Systematic review of the patient burden of generalised myasthenia gravis in Europe, the Middle East, and Africa.

BACKGROUND: Myasthenia gravis (MG) is a rare autoimmune disease characterised by muscle weakness, and progression from ocular (oMG) to generalised (gMG) symptoms results in a substantial negative impact on quality of life (QoL). This systematic review aimed to provide an overview of the patient burden experienced by people living with gMG. METHODS: Electronic database searches (conducted March 2022), supplemented by interrogation of grey literature, were conducted to identify studies reporting patient burden outcomes in patients with gMG in Europe, the Middle East and Africa. Results were synthesised narratively due to the heterogeneity across trials. RESULTS: In total, 39 patient burden publications (representing 38 unique studies) were identified as relevant for inclusion in the systematic review, consisting of 37 publications reporting formal patient-reported outcome measures (PROMs), and two publications describing alternative qualitative assessments of patient experience. The studies included a variety of measures including generic and disease-specific PROMs, as well as symptom-specific PROMs focusing on key comorbidities including depression, anxiety, fatigue and sleep disturbance. The findings showed some variation across studies and PROMs; however, in general there was evidence for worse QoL in patients with gMG than in healthy controls or in patients with oMG, and a trend for worsening QoL with increasing MG severity. CONCLUSIONS: This review highlights the importance of considering patient QoL when developing and assessing treatment and management plans for patients with gMG. However, the heterogeneity identified across studies illustrates the need for further representative and well-powered studies in large cohorts administering consistent, validated questionnaires. TRIAL REGISTRATION: The protocol for this systematic review was registered in PROSPERO: CRD42022328444.

Comparative effectiveness of second generation long-acting injectable antipsychotics based on nationwide database research in Hungary.

BACKGROUND: Schizophrenia is a severe condition that affects approximately 1% of the population. Certain elements of antipsychotic treatment can only be examined in large population, thus the need for population-based real-world analyses has been increasing. PATIENTS AND METHODS: Hungarian National Health Fund database includes all healthcare data of the population of Hungary. All patients diagnosed with schizophrenia between 01.01.2006 and 31.12.2015 were included in the study. We analyzed all patients with newly initiated second-generation antipsychotic during the inclusion period (01.01.2012-31.12.2013). Patients were followed for 2 years. All-cause treatment discontinuation served as the primary outcome of the study. Patients with newly initiated long-acting injectable treatments were further investigated in stratified analyses based on their previous treatment. RESULTS: 106,624 patients had schizophrenia diagnosis during the study period. 12,232 patients met the inclusion criteria for newly initiating second-generation antipsychotic during the inclusion period. The proportion of patients still on treatment after 1 year for oral treatments varied between 17% (oral risperidone) and 31% (oral olanzapine) while the analogous data for long acting injectables were between 32% (risperidone long acting) and 64% (paliperidone long acting one monthly). The 2-year data were similarly in favor of long-actings. Median time to discontinuation in the oral group varied between 57 days (clozapine) and 121 days (olanzapine). The median time to discontinuation for long-actings was significantly longer: between 176 and 287 days; in case of paliperidone long acting, median was not reached during the observation period. Patients receiving long-acting treatment switched from another long-acting remained on the newly initiated treatment significantly longer than those switched from orals. CONCLUSION: Our results indicate the superiority of second generation long-acting antipsychotics with regard to rates of treatment discontinuation and periods of persistence to the assigned medication.

Mortality and the relationship of somatic comorbidities to mortality in schizophrenia. A nationwide matched-cohort study.

AIM: We conducted a matched-cohort study to assess mortality in schizophrenia and the relationship of mortality with comorbid somatic conditions and suicide attempts. METHOD: A full-population register-based prospective matched-cohort study was performed including all eligible patients with schizophrenia in Hungary between 01/01/2005 and 31/12/2013. Control subjects were individually matched to patients with schizophrenia at a 5:1 ratio. The principal outcome measure was death due to any reason. A non-parametric approach was used for descriptive statistical purposes, the Kaplan-Meier model for survival analysis, and the Cox proportional-hazards regression model for inferential statistics. RESULTS: Patients with schizophrenia (n=65,169) had substantially higher risk of all-cause mortality than the control subjects (n=325,435) (RR=2.4; P<0.0001). Comorbidities and suicide attempts were associated with significantly increased mortality in both groups. As compared to the controls, 20-year old males with schizophrenia had a shorter life expectancy by 11.5years, and females by 13.7years; the analogous numbers for 45-year old schizophrenics were 8.1 and 9.6years, respectively. CONCLUSIONS: A significant mortality gap - mainly associated with somatic comorbidities - was detected between patients with schizophrenia and individually matched controls. Improved medical training to address the disparity in mortality, and many other factors including lack of resources, access to and model of medical care, lifestyle, medication side effects, smoking, stigma, need for early intervention and adequate health care organization could help to better address the physical health needs of patients with schizophrenia.