Response of Widespread Generalized Essential Telangiectasia Following Treatment With Oral Dabigatran.

This case report describes a 52-year-old woman who presented with asymptomatic telangiectasia on her lower limbs.

'Get Data Out' Skin: national cancer registry incidence and survival rates for all registered skin tumour groups for 2013-2019 in England.

BACKGROUND: Providing detailed skin cancer statistics, including incidence and survival, by tumour type and patient characteristics is important for up-to-date epidemiological information. OBJECTIVES: To create a new clinically relevant consensus-based classification for registered skin tumours using tumour type and patient characteristics and to describe its application to all registered tumours in England between 2013 and 2019. METHODS: Tumours with skin topographical codes (ICD-10) and morphology and behaviour (ICD-O3) were grouped together in an iterative process creating a hierarchical tree structure. The primary-level grouping partitioned skin tumours into skin cancer, melanoma in situ, extramammary Paget disease (EMPD) and tumours of uncertain malignant potential. Second-level groups split skin cancer into keratinocyte cancer (KC), melanoma and rare cancers. The third-level group split KC into basal cell carcinoma (BCC) and squamous cell carcinoma (cSCC). Further groups were split into genital or non-genital, first or subsequent tumour, age, gender, stage, or National Health Service (NHS) region. Incidence counts, Kaplan-Meier and net survival estimates and referral routes [two-week wait (TWW), general practitioner (GP), outpatient] categorisations were calculated for each grouping across all years. RESULTS: A total of 1 445 377 skin cancers and 49 123 precancerous lesions and undefined entities were registered in England between 2013 and 2019. Skin tumours and skin cancer incidence rates are increasing for most tumour types. The most common type of skin cancer was BCC with an incidence rate of 282.36 per 100 000 person-years (PYs) [n = 158 934, 95% confidence interval (CI) 280.98-283.76] in 2019, followed by cSCC with an incidence rate of 85.24 per 100 000 PYs (n = 47 977, 95% CI 84.48-86.00) and melanoma with 27.24 (n = 15 332, 95% CI 26.81-27.67) per 100 000 PYs. Each year approximately 1800 rare skin cancers, 1500 genital cSCCs and 100 cases of EMPD are registered. Of 15 000 melanoma cases, 120 cases of melanoma occur in individuals aged < 25 years annually. One-year and five-year overall net survival varies by tumour type. cSCC 5-year net survival (89.8%, 95% CI 88.8-90.9) was comparable to the net survival of all melanomas (89.6%, 95% CI 88.7-90.6). BCC had excellent survival (overall net survival > 100%). Patients with late-stage melanoma, Merkel cell carcinoma and genital cSCC have a 5-year net survival < 60%. Older patients received fewer TWW referrals than their younger counterparts with the same tumour type at the same location. Patients with acral lentiginous melanoma had fewer TWW referrals and more standard GP referrals than patients with common melanomas. CONCLUSIONS: 'Get Data Out' Skin provides detailed and up-to-date statistics on all registrable skin tumours in England, including for the first time precancerous lesions and rare subtypes of common cancers. These data can be used by clinicians, researchers and commissioners to better understand skin cancer and improve resource allocation.

Inflammatory bowel disease psychological support pilot reduces inflammatory bowel disease symptoms and improves psychological wellbeing.

This prospective service evaluation aimed to determine if integrated psychological support for patients with inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) enhanced outcomes. 75 patients were assessed and treated by a specialist liaison psychiatric service between 2015 and 2017; 43 received psychiatric intervention alone, 32 were referred for psychological intervention by clinical health psychologist; 26 completed this. Pre-post data (n=15 available) included global impression, quality of life, and psychiatric and IBD symptom scores. Referrer/patient satisfaction and cost-effectiveness were retrospectively calculated. Psychological intervention led to reductions in IBD symptoms (ΔSIBD; p=0.003), alongside improvements in depression scores (ΔPHQ-9, p=0.006) and global impression (ΔCGI; p=0.046). Patient/referrer satisfaction was very high. Indicative data comparing service utilisation 1 year before and after engagement found reductions in outpatient appointments and in imaging. This small study suggests consideration of increased access to integrated psychological support services to improve outcomes and gather further evidence of efficacy.

Atopic eczema and major cardiovascular outcomes: A systematic review and meta-analysis of population-based studies.

BACKGROUND: Atopic eczema is a common inflammatory skin disease. Various inflammatory conditions have been linked to cardiovascular disease, a major cause of global mortality and morbidity. OBJECTIVE: We sought to systematically review and meta-analyze population-based studies assessing associations between atopic eczema and specific cardiovascular outcomes. METHODS: MEDLINE, Embase, and Global Health were searched from inception to December 2017. We obtained pooled estimates using random-effects meta-analyses. We used a multivariate Bayesian meta-regression model to estimate the slope of effect of increasing atopic eczema severity on cardiovascular outcomes. RESULTS: Nineteen relevant studies were included. The effects of atopic eczema reported in cross-sectional studies were heterogeneous, with no evidence for pooled associations with angina, myocardial infarction, heart failure, or stroke. In cohort studies atopic eczema was associated with increased risk of myocardial infarction (n = 4; relative risk [RR], 1.12; 95% CI, 1.00-1.25), stroke (n = 4; RR, 1.10; 95% CI, 1.03-1.17), ischemic stroke n = 4; RR, 1.17; 95% CI, 1.14-1.20), angina (n = 2; RR, 1.18; 95% CI, 1.13-1.24), and heart failure (n = 2; RR, 1.26; 95% CI, 1.05-1.51). Prediction intervals were wide for myocardial infarction and stroke. The risk of cardiovascular outcomes appeared to increase with increasing severity (mean RR increase between severity categories, 1.15; 95% credibility interval, 1.09-1.21; uncertainty interval, 1.04-1.28). CONCLUSION: Significant associations with cardiovascular outcomes were more common in cohort studies but with considerable between-study heterogeneity. Increasing atopic eczema severity was associated with increased risk of cardiovascular outcomes. Improved awareness among stakeholders regarding this small but significant association is warranted.

Severe and predominantly active atopic eczema in adulthood and long term risk of cardiovascular disease: population based cohort study.

OBJECTIVE: To investigate whether adults with atopic eczema are at an increased risk of cardiovascular disease and whether the risk varies by atopic eczema severity and condition activity over time. DESIGN: Population based matched cohort study. SETTING: UK electronic health records from the Clinical Practice Research Datalink, Hospital Episode Statistics, and data from the Office for National Statistics, 1998-2015. PARTICIPANTS: Adults with a diagnosis of atopic eczema, matched (on age, sex, general practice, and calendar time) to up to five patients without atopic eczema. MAIN OUTCOME MEASURES: Cardiovascular outcomes (myocardial infarction, unstable angina, heart failure, atrial fibrillation, stroke, and cardiovascular death). RESULTS: 387 439 patients with atopic eczema were matched to 1 528 477 patients without atopic eczema. The median age was 43 at cohort entry and 66% were female. Median follow-up was 5.1 years. Evidence of a 10% to 20% increased hazard for the non-fatal primary outcomes for patients with atopic eczema was found by using Cox regression stratified by matched set. There was a strong dose-response relation with severity of atopic eczema. Patients with severe atopic eczema had a 20% increase in the risk of stroke (hazard ratio 1.22, 99% confidence interval 1.01 to 1.48), 40% to 50% increase in the risk of myocardial infarction, unstable angina, atrial fibrillation, and cardiovascular death, and 70% increase in the risk of heart failure (hazard ratio 1.69, 99% confidence interval 1.38 to 2.06). Patients with the most active atopic eczema (active >50% of follow-up) were also at a greater risk of cardiovascular outcomes. Additional adjustment for cardiovascular risk factors as potential mediators partially attenuated the point estimates, though associations persisted for severe atopic eczema. CONCLUSIONS: Severe and predominantly active atopic eczema are associated with an increased risk of cardiovascular outcomes. Targeting cardiovascular disease prevention strategies among these patients should be considered.

Association between eczema and major cardiovascular outcomes in population-based studies: a systematic review protocol.

INTRODUCTION: Chronic inflammatory diseases such as eczema (also known as atopic dermatitis) have been inconsistently linked to cardiovascular disease and stroke in both mechanistic and epidemiological studies. There is a need to review the existing epidemiological data examining the association between eczema and major cardiovascular outcomes, including angina, myocardial infarction, coronary revascularisation, heart failure, cardiac arrhythmias, stroke and cardiovascular death, in order to improve our understanding of the comorbidities of eczema. METHODS AND ANALYSIS: We will systematically review population-based studies, including cohort, case-control and cross-sectional studies, reporting on the association between eczema and cardiovascular outcomes. We will search Medline, Embase and Global Health, from their date of inception to April 2017, using a comprehensive search strategy formulated with the help of a librarian. Two reviewers will independently screen titles and abstracts in duplicate, followed by independent data extraction and quality assessment. We will group studies by the cardiovascular outcome under study and synthesise them narratively. If sufficient numbers of homogeneous studies are returned, we will perform meta-analyses to obtain pooled effect estimates. Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis will be used to inform the reporting of this study. TRIAL REGISTRATION NUMBER: CRD42017060359.