Serious Adverse Events of Oral and Topical Carbonic Anhydrase Inhibitors

IMPORTANCE

Some ophthalmologists may be reluctant to prescribe oral carbonic anhydrase inhibitors, given the potential for life-threatening systemic adverse reactions.

OBJECTIVE

To conduct a population-based analysis of the safety of oral or topical carbonic anhydrase inhibitors in clinical care.

DESIGN, SETTING, AND PARTICIPANTS

This matched longitudinal cohort study took place in Ontario, Canada. Consecutive patients older than 65 years who were prescribed an oral or topical carbonic anhydrase inhibitor in Ontario, Canada, between January 1, 1995, and January 1, 2020, were identified. Patients were matched 1-to-1 based on age, sex, and diabetes status. Time zero was defined as the date of the first identified prescription for the medication, and the primary analysis focused on the first 120 days of follow-up.

MAIN OUTCOMES AND MEASURES

The primary end point was a severe complicated adverse event of either Stevens-Johnson syndrome, toxic epidermal necrolysis, or aplastic anemia.

RESULTS

Overall, 128 942 matched patients initiated an oral or topical carbonic anhydrase inhibitor during the 25-year study period. The mean (SD) age was 75 (6.6) years, 71 958 (55.8%) were women, and 25 058 (19.4%) had a diagnosis of diabetes. The oral and topical carbonic anhydrase inhibitor groups had similar baseline demographics. Patients prescribed an oral carbonic anhydrase inhibitor had an absolute risk of a severe complicated adverse event of 2.90 per 1000 patients, whereas patients prescribed a topical carbonic anhydrase inhibitor had an absolute risk of 2.08 per 1000 patients. This difference was equivalent to a risk ratio of 1.40, with a number needed to harm of 1 in 1220 patients (95% CI, 1.12-1.74; P = .003). This generally low risk was replicated in multivariable regression controlling for confounding factors. Additional risk factors for a severe complicated adverse event included patients with more comorbidities and those with more frequent clinic contacts.

CONCLUSIONS AND RELEVANCE

The risk of a serious adverse reaction following prescription of an oral or topical carbonic anhydrase inhibitor was low and similar between agents. Given the low risk of severe adverse reactions, this population-level analysis supports reconsidering the reluctance toward prescribing an oral carbonic anhydrase inhibitor.

Association of Cardiometabolic Multimorbidity and Depression With Cardiovascular Events in Early-Onset Adult Type 2 Diabetes: A Multiethnic Study in the U.S

OBJECTIVE

To evaluate the temporal patterns of cardiometabolic multimorbidity (CM) and depression in White Caucasians (WCs) and African Americans (AAs) with early-onset type 2 diabetes and their impact on long-term atherosclerotic cardiovascular disease (ASCVD).

RESEARCH DESIGN AND METHODS

From U.S. electronic medical records, 101,104 AA and 505,336 WC subjects with type 2 diabetes diagnosed between 2000 and 2017 were identified (mean follow-up 5.3 years). Among those without ASCVD at diagnosis, risk of ASCVD and three-point major adverse cardiovascular events (MACE-3) (heart failure, myocardial infarction, or stroke) was evaluated between ethnicities by age-groups.

RESULTS

The proportion of patients diagnosed at <50 years of age increased during 2012-2017 (AA 34-38%, WC 26-29%). Depression prevalence increased during 2000-2017 (AA 15-23%, WC 20-34%), with an increasing trend for CM at diagnosis in both groups. Compared with WC, the adjusted MACE-3 risk was significantly higher in AA across all age-groups, more pronounced in the 18-39-year age-group (hazard ratio 95% CI 1.42, 1.88), and in patients with and without depression. AAs had a 17% (1.05, 1.31) significantly higher adjusted ASCVD risk in the 18-39-year age-group only. Depression was independently associated with ASCVD and MACE-3 risk in both ethnic groups across all age-groups. Other comorbidities were independently associated with ASCVD and MACE-3 risk only among WCs.

CONCLUSIONS

AAs have higher cardiovascular risk compared with WCs, particularly in early-onset type 2 diabetes. CM and depression at diabetes diagnosis have been increasing over the past two decades in both ethnic groups. Strategies for screening and optimal management of CM and depression, particularly in early-onset type 2 diabetes, may result in a lower cardiovascular risk.

Development of an electronic medical record-based algorithm to identify patients with Stevens-Johnson syndrome and toxic epidermal necrolysis in Japan

Stevens-Johnson syndrome (SJS) and toxic epidermal necrolysis (TEN), severe drug reactions, are often misdiagnosed due to their rarity and lack of information on differential diagnosis. The objective of the study was to develop an electronic medical record (EMR)-based algorithm to identify patients with SJS/TEN for future application in database studies. From the EMRs of a university hospital, two dermatologists identified all 13 patients with SJS/TEN seen at the Department of Dermatology as the case group. Another 1472 patients who visited the Department of Dermatology were identified using the ICD-10 codes for diseases requiring differentiation from SJS/TEN. One hundred of these patients were then randomly sampled as controls. Based on clinical guidelines for SJS/TEN and the experience of the dermatologists, we tested 128 algorithms based on the use of ICD-10 codes, clinical courses for SJS/TEN, medical encounters for mucocutaneous lesions from SJS/TEN, and items to exclude paraneoplastic pemphigus. The sensitivity, specificity, positive predictive value (PPV), negative predictive value (NPV), and diagnostic odds ratio (DOR) of each algorithm were calculated, and the optimal algorithm was defined as that with high PPV and maximal sensitivity and specificity. One algorithm, consisting of a combination of clinical course for SJS/TEN, medical encounters for mucocutaneous lesions from SJS/TEN, and items to exclude paraneoplastic pemphigus, but not ICD-10 codes, showed a sensitivity of 76.9%, specificity of 99.0%, PPV of 40.5%, NPV of 99.8%, and DOR of 330.00. We developed a potentially optimized algorithm for identifying SJS/TEN based on clinical practice records. The almost perfect specificity of this algorithm will prevent bias in estimating relative risks of SJS/TEN in database studies. Considering the small sample size, this algorithm should be further tested in different settings.

Challenges and Opportunities for Using Big Health Care Data to Advance Medical Science and Public Health

Methodological advancements in epidemiology, biostatistics, and data science have strengthened the research world's ability to use data captured from electronic health records (EHRs) to address pressing medical questions, but gaps remain. We describe methods investments that are needed to curate EHR data toward research quality and to integrate complementary data sources when EHR data alone are insufficient for research goals. We highlight new methods and directions for improving the integrity of medical evidence generated from pragmatic trials, observational studies, and predictive modeling. We also discuss needed methods contributions to further ease data sharing across multisite EHR data networks. Throughout, we identify opportunities for training and for bolstering collaboration among subject matter experts, methodologists, practicing clinicians, and health system leaders to help ensure that methods problems are identified and resulting advances are translated into mainstream research practice more quickly.

Incidence of Pneumocystis jirovecii and Adverse Events Associated With Pneumocystis Prophylaxis in Children Receiving Glucocorticoids

BACKGROUND

Antimicrobial prophylaxis is indicated to prevent Pneumocystis jirovecii pneumonia (PJP) in profoundly immunosuppressed children. The incidence of PJP infection in children with chronic glucocorticoid exposure is unknown, and PJP prophylaxis has been associated with adverse events. We hypothesized that PJP infection is rare in children without human immunodeficiency virus (HIV)/acquired immunodeficiency syndrome (AIDS), cancer, or a transplant history who are using chronic glucocorticoids and that those exposed to PJP prophylaxis are more likely to experience a cutaneous hypersensitivity reaction or myelosuppression than unexposed patients.

METHODS

This study involved a retrospective cohort from the Clinformatics Data Mart Database (OptumInsight, Eden Prairie, MN). We identified patients ≤18 years of age who received at least 2 prescriptions for a systemic glucocorticoid within a 60-day period and excluded patients with a history of PJP infection, an oncologic diagnosis, transplant, or HIV/AIDS. PJP prophylaxis exposure was identified by using national drug codes. Cutaneous hypersensitivity reaction or myelosuppression was identified by using International Classification of Diseases, 9th Revision (ICD-9), codes. We used a discrete time-failure model to examine the association between exposure and outcome.

RESULTS

We identified 119399 children on glucocorticoids, 10% of whom received PJP prophylaxis. The incidences of PJP were 0.61 and 0.53 per 10000 patient-years in children exposed and those unexposed to PJP prophylaxis, respectively. In a multivariable model, trimethoprim-sulfamethoxazole was associated with cutaneous hypersensitivity reaction (odds ratio, 3.20; 95% confidence interval, 2.62-3.92) and myelosuppression (odds ratio, 1.85; 95% confidence interval, 1.56-2.20).

CONCLUSIONS

PJP infection was rare in children using glucocorticoids chronically, and PJP prophylaxis-associated cutaneous hypersensitivity reactions and myelosuppression are more common. The use of PJP chemoprophylaxis in children without HIV/AIDS, cancer, or a transplant history who are taking glucocorticoids chronically should be considered carefully.

Stevens-Johnson syndrome/toxic epidermal necrolysis and erythema multiforme drug-related hospitalisations in a national administrative database

Background

Stevens–Johnson syndrome/toxic epidermal necrolysis (SJS/TEN) and erythema multiforme (EM) are immunologically-mediated dermatological disorders commonly triggered by drug exposure and/or other external agents. We aimed to characterise SJS/TEN- and EM-drug-related hospitalisations in a nationwide administrative database, focusing on demographic and clinical characteristics, and in the most frequently implicated drug classes.

Methods

We analysed all drug-related hospitalisations with associated diagnosis of SJS/TEN or EM in Portuguese hospitals between 2009 and 2014. We compared gender, age, comorbidities, length of stay, and in-hospital mortality and estimated the number of episodes per million packages sold of drug classes. Predictors of in-hospital mortality were investigated in both conditions by logistic regression.

Results

There were 132 SJS/TEN-related and 122 EM-related hospitalisations. Incidence and in-hospital mortality of SJS/TEN episodes (24.2%) were consistent with previous studies. HIV co-infection was more common among SJS/TEN hospitalisations (9 vs. 2% with EM; P = 0.009). Liver disease, advanced age, and a TEN diagnosis, were significantly associated with higher risk of mortality in patients with SJS/TEN. The highest numbers of SJS/TEN and EM episodes per million drug packages sold were observed for antivirals (8.7 and 1.5, respectively), antineoplastic/immunosuppressive drugs (5.6 and 3.9, respectively) and hypouricaemic drugs (5.0 and 2.4, respectively).

Conclusions

SJS/TEN in-hospital mortality is high, and its risk factors include advanced age, liver disease, and TEN diagnosis. The drug classes most frequently associated with these conditions include antivirals, hypouricaemic drugs and antineoplastic/immunosuppressive drugs. Administrative databases seem useful in the study of SJS/TEN drug-related hospitalisations, yielding results consistent with previous studies and on a nationwide basis.

Electronic supplementary material

The online version of this article (10.1186/s13601-017-0188-1) contains supplementary material, which is available to authorized users.

Identifying multiple myeloma patients using data from the French health insurance databases: Validation using a cancer registry

This study aimed to assess the performance of several algorithms based on hospital diagnoses and the long-term diseases scheme to identify multiple myeloma patients.Potential multiple myeloma patients in 2010 to 2013 were identified using the presence of hospital records with at least 1 main diagnosis code for multiple myeloma (ICD-10 "C90"). Alternative algorithms also considered related and associated diagnoses, combination with long-term conditions, or at least 2 diagnoses. Incident patients were those with no previous "C90" codes in the past 24 or 12 months. The sensitivity, specificity, and positive and negative predictive values (PPVs and NPVs) were computed, using a French cancer registry for the corresponding area and period as the criterion standard.Long-term conditions data extracted concerned 11,559 patients (21,846 for hospital data). The registry contained 125 cases of multiple myeloma. Sensitivity was 70% when using only main hospital diagnoses (specificity 100%, PPV 79%), 76% when also considering related diagnoses (specificity 100%, PPV 74%), and 90% with associated diagnoses included (100% specificity, 64% PPV).In relation with their good performance, selected algorithms can be used to study the benefit and risk of drugs in treated multiple myeloma patients.

Use of HLA-B*58:01 genotyping to prevent allopurinol induced severe cutaneous adverse reactions in Taiwan: national prospective cohort study

OBJECTIVE

To evaluate the use of prospective screening for the HLA-B*58:01 allele to identify Taiwanese individuals at risk of severe cutaneous adverse reactions (SCARs) induced by allopurinol treatment.

DESIGN

National prospective cohort study.

SETTING

15 medical centres in different regions of Taiwan, from July 2009 to August 2014.

PARTICIPANTS

2926 people who had an indication for allopurinol treatment but had not taken allopurinol previously. Participants were excluded if they had undergone a bone marrow transplant, were not of Han Chinese descent, and had a history of allopurinol induced hypersensitivity. DNA purified from 2910 participants' peripheral blood was used to assess the presence of HLA-B*58:01.

MAIN OUTCOME MEASURES

Incidence of allopurinol induced SCARs with and without screening.

RESULTS

Participants who tested positive for HLA-B*58:01 (19.6%, n=571) were advised to avoid allopurinol, and were referred to an alternate drug treatment or advised to continue with their prestudy treatment. Participants who tested negative (80.4%, n=2339) were given allopurinol. Participants were interviewed once a week for two months to monitor symptoms. The historical incidence of allopurinol induced SCARs, estimated by the National Health Insurance research database of Taiwan, was used for comparison. Mild, transient rash without blisters developed in 97 (3%) participants during follow-up. None of the participants was admitted to hospital owing to adverse drug reactions. SCARs did not develop in any of the participants receiving allopurinol who screened negative for HLA-B*58:01. By contrast, seven cases of SCARs were expected, based on the estimated historical incidence of allopurinol induced SCARs nationwide (0.30% per year, 95% confidence interval 0.28% to 0.31%; P=0.0026; two side one sample binomial test).

CONCLUSIONS

Prospective screening of the HLA-B*58:01 allele, coupled with an alternative drug treatment for carriers, significantly decreased the incidence of allopurinol induced SCARs in Taiwanese medical centres.

Identification of Stevens-Johnson syndrome and toxic epidermal necrolysis in electronic health record databases

BACKGROUND

Stevens-Johnson syndrome (SJS) and toxic epidermal necrolysis (TEN) carry a high mortality risk. While identifying clinical and genetic risk factors for these conditions has been hindered by their rarity, large electronic health databases hold promise for identifying large numbers of cases for study, especially with the introduction in 2008 of ICD-9 codes more specific for these conditions.

OBJECTIVE

The objective of this study is to estimate the validity of ICD-9 codes for ascertaining SJS/TEN in 12 collaborating research units in the USA, covering almost 60 million lives.

METHODS

From the electronic databases at each site, we ascertained potential cases of SJS/TEN using ICD-9 codes. At five sites, a subset of medical records was abstracted and standardized criteria applied by board-certified dermatologists to adjudicate diagnoses. Multivariate logistic regression was used to identify factors independently associated with validated SJS/TEN cases.

RESULTS

A total of 56 591 potential cases of SJS/TEN were identified. A subset of 276 charts was selected for adjudication and 39 (of the 276) were confirmed as SJS/TEN. Patients with the ICD-9 codes introduced after 2008 were more likely to be confirmed as cases (OR 3.32; 95%CI 0.82, 13.47) than those identified in earlier years. Likelihood of case status increased with length of hospitalization. Applying the probability of case status to the 56 591 potential cases, we estimated 475-875 to be valid SJS/TEN cases.

CONCLUSION

Newer ICD-9 codes, along with length of hospitalization, identified patients with a high likelihood of SJS/TEN. This is important for identification of subjects for future pharmacogenomics studies.

Immune-mediated diseases: what can be found in the oral cavity?

Immune-mediated diseases frequently affect oral mucosa, which may often be the first site of clinical manifestation. In this review, we describe the most important oral lesions related to inflammatory disorders and present their management and novel therapies. The review is based on an open PubMed literature search from 1980 to 2012 with relevant keywords. Pemphigus vulgaris, oral lichen planus, cicatricial pemphigoid, erythema multiforme, Stevens-Johnson syndrome, systemic lupus erythematosus, Sjögren's syndrome, and linear IgA dermatosis are the immune-mediated diseases with oral manifestations discussed. Etiology is unknown in most of these diseases, but recently some of them have been found to share common genes. Modern treatment of these diseases is based on drugs that interfere along the pathogenic mechanisms instead of the still commonly used palliative measures. However, the immunomodulatory drugs may also cause oral side effects, complicating the clinical picture. Therefore, consulting dental or oral medicine specialists can be necessary in some cases with various immune-mediated diseases.

Severe cutaneous reactions requiring hospitalization in allopurinol initiators: a population-based cohort study

OBJECTIVE

Rare but potentially life-threatening cutaneous adverse reactions have been associated with allopurinol, but population-based data on the incidence and mortality of such reactions are scarce.

METHODS

We conducted a propensity score-matched cohort study to evaluate the incidence rate (IR) and in-hospital mortality of hospitalization for severe cutaneous adverse reactions (SCARs) in allopurinol initiators compared to non-allopurinol users, using data from 5 large Medicaid programs. The primary outcome was identified by the principal discharge diagnosis code 695.1. A Cox proportional hazards model evaluated the relative risk of SCARs associated with the use of allopurinol and determined the relative risk of SCARs associated with allopurinol dose.

RESULTS

During a followup period of 65,625 person-years for allopurinol initiators, 45 were hospitalized with SCARs. The crude IR was 0.69 (95% confidence interval [95% CI] 0.50-0.92) per 1,000 person-years. All 45 cases occurred within 365 days and 41 (91.1%) occurred within 180 days after initiating treatment with allopurinol. Twelve patients (26.7%) died during the hospitalization. The crude IR in non-allopurinol users was 0.04 (95% CI 0.02-0.08) per 1,000 person-years. The risk of SCARs was increased in allopurinol initiators versus nonusers (hazard ratio [HR] 9.68, 95% CI 4.55-20.57). Among allopurinol initiators, the HR for high-dosage (>300 mg/day) versus low-dosage allopurinol was 1.30 (95% CI 0.31-5.36) after adjusting for age, comorbidities, and recent diuretic use.

CONCLUSION

Among allopurinol initiators, SCARs were found to be rare but often fatal, and occurred mostly in the first 180 days of treatment. The risk of SCARs was 10 times as high in allopurinol initiators as compared to allopurinol nonusers.

Mini-Sentinel's systematic reviews of validated methods for identifying health outcomes using administrative and claims data: methods and lessons learned

PURPOSE

To overview the methods used in the Mini-Sentinel systematic reviews of validation studies of algorithms to identify health outcomes in administrative and claims data and to describe lessons learned in the development of search strategies, including their ability to identify articles from previous systematic reviews which used different search strategies.

METHODS

Literature searches were conducted using PubMed and the citation database of the Iowa Drug Information Service. Embase was searched for some outcomes. The searches were based on a strategy developed by the Observational Medical Outcomes Partnership (OMOP) researchers. All citations were reviewed by two investigators. Exclusion criteria were applied at abstract and full-text review stages to ultimately identify algorithm validation studies that used data sources from the USA or Canada, as the results of these studies were considered most likely to generalize to Mini-Sentinel data. Nonvalidated algorithms were reviewed if fewer than five algorithm validation studies were identified.

RESULTS

The results of this project are described in the separate articles and reports written on algorithms to identify each outcome of interest.

CONCLUSIONS

The Mini-Sentinel systematic reviews of algorithms to identify health outcomes in administrative and claims data are expected to be relatively complete, despite some limitations. Algorithm validation studies are inconsistently indexed in PubMed, creating challenges in conducting systematic reviews of these studies. Google Scholar searches, which can perform text word searches of electronically available articles, are suggested as a strategy to identify studies that are not captured through searches of standard citation databases.

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration's Mini-Sentinel program: status and direction

The Mini-Sentinel is a pilot program that is developing methods, tools, resources, policies, and procedures to facilitate the use of routinely collected electronic healthcare data to perform active surveillance of the safety of marketed medical products, including drugs, biologics, and medical devices. The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) initiated the program in 2009 as part of its Sentinel Initiative, in response to a Congressional mandate in the FDA Amendments Act of 2007. After two years, Mini-Sentinel includes 31 academic and private organizations. It has developed policies, procedures, and technical specifications for developing and operating a secure distributed data system comprised of separate data sets that conform to a common data model covering enrollment, demographics, encounters, diagnoses, procedures, and ambulatory dispensing of prescription drugs. The distributed data sets currently include administrative and claims data from 2000 to 2011 for over 300 million person-years, 2.4 billion encounters, 38 million inpatient hospitalizations, and 2.9 billion dispensings. Selected laboratory results and vital signs data recorded after 2005 are also available. There is an active data quality assessment and characterization program, and eligibility for medical care and pharmacy benefits is known. Systematic reviews of the literature have assessed the ability of administrative data to identify health outcomes of interest, and procedures have been developed and tested to obtain, abstract, and adjudicate full-text medical records to validate coded diagnoses. Mini-Sentinel has also created a taxonomy of study designs and analytical approaches for many commonly occurring situations, and it is developing new statistical and epidemiologic methods to address certain gaps in analytic capabilities. Assessments are performed by distributing computer programs that are executed locally by each data partner. The system is in active use by FDA, with the majority of assessments performed using customizable, reusable queries (programs). Prospective and retrospective assessments that use customized protocols are conducted as well. To date, several hundred unique programs have been distributed and executed. Current activities include active surveillance of several drugs and vaccines, expansion of the population, enhancement of the common data model to include additional types of data from electronic health records and registries, development of new methodologic capabilities, and assessment of methods to identify and validate additional health outcomes of interest.