Prevalence of somatic symptoms among Ebola Virus Disease (EVD) survivors in Africa: a systematic review and meta-analysis.

BACKGROUND: Many Ebola virus disease (EVD) survivors have reported somatic and neuropsychological symptoms after discharge from the Ebola Treatment Unit (ETU). Since the 2014-2016 Ebola epidemic in West Africa, various studies have investigated and identified these symptoms. Evidence on somatic symptoms is widely available in the literature, however, there is no concise overview of the prevalence across different time intervals. METHODS: This meta-analysis was conducted following the (PRISMA) guidelines. A database search was conducted to identify original studies that reported the prevalence of symptoms. The primary outcome measure was the prevalence rate of several somatic symptoms. Results were pooled, and prevalence rates were assessed over time, to elucidate any particular trends. RESULTS: We included 23 studies (5,714 participants). The pooled prevalence was: arthralgia 50% (95% CI: 41%-59%); headache 44% (95% CI: 36%-52%); myalgia 32% (95% CI: 26%-38%); abdominal pain 27% (95% CI: 15%-39%); fatigue 25% (95% CI: 19%-31%); numbness of feet 16% (95% CI: 14%-18%); numbness of hands 12% (95% CI: 10%-14%) and hearing loss 9% (95% CI: 5%-12%). Prevalence across different time intervals revealed significant patterns. All the symptoms persisted for more than 2 years after discharge except for abdominal pain. CONCLUSION: The pooled prevalence rates of somatic symptoms are notably high. Arthralgia and headache are the most prevalent of the symptoms, with hearing loss and numbness in hands and feet being the least. We found that arthralgia, myalgia, and abdominal pain decreased over time. However, headache, fatigue, numbness of hands and feet, and hearing loss increased over time.

A comprehensive review on immune checkpoint inhibitors induced cardiotoxicity characteristics and associated factors.

Newly approved cancer drugs called ICIs have shown remarkable success in improving patient survival rates, but they also have the potential for inflammatory and immune-related side effects, including those affecting the cardiovascular system. Research has been conducted to understand the development of these toxicities and identify risk factors. This review focuses on the characteristics of ICI-induced cardiotoxicity and discusses the reported risk factors. It is important for cardio-oncologists to understand the basic concepts of these drugs to better understand how cardiotoxicities occur. It might be hard to find reports, where all patients treated with ICIs had developed cardiac toxicity, because there could be other existing and variable factors that influence the likelihood or risk of developing cardiotoxicity during treatment. Various clinical parameters have been explored as potential risk factors, and further investigation is needed through large-scale studies.

Treatment of multiple myeloma based on autologous stem cell transplant: An overview of systematic reviews.

BACKGROUND: Multiple myeloma (MM) is a malignant plasma cell disease. In recent years, several systematic reviews, and meta-analyses have been published on treatment protocols, including autologous stem cell transplantation for MM. METHODS: Web of Science, PubMed, Embase, and Cochrane Library were searched to systematically summarize the quality of the methodology and evidence of meta-analyses regarding treatment of MM including autologous stem cell transplantation. RESULTS: Total 11 meta-analyses were included. The preferred reporting items for systematic reviews and meta-analyses evaluation revealed that the quality of included reviews was affected by possible unevaluated bias between studies and the lack of protocol and registration. The AMSTAR2 scale indicated that the quality of the methodology of included reviews ranged from very low to moderate. The grading, assessment, development, and evaluation of recommendations evaluation showed that among the included outcome indicators, most of them are of low quality. CONCLUSION: This overview suggested that the combination of drugs has improved patient survival rates, efficacy and safety compared with the standard regimen. However, the strength of the evidence is uneven and due to methodological errors, the results should be interpreted with caution in order to provide a reference for further improvement of the study design. The methodological quality of the relevant meta-analysis needs to be further improved.