SABA prescriptions and asthma management practices in Singapore: results from a cross-sectional, observational SABINA III study.

OBJECTIVES: To evaluate asthma characteristics and treatment patterns, including short-acting ß2-agonist (SABA) prescriptions, in primary and specialist care in the Singapore cohort of the SABA use IN Asthma (SABINA III) study. DESIGN: Cross-sectional, observational study. SETTING: Multicentre study conducted at five sites across Singapore. METHODS: In patients with asthma (aged ≥12 years), data on demographics, disease characteristics and asthma treatment prescriptions were collected using electronic case report forms. Patients were classified by investigator-defined asthma severity (guided by 2017 Global Initiative for Asthma recommendations) and practice type (primary/specialist care). RESULTS: Of the 205 patients analysed (mean (SD) age, 53.6 (16.8) years; female, 62%), 55.9% were enrolled by specialists and 44.1% by primary care physicians. Most study patients (80.5%) had moderate-to-severe asthma (86.0% in specialist care and 74.4% in primary care). In the 12 months before study enrolment, 18.0% of patients experienced ≥1 severe exacerbation. Asthma was well or partly controlled in 78.0% of patients. Overall, 17.1% of all patients were overprescribed SABA (≥3 SABA canisters/year) in the preceding 12 months, and overprescription was greater in specialist versus primary care (26.3% vs 5.6%). Only 2.9% of patients were prescribed SABA monotherapy, while 41.0% received SABA in addition to maintenance therapy. Among the latter, 40.5% were overprescribed SABA. Overall, a higher percentage of patients prescribed ≥3 SABA canisters (vs 0-2 SABA canisters) were assessed as having uncontrolled asthma during the study visit (42.9% vs 17.6%). Maintenance therapy in the form of inhaled corticosteroids (ICS) or ICS/long-acting ß2 agonist fixed-dose combinations were prescribed to 14.1% and 84.9% of patients, respectively, in the 12 months before enrolment. CONCLUSIONS: In this Singapore cohort, ~17% of all patients and more than 40% of patients prescribed SABA in addition to maintenance therapy were overprescribed SABA. These findings emphasise the need to align clinical practices with the latest evidence-based treatment recommendations. TRIAL REGISTRATION: NCT03857178.

Design, Construction, and Early Results of a Formal Local Revision Knee Arthroplasty Registry.

National registries for primary and revision knee arthroplasty in Australia, New Zealand, and Europe have been successful in ensuring quality control and providing information to drive crucial research. However, they face challenges in delivering the granularity of data useful at a local hospital level. Our aim was to address these challenges by designing and initiating a local revision knee arthroplasty registry and combining the data with national figures to better evaluate the types of revisions undertaken, and improve patient outcomes and care. All revision knee arthroplasty cases in our center were analyzed from April 2014 to December 2015 using our standardized diagnostic algorithm. Information such as reason and type of revision was collected. Results were compared with Australian Orthopaedic Association National Joint Replacement Registry (AOANJRR) data. Primary outcome was comparison against our center's historical data between January 1999 and December 2013 and secondary outcome was comparison against national data prior to and after our intervention. Between April 2014 and December 2015, our center performed 35 revision knee arthroplasties. When compared with our center's historical data, we observed lower rates of revision knee arthroplasties due to "pain" (14.2 vs. 36.7%) with corresponding lower rates of patella button only revision (8.6 vs. 39.2%). Compared with national data before our intervention, we had lower revision rates from infection (14.2 vs. 22.3%) and loosening/lysis (11.4 vs. 29.2%). We undertook more minor revisions (45.7 vs. 30.5%) and similar total revisions (25.7 vs. 25.3%). Similar trends were seen in comparison to national data after our intervention. Our study shows that a local registry can be designed and successfully implemented for revision knee arthroplasty surgery. Data can be easily compared with historic and current hospital and national registry data trends to assess quality and robustness of revision arthroplasty programs. Our early results suggest our center has succeeded in reducing incidences of major revisions, complications, and the risk of re-revision surgery. This will improve the quality of our service with a significant cost reduction for our local health care budget.

Academy of Medicine-Ministry of Health clinical practice guidelines: attention deficit hyperactivity disorder.

The Academy of Medicine (AMS) and the Ministry of Health (MOH) have developed the clinical practice guidelines on Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD) to provide doctors and patients in Singapore with evidence-based treatment for ADHD. This article reproduces the introduction and executive summary (with recommendations from the guidelines) from the MOH clinical practice guidelines on ADHD, for the information of SMJ readers. Chapters and page numbers mentioned in the reproduced extract refer to the full text of the guidelines, which are available from the Ministry of Health website: http://www.moh.gov.sg/content/moh_web/healthprofessionalsportal/doctors/guidelines/cpg_medical.html.The recommendations should be used with reference to the full text of the guidelines. Following this article are multiple choice questions based on the full text of the guidelines.