have a central postsynaptic dopamine D2 receptor blocking effect, which underlies their antipsychotic action. The antipsychotic drugs have varying degrees of histamine H1-receptor, cholinergic muscarinic receptor, and α1-adrenergic receptor blocking effects, which can affect cutaneous perception and the autonomic reactivity of the skin and can be potentially beneficial in the management of certain histamine or sympathetically mediated dermatologic manifestations (eg, urticaria, pruritus, hyperhidrosis). In addition to their antipsychotic effect, antipsychotic drugs also have a general anxiolytic effect related in part to their α1-adrenergic receptor blocking action, which can be of benefit in many dermatologic conditions, including pruritus. The antipsychotic drugs are most commonly used in dermatology for the management of a delusional disorder, somatic type, manifesting as delusional infestation, and as monotherapy or as augmentation therapy of selective serotonin reuptake inhibitor (SSRI) antidepressants, and for management of trichotillomania and skin-picking or excoriation disorder. There is earlier literature (1) on the possible beneficial effect of the phenothiazine antipsychotics in a wide range of pruritic dermatoses, and (2) the efficacy of pimozide as adjunctive therapy for metastatic melanoma, which both warrant further investigation.

Use of antiepileptic mood stabilizers in dermatology.

Several antiepileptic drugs (AEDs) are approved by the US Food and Drug Administration for the treatment of bipolar disorder (valproic acid, divalproex, lamotrigine, carbamazepine) and some cutaneous neuropathic pain syndromes (carbamazepine, gabapentin, pregabalin). The AEDs may be effective in the management of (1) chronic pruritus, including pruritus due systemic disease, including uremia, neuropathic pain, neuropathic pruritus, and complex cutaneous sensory syndromes, especially where central nervous system (CNS) sensitization plays a role; (2) management of emotional dysregulation and the resultant repetitive self-excoriation or other cutaneous self-injury in patients who repetitively stimulate or manipulate their integument to regulate emotions (prurigo nodularis, lichen simplex chronicus, skin picking disorder, trichotillomania); (3) management of dermatologic clinical manifestations associated with autonomic nervous system activation (hyperhidrosis, urticaria, flushing; these often occur in conjunction with psychiatric disorders with prominent autonomic activation and dysregulation, eg, social anxiety disorder, posttraumatic stress disorder); and (4) when certain anticonvulsants have a direct therapeutic effect (eg, in psoriasis); currently the use of AEDs for such cases is largely experimental. Gabapentin (dosage range 300-3600 mg daily) is the most widely studied AED mood stabilizer in dermatology and is especially effective in situations where CNS sensitization is a mediating factor. Further larger-scale controlled studies of AEDs in dermatology are necessary.

Obstructive Sleep Apnea Severity is Directly Related to Suicidal Ideation in Posttraumatic Stress Disorder.

STUDY OBJECTIVES: Posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) is associated with suicidal ideation (SI) and obstructive sleep apnea (OSA). There are no studies of OSA diagnosed by sleep study and SI in patients with PTSD. METHODS: Forty consenting civilians with PTSD (38 female, mean ± standard deviation age: 44.60 ± 12.73) underwent a Level 3 home sleep apnea test (WatchPAT200; Itamar Medical, Israel). OSA severity was measured with the respiratory disturbance index (RDI) (number of apneas, hypopneas and respiratory effort related arousals per hour). SI was measured with Items 9, 35, 39, and 50 of the Brief Symptom Inventory (BSI). Other patient-rated measures included the Beck Depression Inventory, second edition (BDI-II), PTSD Checklist for DSM-5 (PCL-5), and the Pittsburgh Sleep Quality Index PTSD Addendum modified to include only Items 1c, 1e, 1f, and 1g that address nightmares. RESULTS: The RDI (r = .757, P < .001) and oxygen desaturation index (r = .633, P < .001) were directly correlated to SI. Multiple regression analysis using SI as the dependent variable and patient-rated measures as independent variables revealed only RDI (ß = .480, t = 4.167, P < .001) and BDI-II (ß = .469, t = 3.375, P = .002) as predictors of SI, with adjusted R2 = 0.718. In patients with RDI < 30 events/h (n = 37) correlation of SI with RDI (r = .511, P = .001) but not ODI (r = .312, P = .060) remained significant. Multiple regression analysis (when RDI < 30 events/h) revealed only BDI-II (ß = .603, t = 3.492, P = .002), and not RDI (ß = .247, t = 1.723, P = .096) as a significant predictor of SI. CONCLUSIONS: OSA severity in PTSD was directly related to SI. Depression was a significant mediator in the relationship between RDI and SI, with OSA-related intermittent hypoxemia possibly contributing to this relationship only in severe OSA.