Effectiveness and safety of anti-CGRP monoclonal antibodies in patients over 65 years: a real-life multicentre analysis of 162 patients.

BACKGROUND: Anti-CGRP monoclonal antibodies have shown notable effectiveness and tolerability in migraine patients; however, data on their use in elderly patients is still lacking, as clinical trials have implicit age restrictions and real-world evidence is scarce. In this study, we aimed to describe the safety and effectiveness of erenumab, galcanezumab and fremanezumab in migraine patients over 65 years old in real-life. METHODS: In this observational real-life study, a retrospective analysis of prospectively collected data from 18 different headache units in Spain was performed. Migraine patients who started treatment with any anti-CGRP monoclonal antibody after the age of 65 years were included. Primary endpoints were reduction in monthly migraine days after 6 months of treatment and the presence of adverse effects. Secondary endpoints were reductions in headache and medication intake frequencies by months 3 and 6, response rates, changes in patient-reported outcomes and reasons for discontinuation. As a subanalysis, reduction in monthly migraine days and proportion of adverse effects were also compared among the three monoclonal antibodies. RESULTS: A total of 162 patients were included, median age 68 years (range 65-87), 74.1% women. 42% had dyslipidaemia, 40.3% hypertension, 8% diabetes, and 6.2% previous cardiovascular ischaemic disease. The reduction in monthly migraine days at month 6 was 10.1 ± 7.3 days. A total of 25.3% of patients presented adverse effects, all of them mild, with only two cases of blood pressure increase. Headache and medication intake frequencies were significantly reduced, and patient-reported outcomes were improved. The proportions of responders were 68%, 57%, 33% and 9% for reductions in monthly migraine days ≥ 30%, ≥ 50%, ≥ 75% and 100%, respectively. A total of 72.8% of patients continued with the treatment after 6 months. The reduction in migraine days was similar for the different anti-CGRP treatments, but fewer adverse effects were detected with fremanezumab (7.7%). CONCLUSIONS: Anti-CGRP mAbs are safe and effective treatments in migraine patients over 65 years old in real-life clinical practice.

Incidence and case fatality rate of COVID-19 in patients with active epilepsy.

OBJECTIVE: This article estimates the incidence and fatality of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) and identifies potential risk factors for fatality in patients with active epilepsy. METHODS: This is a cross-sectional observational study of patients with active epilepsy and COVID-19. A control group was used to compare the cumulative incidence and case-fatality rate (CFR). The main outcomes of the study were cumulative incidence, defined as number of patients with active epilepsy and COVID-19 admitted to an emergency department divided by the total number of patients with epilepsy at risk, and CFR based on the number of deaths during the enrollment period. Multiple logistic regression analysis was performed to investigate risk factors for fatality in patients with active epilepsy. RESULTS: Of the 1,537 patients who fulfilled the inclusion criteria, 21 (1.3%) had active epilepsy. The cumulative incidence (95% confidence interval [CI]) of COVID-19 in patients with epilepsy was higher (1.2% [0.6-2.4]) compared to the population without epilepsy (0.5% [0.5-0.5]). In reverse transcription PCR-positive patients, there were no significant differences in CFR in patients with active epilepsy compared to patients without epilepsy (33.3% vs 8.3%; p = 0.266). Of the 21 patients with active epilepsy, 5 (23%) died. In multivariate analysis, the factor associated with fatality in patients with active epilepsy was hypertension (odds ratio [OR] 2.8 [95% CI 1.3-21.6]). In another model, age (OR 1.0 [95% CI 1.0-1.1]) and epilepsy (OR 5.1 [95% CI 1.3-24.0]) were associated with fatality during hospitalization. CONCLUSION: COVID-19 cumulative incidence was higher in patients with active epilepsy. Epilepsy was associated with fatality during hospitalization. Hypertension was associated with fatality in patients with epilepsy.

Encefalomielitis aguda diseminada por virus JC como comienzo de linfoma no hodgkiniano / Acute disseminated encephalomyelitis due to JC virus infection as the onset of non-Hodgkin's lymphoma

No disponible

Cervix tuberculosis simulating cancer / Tuberculosis de cérvix: simulando una neoplasia

No disponible

Human papillomavirus prevalence and type-distribution in cervical glandular neoplasias: Results from a European multinational epidemiological study.

Cervical glandular neoplasias (CGN) present a challenge for cervical cancer prevention due to their complex histopathology and difficulties in detecting preinvasive stages with current screening practices. Reports of human papillomavirus (HPV) prevalence and type-distribution in CGN vary, providing uncertain evidence to support prophylactic vaccination and HPV screening. This study [108288/108290] assessed HPV prevalence and type-distribution in women diagnosed with cervical adenocarcinoma in situ (AIS, N = 49), adenosquamous carcinoma (ASC, N = 104), and various adenocarcinoma subtypes (ADC, N = 461) from 17 European countries, using centralised pathology review and sensitive HPV testing. The highest HPV-positivity rates were observed in AIS (93.9%), ASC (85.6%), and usual-type ADC (90.4%), with much lower rates in rarer ADC subtypes (clear-cell: 27.6%; serous: 30.4%; endometrioid: 12.9%; gastric-type: 0%). The most common HPV types were restricted to HPV16/18/45, accounting for 98.3% of all HPV-positive ADC. There were variations in HPV prevalence and ADC type-distribution by country. Age at diagnosis differed by ADC subtype, with usual-type diagnosed in younger women (median: 43 years) compared to rarer subtypes (medians between 57 and 66 years). Moreover, HPV-positive ADC cases were younger than HPV-negative ADC. The six years difference in median age for women with AIS compared to those with usual-type ADC suggests that cytological screening for AIS may be suboptimal. Since the great majority of CGN are HPV16/18/45-positive, the incorporation of prophylactic vaccination and HPV testing in cervical cancer screening are important prevention strategies. Our results suggest that special attention should be given to certain rarer ADC subtypes as most appear to be unrelated to HPV.

Leishmaniasis visceral como diagnóstico de fiebre puerperal de origen desconocido / Visceral leishmaniasis as a diagnosis of puerperal fever of unknown origin

La leishmaniasis visceral o kala-azar es una zoonosis que, aunque poco frecuente, es endémica en nuestro medio, y cuya incidencia ha experimentado un aumento notable. La gravedad del pronóstico sin tratamiento hace que deba considerarse como diagnóstico en pacientes con fiebre de origen desconocido, pancitopenia y refractario a los tratamientos antibióticos empíricos habituales. El presente caso es de relevancia por la manifestación brusca de la infección, con un cuadro grave, en el puerperio precoz, en una paciente sin factores de riesgo para su contagio y sin haber presentado síntomas durante la gestación. El diagnóstico es fundamentalmente clínico y el tratamiento ha de instaurarse lo antes posible, ya que la confirmación mediante pruebas diagnósticas suele demorarse demasiado (AU)

Visceral leishmaniasis, or kala-azar, is a zoonosis that, although rare, is endemic in Spain and its incidence has increased significantly. Because this disease has a poor prognosis without treatment, it is important to consider it as a possible diagnosis in patients with fever of unknown origin and pancytopenia refractory to routine empiric antibiotics. The interest of the present case lies in its abrupt onset, seriousness, and occurrence in the immediate postpartum period in a patient with no risk factors for infection and no symptoms during pregnancy. Diagnosis is mainly based on symptoms, and treatment should be started as soon as possible, because a laboratory-confirmed diagnosis is usually takes too long to provide a positive outcome (AU)

Efficacy of the HPV-16/18 AS04-adjuvanted vaccine against low-risk HPV types (PATRICIA randomized trial): an unexpected observation.

BACKGROUND: Public Health England has reported a decrease of up to 20.8% in new diagnoses of external genital warts (GWs) among women aged <19 years since the national vaccination program with the human papillomavirus (HPV)-16/18 AS04-adjuvanted vaccine began in 2008. A post hoc analysis of the phase III PATRICIA (PApilloma TRIal against Cancer In young Adults) trial (NCT00122681) was performed to ascertain whether protection against low-risk HPV types was apparent. METHODS: Vaccine efficacy (VE) at 48 months was assessed against 6-month persistent infection (6MPI) with low-risk HPV types in the total vaccinated cohort (TVC) and in the TVC naive (for 25 HPV types tested) populations. RESULTS: In the TVC naive cohort, VE against 6MPI (95% confidence interval) was 34.5% (11.3 to 51.8) for HPV-6/11, 34.9% (9.1 to 53.7) for HPV-6, 30.3% (-45.0 to 67.5) for HPV-11, and 49.5% (21.0 to 68.3) for HPV-74. CONCLUSIONS: The HPV-16/18 AS04-adjuvanted vaccine appears to have moderate efficacy against persistent infections with a number of low-risk HPV types (HPV-6/11/74), which are responsible for the majority of external GWs, and recently, antibody and cell-mediated immune response to HPV-6/11 have been observed. These findings may help to explain the decrease in external GW diagnoses seen in England.

Vacunación frente al cáncer de cérvix en mujeres fuera de los programas de vacunación sistemática, con o sin infección por el virus del papiloma humano o lesión cervical. Encuesta de opinión y recomendaciones / Vaccination against cervical cancer in women outside of routine immunization programs, with or without infection by the human papilloma virus or cervical lesions. Opinion survey and recommendations

Las vacunas frente al cáncer de cérvix se han implementado, en un amplio número de países del mundo, dentro de los programas de vacunación sistemática. Asimismo se ha recomendado la vacunación de rescate en adolescentes y mujeres jóvenes. Desde la perspectiva de salud pública, la vacunación rutinaria en mujeres de mayor edad no se plantea por motivos de coste-efectividad. En estos casos son el médico y la paciente los que, de forma individualizada, deben decidir sobre la vacunación. Una encuesta de opinión dirigida a ginecólogos españoles que desarrollan su actividad asistencial en el ámbito de la patología cervical y colposcopia evidencia que, incluso en este colectivo, hay un relativo desconocimiento sobre aspectos importantes de la vacuna frente al cáncer de cérvix en mujeres fuera de los programas de vacunación sistemática, con o sin infección por el virus del papiloma humano (VPH) o lesión cervical. Además se constata la demanda de mayor información y poder disponer de recomendaciones específicas acerca de este tema. En el presente artículo se revisan las evidencias sobre la infección VPH y el riesgo de cáncer de cérvix a lo largo de la vida, la eficacia de las vacunas en relación con la edad o tras el tratamiento de lesiones cervicales, y la perspectiva del médico y de la mujer. Finalmente se presentan unas recomendaciones, a modo de guía clínica, sobre la vacunación en mujeres fuera de los programas de vacunación sistemática, con o sin infección o lesión cervical (AU)

Vaccines against cervical cancer have been implemented in a wide number of countries around the world as part of systematic vaccination programmes. In addition, rescue vaccination has been recommended for teenagers and young women. From a Public Health perspective, routine vaccination in older women is not proposed for reasons of cost-effectiveness. In these cases, the physician and the patient must decide about the suitability of vaccination in each individual. An opinion poll of Spanish gynaecologists rendering health-care services in the area of cervical pathologies and colposcopy has shown that, even among this group, there is relative lack of knowledge about important aspects of the vaccine against cervical cancer in women outside systematic vaccination programmes, with or without HPV infection or cervical lesions. In addition, the demand for greater information has been confirmed, as has the wish for specific recommendations on this topic. The present article reviews the evidence on HPV infection and the lifelong risk of cervical cancer, the efficacy of vaccines with respect to age or after the treatment of cervical lesions and the perspectives of physicians and women. Finally, some recommendations are made by way of clinical guidance for the vaccination of women outside systematic vaccination programmes, with or without infection or cervical lesion (AU)