Postpartum thromboprophylaxis with enoxaparin: a prospective cohort study on patients' adherence, injection experience, and information retention after counselling by pharmacists.

OBJECTIVES: This research aimed to determine postpartum females' self-reported adherence to and experience with short-term thromboprophylaxis using enoxaparin injection, after counselling by pharmacists. It also sought to assess their knowledge of thromboprophylaxis, injection techniques, and confidence in self-injecting. METHODS: This prospective cohort study was conducted at a public tertiary hospital in Malaysia from March to June 2023. Self-injection-naïve postpartum females who were initiated on thromboprophylaxis and counselled by a pharmacist were conveniently sampled. Knowledge regarding thromboprophylaxis, injection readiness, and technique were assessed one day after the counselling session. A telephonic interview was conducted at the end of the 10-day therapy to determine adherence and adverse effects experienced. KEY FINDINGS: A total of 259 subjects were successfully followed up, with 87.6% (n = 227) adherent to the therapy. Nonadherence was predominantly due to forgetfulness; four had their treatment withheld due to bleeding. One-third of subjects experienced localised pain and bruising. Subjects answered a median of 5/7 knowledge questions and recalled a median of 8/10 injection steps correctly, with those who read the information leaflet provided after counselling scoring significantly higher (P = .02). The majority declared moderate confidence in their ability to self-inject. Subjects who intended to self-inject (P < .01) and were more confident (P = .02) demonstrated better injection technique. CONCLUSIONS: Postpartum females counselled by pharmacists largely adhered to short-term enoxaparin for thromboprophylaxis. The impact of the counselling session may be enhanced by addressing their psychological readiness to self-inject, awareness of adverse effects identification, mitigation, and management, as well as setting reminders to prevent forgetfulness to inject.

Translation, cross-cultural adaptation, and psychometric validation of the Malay version of the Assessment of Quality of Life-6 Dimensions (Malay-AQoL-6D) instrument among Malaysians living with chronic heart failure.

BACKGROUND: This study aimed to translate and culturally adapt the Assessment of Quality of Life (AQoL)-6D into Malay (Malay-AQoL-6D), and assesses the instrument's acceptability, reliability, and validity among Malaysians living with chronic heart failure (HF). METHODS: The translation and cross-cultural adaptation process adhered to international guidelines. The Malay-AQoL-6D underwent content and face validity assessments via expert review, and pretesting among healthy individuals and patients with chronic conditions. Subsequent psychometric validation utilised clinico-sociodemographic data and paired AQoL-6D and EQ-5D-5L data from a health-related quality-of-life (HRQoL) survey involving Malay-speaking patients with HF, which encompassed assessments of Malay-AQoL-6D acceptability, internal consistency and test-retest reliability, as well as its construct, concurrent, convergent and divergent, and known-group validity. RESULTS: The Malay-AQoL-6D was deemed acceptable among clinicians and local patients, achieving a 90.8% completion rate among 314 patients surveyed. The instrument demonstrated strong content validity (item-level content validity index [CVI]: 0.83-1.00, average CVI: 0.98), internal consistency (Cronbach's alpha: 0.72-0.89; MacDonald's omega: 0.82-0.90, excluding the Senses dimension), and test-retest reliability (average intraclass correlation coefficients: 0.79-0.95). Confirmatory factor analysis confirmed the instrument's two-level, six-factor structure (Satorra-Bentler [SB]-scaled χ2(df: 164): 283.67, p-value < 0.001; root mean square error of approximation [RMSEA]: 0.051; comparative fix index [CFI]: 0.945, Tucker-Lewis index [TLI]: 0.937; standardised root mean-squared error [SRMR]: 0.058). The Malay-AQoL-6D's concurrent validity was evident through its good agreement with EQ-5D-5L. Multiple hypothesis tests further affirmed its construct and known-group validity. The Malay-AQoL-6D's psychometric properties remained consistent across different missing data techniques. CONCLUSION: The findings suggest that Malay-AQoL-6D could be a culturally acceptable, reliable, and valid HRQoL measure for quantifying HRQoL among the local HF population. Future studies are necessary to further validate the instrument against other measures and confirm the instrument's test-retest reliability and responsiveness, which are possible with the availability of the Malay-AQoL-6D.

Is Using Sodium-Glucose Cotransporter-2 Inhibitors to Treat Adults with Chronic Heart Failure Cost-Effective? A Systematic Review of Cost-Effectiveness Studies.

OBJECTIVE: This systematic review aimed to summarise the outcomes of economic evaluations that evaluated sodium-glucose cotransporter-2 inhibitors (SGLT2i) in combination with standard of care compared to standard of care alone for patients with chronic heart failure. METHODS: This systematic review searched MEDLINE, CINAHL+, Econlit, Scopus, the Cochrane Library, the National Health Service Economic Evaluation Database and the Cost-Effectiveness Analysis Registry from inception to 31 December, 2022, for relevant economic evaluations, which were critically appraised using the Consolidated Health Economic Evaluation Reporting Standards (CHEERS) and Bias in Economic Evaluation (ECOBIAS) criteria. The costs, quality-adjusted life-years, incremental cost-effectiveness ratios and cost-effectiveness thresholds were qualitatively analysed. Net monetary benefits at different decision thresholds were also computed. Subgroup analyses addressing the heterogeneity of economic outcomes were conducted. All costs were adjusted to 2023 international dollar (US$) values using the CCEMG-EPPI-Centre cost converter. RESULTS: Thirty-nine economic evaluations that evaluated dapagliflozin and empagliflozin in patients with heart failure were found: 32 for the left ventricular ejection fraction (LVEF) ≤ 40% and seven for LVEF > 40%. Sodium-glucose cotransporter-2 inhibitors were cost-effective in all but two economic evaluations for LVEF > 40%. Economic outcomes varied widely, but favoured SGLT2i use in LVEF ≤ 40% over LVEF > 40% and upper-middle income over high-income countries. At a threshold of US$30,000/quality-adjusted life-year, ~ 90% of high to upper-middle income countries would consider SGLT2i cost-effective for heart failure treatment. The generalisability of study findings to low- and low-middle income countries is limited because of insufficient evidence. CONCLUSIONS: Using SGLT2i to treat heart failure is cost-effective, with more certainty in LVEF ≤ 40% compared to LVEF > 40%. Policymakers in jurisdictions where economic evaluations are not available could potentially use this study's findings to make informed decisions about treatment adoption. SYSTEMATIC REVIEW PROTOCOL REGISTRATION: This study protocol was registered with the International Prospective Register of Systematic Reviews (PROSPERO; CRD42023388701).

Eye drop instillation technique among patients with glaucoma and evaluation of pharmacists' roles in improving their technique: an exploratory study.

OBJECTIVES: This study aimed to explore the eye drop instillation technique of patients with glaucoma and whether a pharmacist-led counselling session can improve their technique. Patients' perceptions of pharmacists' role in providing the counselling were also explored. METHODS: This cross-sectional study was conducted between December 2020 and March 2021 at Sarawak General Hospital, Malaysia. Convenience sampling was used to recruit patients with glaucoma who self-administered their eye drops. Participants' background information were obtained using an investigator-administered questionnaire before their eye drop instillation technique was assessed. Those with imperfect techniques were counselled by a pharmacist before being reassessed. Differences in eye drop instillation competency were determined using paired T-test. KEY FINDINGS: A total of 138 participants were recruited. Participants were on a median of two eye drops (IQR 2-4) for a median of five years (IQR 2-8). Prior to being counselled, they demonstrated a mean total of 8.4/13 steps (SD 2.33) correctly. A statistically significant improvement in eye drop instillation technique was observed post-pharmacists' counselling, with a mean increase of 4.3 steps demonstrated correctly (95% CI, 4.0 to 4.7, P < 0.001). The majority of participants agreed that pharmacists are knowledgeable in providing counselling on eye drop administration techniques. CONCLUSIONS: Patients with glaucoma treated at Sarawak General Hospital had imperfect eye drop instillation techniques, despite most having used their eye drops for several years. Interventions by pharmacists to improve eye drop instillation are crucial to optimise the medical treatment of patients with glaucoma.