Sex differences in excessive oral corticosteroid exposure in poor adherent adult asthmatics overusing short-acting ß-2 agonists.

BACKGROUND: We know that excessive short-acting ß2-agonists (SABA) use in asthma may be associated to high exacerbation risks. We studied whether such excessive SABA consumption is connected with different higher oral corticosteroid (OC) prescriptions in the two sexes. METHODS: In our prescribing database, we searched subjects aged 18-40 years that were prescribed at least one SABA package/year and/or at least two ICS or two ICS/LABA boxes/year to identify asthmatics. Their OC prescriptions/year were also examined. Subjects were divided into 4 groups according to SABA packages/year prescribed (0, 1-2,3-6 and ≥7), considering sexes separately. RESULTS: Individuals recruited were 9,102. Subjects with at least one OC prescription were higher in each group and were females (P<0.001). The OC packages/year number was also more elevated in women especially those with >7 SABA prescriptions/year (0.96 in males vs. 2.64 in females, P<0.001). 94.7%/93.6% males/females, who never used SABA, took at least one ICS/LABA (mean 5.84/5.48 packages/year), while the subject percentage adhering to ICS/LABA dropped to 28-47% (mean 0.94-3.82 packages/year) in those who used SABA (P<0.001). Higher SABA prescriptions were associated with an increasing OC dispensation (ß=0.057, P<0.0001). We observed also a greater risk of using >3 OC packages/year in subjects with 3-6 (OR: 2.98 [95% CI: 2.19-4.06], P<0.001) and ≥7 (OR: 3.49 [95% CI: 2.39-5.10], P<0.001) SABA prescriptions compared to those that never used SABA. Besides, we found that using ICS (OR:0.51 [95% CI: 0.35-0.75], P<0.001) or ICS/LABA (OR:0.07 [95% CI: 0.05-0.09], P<0.001) may significantly reduce SABA prescriptions. CONCLUSIONS: Poor adherence to maintenance treatment appears to associated with excessive SABA prescriptions that may lead to a higher OC consumption particularly noticeable in women.

Should a prescription database be used to search uncontrolled severe asthmatics?

INTRODUCTION: Many uncontrolled severe asthmatics are not on biologic therapy. We hypothesized that using a prescription database could help us identify them. MATERIAL AND METHODS: 3,309 patients who received at least one Montelukast prescription in 2019 were extracted from our prescription database. Number of packages/year, types and dosages of ICS, LABA, ICS/LABA, LAMA and monoclonal antibodies were considered for each patient. In our analysis, for subjects that took > 7 packages of ICS/LABA + LTRA +/- LAMA (high adherent) the number of oral corticosteroids (OC) packets prescribed for each of them was also looked upon. RESULTS: Patients that took ICS/LABA or ICS/LABA + LAMA continuously with high ICS doses were 188 (25.6%) and 117 (39.3%) respectively (total: 305 - 29.5%). Among them, 58 (30.9%) and 53 (45.3%) (total: 111 - 36.4%) were prescribed more than 2 OC packages. Whereas, 21 (11.2%) and 24 (20.5%) patients (total: 45 - 14.75%) received at least 4 OC package prescriptions. CONCLUSION: Approximately 36% of patients in continuous step-4/5 of GINA guidelines treatment may have severe uncontrolled asthma (overusing OC) which needed biologic treatment. In our opinion, a prescription archiving database may be a tool that can help us identify such uncontrolled asthma patients.

Which LABA/LAMA should be chosen in COPD patients in real life?

BACKGROUND: Given COPD heterogeneity, we do not know if some LABA/LAMAs are more suitable for some COPD phenotypes. This real-life database study aimed to evaluate retrospectively the 4 LABA/LAMA effectiveness and highlight possible specificities that could better guide us in choosing the right LABA/LAMA to be used. METHODS: We searched for subjects (1,779) adherent to umeclidinium/vilanterol (UM/VI), indacaterol/glycopyrronium (IND/GLY), aclidinium/formoterol (ACLI/FOR) and tiotropium/olodaterol (TIO/OLO) treatments in our prescribing/dispensing database. Prescriptions for systemic corticosteroids (SC), antibiotics and salbutamol during one year of LABA/LAMA treatment were analyzed. RESULTS: A better adherence was found in individuals taking IND/GLY (10.42 ± 1.86 packages/year) compared with UM/VI (10.09 ± 1.9; p = 0.008), ACLI/FOR (9.8 ± 1.8; p = 0.001) and TIO/OLO (10.1 ± 2.1; p = 0.047). The number of patients that were prescribed at least one package of SC/year and their package numbers/year were similar in males/females, across age groups and in "non-frequent exacerbators" with the 4 LABA/LAMAs. More SC were taken by frequent exacerbators, whereas fewer SC/antibiotic packages were prescribed to subjects aged >80 years with all treatments. In patients treated with ACLI/FOR or TIO/OLO, lower risks to having antibiotic prescriptions were observed when UM/VI (0.698[0.516-0.945] and 0.696[0.491-0.985; p = 0.020 and p = 0.041) and IND/GLY (0.597[0.445-0.802] and 0.595[0.423-0.836]; p = 0.001 and p = 0.003) were considered as landmarks. Lower risks for salbutamol prescriptions were detected with UM/VI (0.678[0.480-0.958]; p = 0.027) and TIO/OLO (0.585[0.365-0.937]; p = 0.026) when ACLI/FOR was used as a reference. CONCLUSION: According to our retrospective database study, each LABA/LAMA could have a specific efficacy profile in COPD that might be considered for personalized therapy. However, head-to-head targeted trials aimed to assess the impact of different LABA/LAMAs on COPD are needed to confirm/disprove such results.

Serum reference values for leptin in healthy infants.

OBJECTIVE: Reports on leptin concentrations in pediatric populations lack reference values for infants in the first months of life. Our study was conducted on healthy full-term infants between 2002 and 2012 to determine serum leptin reference values in subjects less than 18 months old. METHODS: Routine outpatient blood tests for serum leptin were performed on 317 infants using a radioimmunoassay method. The median and 10th-90th percentiles were calculated to obtain reference values using quantile regression. Values established in this study were compared with another independent cohort of 110 infants. RESULTS: The median (IQR) serum leptin concentration in the infants was 2.37 (3.26) ng/ml (n = 317). The median leptin concentration was 2.81 (3.49) ng/ml (n = 202) in infants younger than 6 months of age, 1.44 (2.27) ng/ml (n = 59) in infants between 6-12 months of age and 1.77 (2.05) ng/ml (n = 56) in infants between 12-18 months of age. We obtained leptin reference values based on age by estimating the lower and upper percentiles. In the entire cohort, the median (IQR) leptin concentration was 2.22 (3.11) ng/ml in males (n = 168) and 2.60 (3.32) ng/ml in females (n = 149). According to the type of feeding median serum leptin concentration was higher in breast-fed infants (n = 188) than in formula-fed infants (n = 129) (2.63 (3.34) ng/ml vs. 2.12 (2.77) ng/ml; p<0.05). CONCLUSIONS: Our data revealed no gender difference in leptin concentration in early infancy. After 6 months of life, leptin concentrations decreased slightly. We used a large cohort to confirm that breast-fed infants had significantly higher serum leptin levels than formula-fed infants during the first 6 months of life, although this difference disappeared later in life. In this study, we defined the leptin reference range in healthy infants in the first 18 months of life according to the Clinical and Laboratory Standards Institute (CLSI).

Assay of ghrelin concentration in infant formulas and breast milk.

AIM: To test if total ghrelin is present in infant formulas. METHODS: Using a radioimmunoassay, we measured total ghrelin concentrations in 19 samples of commercial infant formulas and in 20 samples of human milk. We also determined ghrelin concentration in the serum of infants and lactating mothers. RESULTS: Ghrelin concentrations were significantly higher in artificial milk (2007.1 ± 1725.36 pg/mL) than in human milk (828.17 ± 323.32 pg/mL) (P = 0.005). The mean ghrelin concentration in infant serum (n = 56) was 1115.86 ± 42.89 pg/mL, and was significantly higher (P = 0.023) in formula-fed infants (1247.93 ± 328.07 pg/mL) than in breast-fed infants (1045.7 ± 263.38 pg/mL). The mean serum ghrelin concentration (mean ± SD) in lactating mothers (n = 20) was 1319.18 ± 140.18 pg/mL. CONCLUSION: This study provides evidence that total ghrelin is present in infant formulas. This finding raises diverse questions regarding the uptake, absorption and metabolic effects of this hormone.