Forgetting the Frail: National Trends in Vitamin D Prescription After Fragility Fracture-A Large Insurance Claims Database Study.

INTRODUCTION: Vitamin D plays a critical role in bone health, affecting bone mineral density and fracture healing. Insufficient serum vitamin D levels are associated with increased fracture rates. Despite guidelines advocating vitamin D supplementation, little is known about the prescription rates after fragility fractures. This study aims to characterize vitamin D prescription rates after three common fragility fractures in patients older than 50 years and explore potential factors influencing prescription rates. METHODS: The study used the PearlDiver Database, identifying patients older than 50 years with hip fractures, spinal compression fractures, or distal radius fractures between 2010 and 2020. Patient demographics, comorbidities, and vitamin D prescription rates were analyzed. Statistical methods included chi-square analysis and univariate and multivariable analyses. RESULTS: A total of 3,214,294 patients with fragility fractures were included. Vitamin D prescriptions increased from 2.50% to nearly 6% for all fracture types from 2010 to 2020. Regional variations existed, with the Midwest having the highest prescription rate (4.25%) and the West the lowest (3.31%). Patients with comorbidities such as diabetes, tobacco use, obesity, female sex, age older than 60 years, and osteoporosis were more likely to receive vitamin D prescriptions. DISCUSSION: Despite a notable increase in vitamin D prescriptions after fragility fractures, the absolute rates remain low. Patient comorbidities influenced prescription rates, perhaps indicating growing awareness of the link between vitamin D deficiency and these conditions. However, individuals older than 60 years, a high-risk group, were markedly less likely to receive prescriptions, possibly because of practice variations and concerns about polypharmacy. Educational initiatives and revised guidelines may have improved vitamin D prescription rates after fragility fractures. However, there is a need to raise awareness about the importance of vitamin D for bone health, particularly in older adults, and additional study variations in prescription practices. These findings emphasize the importance of enhancing post-fracture care to reduce morbidity and mortality associated with fragility fractures. LEVEL OF EVIDENCE: III.

Understanding the Relationship Between Perseveration, Comorbid Behavioral Symptoms, Motor Decline, Functional Decline, and Self-report Accuracy in Huntington Disease Can Help Inform Clinical Practice.

BACKGROUND: Perseveration is one of the most debilitating symptoms of Huntington disease (HD). OBJECTIVE: To study perseveration and its relationship to comorbid behavioral symptoms, motor decline, functional decline, and subject self-report accuracy by analyzing cross-sectional data tracking individuals who have or are at risk for HD and healthy controls (HC). METHOD: We studied 96 individuals from HD families and 35 HC who were either family controls or gene negative. We used χ 2 tests to compare patient demographic and survey outcomes data and to analyze the presence of obsessions and compulsions (OC), depression, and apathy relative to the presence of perseveration. RESULTS: Individuals with HD and perseveration had a higher presence of OC, depression, and apathy compared with individuals with HD of the same stages without perseveration (19%, 47.6%, and 47.6% vs 15%, 40%, and 25%, respectively). In addition, individuals in HD Stages 1-3 with higher motor scores (showing a later stage of disease) displayed a significantly higher rate of perseveration than the HC ( P = 0.0476; P = 0.0499, respectively). The presence of an informant resulted in a significantly higher rate of perseveration reporting for individuals in HD Stages 1 and 2 (41.2% and 53.8% with informant vs 23.5% and 11.1% without informant, respectively). CONCLUSION: Perseveration was seen across all motor and functional stages for the individuals with HD, without significant differences between the different stages. Additionally, informants were beneficial to obtaining accurate patient reports of perseveration. These findings should prove useful for physician evaluation and treatment considerations.

Reporter gene assays.

Reporter gene assays are versatile and sensitive methods of assaying numerous targets in high-throughput drug-screening programs. A variety of reporter genes allow users a choice of signal that can be tailored to the required sensitivity, the available detection apparatus, the cellular system employed, and the required compatibility with multiplexed assays. Promoters used to drive reporter gene expression can be activated either by a broad range of biochemical pathways or by the selective activation of individual targets. In this chapter, we will introduce some of the considerations behind the choice of reporter gene assays and describe the methods that we have used to establish 96-well format luciferase and aequorin assays for the screening of ligands for G protein-coupled receptors.